FORMER Meat & Livestock Australia managing director and chair of the Australia–EU FTA Red Meat and Livestock Industry Taskforce, Jason Strong, had a simple and blunt answer when Beef Central today asked for his views on where the long-running trade deal went wrong for Australian livestock producers.

“Our Government got out-negotiated, there’s no question about it,” he said.

Jason Strong

Australia’s access for 30,000 tonnes of beef into the EU over a 10-year phase-in period was well short of the outcomes achieved by competitors in previous deals such as Canada and New Zealand, which have negotiated quotas with Europe exceeding 50,000 tonnes.

Mr Strong said the Australian Government failed to adjust when it became clear Europe’s negotiators were taking a different tack.

“I think our approach to free and fair trade has served us well, but for a number of years now it was very clear that the EU wasn’t going to take the same approach,” he told Beef Central.

“I think that when it became clear the EU wasn’t going to apply even a reasonable approach – not even a fair and equitable but a reasonable approach – to how they think about all commodities, then we should have adjusted how we approached things as well.”

‘Can’t have it both ways’

For example, one lever the Australian Government could have pulled, he said, was around reciprocal market access for pork.

“If the EU was holding out on beef and sheepmeat access because of the concern of their member states and their farmers, then we should have actually got them to do the work for us,” he said.

“(We should have) said ‘look, if that is how we’re going to treat meat products, then we need to have a similar approach and adjust the approach we take to the supply of EU pork products, and that would have actually been using some leverage.

“If you’re doing this because it is so important to farmers… you can’t have it both ways.”

He said the outcome allowed the EU to maintain valuable access to the Australian market while offering little in return.

“So what has happened is that the EU has maintained the access that is incredibly important into our market and have effectively provided nothing for us.”

EU farmers also lash out at deal

The deal has been met with disdain from farmers from both sides, with Europe’s powerful farm lobby complaining that the agreement with Australia compounds damage from other deals on European cattle producers.

Mr Strong, who has spent a significant amount of time in Europe as a former MLA regional market manager based in Brussels, described the EU farming lobby reaction as “completely unreasonable” given the insignificant volumes of Australian beef access granted.

“It is a completely immaterial amount of product compared to their total consumption.

“They’re saying they should oppose the whole thing on the basis that in 10 years’ time Australia is going to have 30,000 tonnes worth of access.

“It is just completely unreasonable. They are saying this is a terrible thing that is happening to them. But the volumes are immaterial. They won’t even notice.

“It is the ultimate drop in the ocean – 30,000 tonnes amongst 500 million people. You’d be lucky to find a piece.”

Industry misled by Government on expectations

Asked if the Australian red meat industry should have been louder and more publicly strident in its opposition to reports of a 30,000t quota in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s announcement – taking a page out of the book of the vocal European farming lobby – Mr Strong said the industry had been assured by the Australian Government that it would not sign a bad deal.

“I think the industry was pretty loud and I think through every channel they made it very clear,” he said.

“The other thing was that the industry also got a lot of commitment from our Government negotiators that they would not sign a bad deal. And they walked away in Japan because it wasn’t a good deal.

“So, I think that probably gave the industry a bit of comfort that they were fighting for a better position.

“And ultimately it didn’t happen, other things just got prioritised over our industry, so it is a really disappointing outcome.”

Did the outcome speak to the Government simply not prioritising the red meat sector, despite its earlier assurances, Beef Central asked?

“I think it does. Yeah it does,” a resigned Mr Strong replied.

“And I think that is an unfortunate set of circumstances that we’re in now.

“I think the government would like to do better for agriculture, largely there is goodwill and good intent, but there’s actually not a lot of resolve.

“And when it comes down to it, there’s other things that they see are more important.

“We have got any number of electric cars pouring into the country, so why would you feel the need to change the tax on electric cars?

“We’re not short of electric cars, but they are happy to prioritise that over red meat.”

Long-term competitive impact

Mr Strong warned the agreement would lock in a long-term competitive disadvantage for Australian red meat exporters, with few opportunities to reset the position.

“Unfortunately, this is the last of the major developed markets that we didn’t have a free trade agreement with, so it is not like we can learn and approach the others differently, everything is pretty much done now,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be as accommodating with the Europeans as what we have been, that’s for sure, because when it comes down to it, they haven’t done the right thing by us.”