China’s ‘fantastic’ move for Aussies
Written by admin on May 30, 2024
China has lifted punishing restrictions on five Australian beef exporters.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the details were “still emerging” but confirmed on Thursday the trade tariffs would be removed “with immediate effect” for five cattle producers who were hit with a snap ban four years ago.
“That is fantastic news for Australia’s cattle producers, for the meat processing industry, for the workers in those industries and, of course, for Australian exports,” Senator Watt told the ABC.
“What we’ve worked out is that even so far as over the export bans that have been lifted by China, that has worked out to $3b in extra exports for Australia.”
China banned beef imports from a total of eight Australian abattoirs amid a diplomatic fallout between 2020 and 2021, that halted an estimated 35 per cent of the country’s beef exports into China.
The Chinese government also imposed a snap ban on Australian lobster, which remains in place.
Trade barriers on other Australian-made products including barley, cotton and wine have progressively lifted since 2022.
Free-to-air showdown
The Greens are set to introduce an amendment to prevent major Australian sporting events from being blocked behind paywalls.
Australia’s anti-siphoning laws give free-to-air television stations broadcasting rights to big events like the AFL and NRL but do not cover online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Binge.
The federal government, however, has drafted a new law that would no longer guarantee free sport across digital devices.
Amid a crucial senate vote, Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said she plans to “drill” Labor over the changes during a senate estimates hearing on Thursday.
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“I’ll be drilling them over just how unfair this is, that half of Australians are going to be locked out of watching sport for free,” she said.
“If you have a smart television, if you watch sport on your television, phone, tablet or computer, you won’t be able to get access to sport for free, which is just un-Australian, frankly.”
More to come
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