Labor push for China wine tariff removals following barley win

That’s a wrap for Need to Know this Friday, August 4.

Many thanks for reading along. Here are some of the biggest stories from today:

China agrees to lift tariffs on Australian barley: China has agreed to lift tariffs on imports of Australian barley from Saturday, in a key concession to more than $20 billion worth of sanctions on exports imposed at the height of political tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

Trump pleads not guilty to charges he tried to overturn election loss: Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday (Friday AEST) to federal charges that he orchestrated a plot to try to overturn his 2020 election loss, in what US prosecutors call an unprecedented effort by the then-president to undermine the pillars of American democracy.

AFP boss says agency didn’t receive PwC referral in 2018: AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said federal police did not receive a referral to investigate the PwC tax scandal in 2018. Kershaw said the AFP only received “an initial sample of documents” to help determine whether an offence may have been committed.

Alberta withdraws its 2030 Commonwealth Games bid: The Canadian province of Alberta withdrew its support for a bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games overnight, ending any chance of bringing the multi-sport showcase event back to Canada for its centennial.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says China’s decision to drop the tariff on barley is another positive step forward in the countries’ relationship, but the government would continue to disagree with Beijing when necessary.

“We acknowledge that this matter has been resolved. We are pleased that this has occurred and it affirms the government’s approach, which is to co-operate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest.”

Asked whether the move would pave the way for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to visit China, Wong simply said it was a “positive development”.

“What I would say is the prime minister has made clear he would welcome a visit and we hope we can continue on the positive path.”

Since May 2020, China’s 80.5 per cent tariff on Australian barley has effectively blocked almost $1 billion annually of sale of barley into the Chinese market, Trade Minister Don Farrell said.

Trade Minister Don Farrell says the Australian government will use China’s lifting of the tariff on local barley as a “template” for resolving other trade issues.

China today announced it would lift the tariffs on barley, exports of which had been worth $600 million a year, as it backs down on a campaign of economic coercion.

In response, the Australian government has dropped its World Trade Organisation case against China, but it will continue with other cases, including challenging red wine tariffs.

“We intend to use this process as a template for resolving the issue in respect of wine, which is still ongoing,” Farrell said.

“We do have a WTO case in respect of wine, and we’d like to see this process used to resolve that issue, as we seek to resolve all of those outstanding issues.”

To wrap up his press conference, Anthony Albanese praised China’s decision to remove its tariffs against Australian barley.

“This is a good outcome. I welcome the decision that has been made. One in four Australian jobs are about trade. I have said very clearly on China, that we will co-operate where we can. We will disagree where we must, but will engage in our national interest,” he said.

“This is a very positive decision.”

Responding to research indicating that up to 40 per cent of Australians haven’t decided on whether to support the Voice, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was not surprised due to the lack of knowledge about the Constitution among Australians.

“I saw research early on that had a very high figure for how many people didn’t know that we had a constitution,” the PM said.

The PM said people did not want a date announced months in advance of the referendum vote, as they have not experienced a referendum vote in many years.

He said there would instead be a focus in the weeks leading up to referendum vote, which he believed would remove political elements surrounding the Voice.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that he would not announce a date for the Voice referendum tomorrow.

The PM said the date for referendum vote would be between September and December, but joked that it wouldn’t be on the day of the NRL grand final.

He then said it would be announced after the Voice’s consultation period.

The Voice’s model will be a mix of both national and regional structures, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

“[The Voice] doesn’t envisage one-size-fits-all, because different communities have different histories, they have different organisations,” he said.

An example provided by the PM on how a regional Voice to government might operate was Arhem land’s Dilak Council, which meets regularly to set regional priorities and policies with the Commonwealth and Territory governments on health, housing, education and economic development.

From the Garma Festival, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is spruiking the Voice ahead of the referendum vote. He said it would allow parliament to listen to Indigenous Australians.

He said the Garma Festival represented what the Voice was about.

“This is a great celebration of culture, a celebration of ideas and exchange, and an opportunity for decision-makers to listen, but also a place where you see the coming together of two worlds,” the PM said.

He also announced that the federal government would contribute $6.4 million toward developing an Indigenous-led “world-class” higher education institute in the remote Northern Territory.

The Albanese government has welcomed China’s decision to remove its 80.5 per cent tariffs that were imposed on Australian barley.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Don Farrell and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the move would pave the way for barley exporters to re-enter the Chinese market to benefit both Australian producers and Chinese consumers.

“It affirms the calm and consistent approach that the Albanese government has taken,” the ministers said in a joint statement.

“The removal of duties is the result of work by government and industry to resolve this matter. We acknowledge and thank industry and affected businesses for their support and patience throughout the World Trade Organisation (WTO) process.”

The ministers jointly said China’s tariffs on Australian barley have effectively blocked exports to that market worth about $916 million in 2018-19 alone.

In light of China’s move, the Albanese government will now discontinue legal proceedings at the WTO, the ministers said.

“This outcome demonstrates the importance of the WTO dispute mechanism in defending the interests of Australia’s world-class producers and farmers,” they said. “We have been clear that we expect a similar process to be followed to remove the duties on Australian wine.”

The Albanese government will now continue pursuing its wine dispute at the WTO and remains “confident in a positive outcome”.

The Australian Federal Police has admitted providing wrong information to a Senate committee, conceding Peter Dutton was not briefed on specific details when he was home affairs minister into a foreign bribery investigation into an Australian businessman, whose company was later awarded multi-million dollar detention centre contracts.

Senior AFP officer Neil Gaughan told a Senate estimates hearing on Friday that the answer police provided to a question on notice about Dutton’s knowledge of an investigation into Mozammil Bhojani was incorrect.

Dutton this week insisted he had never been briefed on Bhojani or his company Radiance International. He said he personally had no recollection of such a briefing and a check of his office records found no reference to it.

A front-page article in The Sydney Morning Herald was published last week based on the AFP’s written answer to Parliament’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee that: “The AFP acting commissioner provided a verbal briefing on the investigation to the then Minister for Home Affairs on or around 12 July 2018.”

At the time Bhojani was under investigation for paying bribes to politicians in Nauru. A month later, Radiance International was awarded a contract by the Home Affairs Department to provide accommodation on Nauru for asylum seekers.

But in September 2018, Bhojani was arrested and in 2020 convicted after pleading guilty to foreign bribery.

Asked by Liberal frontbencher James Paterson about the discrepancy between Dutton and the AFP’s account, Gaughan admitted “tighter language” should have been used as he sought to deflect blame for the gaffe to the media for taking the AFP’s statement on face value.

Gaughan, who is now the ACT’s Chief Police Officer but was in 2018 a deputy commissioner, said he was at the July 12 meeting – along with Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram, then acting AFP commissioner Ramzi Jabbour, and Home Affairs deputy secretary Linda Geddes – in Mr Dutton’s Parliament House office, where a briefing on “a foreign bribery matter” had taken place.

“There has been some misreporting and commentary that Mr Dutton was informed by the AFP that a then person of interest, Mozammil Bhojani or [his] company, Radiance International, was under investigation. To be clear, that is not correct,” he said.

Gaughan later added: “It is important to state Mr Dutton wasn’t briefed in relation to Bhojani or Radiance International. He was briefed in relation to some concerns that the AFP had around the overt activity and the potential impact that would have on the Nauruan government.”