Interview with Warwick Long, ABC Melbourne Breakfast

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC MELBOURNE AND VICTORIA BREAKFAST
FRIDAY, 02 JANUARY 2026

SUBJECTS: Swiss Ski Resort Fire, China Beef Safeguard, Federal Government Response To Bondi Terror Attack

WARWICK LONG, HOST: A big change happened to our beef producers this week as well. Victoria, a powerhouse of beef breeding and processing, a big part of Australia's beef industry. And with the stroke of a pen, Australia seemingly took a billion-dollar hit when China announced new tariffs on beef imports to start the new year. The Federal Agriculture Minister, Julie Collins, can join you now to talk about this and its impact on Australia. Julie Collins, welcome to Breakfast.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thanks Warwick, and good morning to your listeners today, and Happy New Year.

LONG: We'll ask you about beef in just a moment, but we're just learning so much in terms of events that are happening around the world right now. And one Australian is now confirmed to have been injured in the fire at the Swiss ski resort, where at least 40 people have died and well over 100 people are injured. What does the Government know?

COLLINS: This is obviously a terrible incident that has occurred, and our condolences go out to all those impacted. It's really quite distressing, the reporting and what has occurred over there. I can confirm that we are providing consular assistance to one Australian that's been injured and is receiving medical attention. Obviously, we can't comment further due to privacy, but we also are making urgent inquiries to see if there's been any more Australians impacted. But certainly, we can confirm that one Australian has been injured and is receiving medical care.

LONG: A big part of the consular and diplomatic work that Australians do overseas. So, that's good to hear. Thank you very much for that.

COLLINS: Absolutely. And if any Australians do have any family or friends that they're concerned about, they should reach out to DFAT. There is a 24-hour consular emergency centre number. That's 1300 555 135, just for those Australians who may be concerned about loved ones.

LONG: Certainly so. And we'll repeat that throughout the program. Julie Collins, Federal Minister for Agriculture. China announced tariffs on beef yesterday. It could have a big effect on Australian farmers. What do you know, and what's it going to mean for us?

COLLINS: This is a global safeguard mechanism. We have been engaging together with industry, with Chinese officials, Government and Chinese industry now for around a year in relation to how they would apply the safeguard measure. And of course, this is a global safeguard measure. It's not just Australia that's been impacted here, but it will impact our industry. Of course, what was occurring was because of the good work of our government. A lot of the restrictions that were on our exports to China had started to be lifted. What has occurred is the way it's been averaged over three years. In the last 12 months, of course, our exports to China in terms of premium beef were increasing substantially so that will impact -

LONG: So, their argument is Australia is selling it cheaper there than they're selling it here, and that's how the dumping duties work. So, they're going to apply a 55 per cent tariff not just to Australia but to the world.

COLLINS: Globally, that's right. What they've done is for all of their importers, they've done an average. What they've done is they've said this is your average of what you're allowed to send into China and then over that there will be a tariff applied. We have been engaged for some time about the details of that, essentially, and what that might look like. We've been working very closely with industry on this. We do have some serious concerns about the way it's applying, but we have not been singled out yet.

LONG: The industry says it would cost us a billion dollars if it stays how it is. There is a quota we can export to China to before these tariffs apply. Experts like Simon Quilty were saying sort of May, June is likely when that gets hit. Does that mean the Government's on the clock? Do you need to start having better conversations with China to try and get a better deal before the middle of the year?

COLLINS: As I said, we've already been working with industry and with Governments making these representations already. We've made representations at the highest senior Ministerial levels. We have been having Government-to-Government representations and industry-to-industry representations. We've all been working together here on Team Australia to make sure that Australian voices are heard. As I've said, they are applying this globally, and they're applying it consistently. Our argument against that in terms of Australia is we are not a threat to their domestic industry, and we have a really high-quality product that the Chinese market does want, and we want to continue to be able to export that. We also, of course, have been working with industry to make sure that we do have other markets. And now our trade in terms of agriculture is the most diversified it has ever been. What you saw also on the 1st of January this year was a whole range of tariffs on agricultural trade lifted, because of the good work of the Government and industry working across the sector.

LONG: Not many of them or none of them are going to provide the billion that's lost here, though. And I've seen some media saying that this is going to bring beef prices down for Australians. Is that a good message for agriculture and regional Victorians?

COLLINS: There's been a lot of global displacement in terms of trade. Australia has been relatively shielded in the sense that we are more diversified than we have been. We saw obviously under the former Government, the significant hit that Australia took in terms of our Chinese exports, $20 billion worth. We've been slowly and steadily restoring that. We have been working really hard with industry and agriculture sectors to make sure that our trade is more diversified and we're now the most diversified we have ever been in terms of our agriculture trade, to make sure that there are the other markets available. We'll continue to work particularly with the beef industry at that premium end, which is what we're talking about here going into China, to make sure that there are other markets available.

LONG: Yeah, and just in that answer, your Government's been very vocal about rebuilding relationships with China post the COVID-era trade war under the former government, though. But were you perhaps too overconfident in your diplomatic abilities, given that we're back here with tariffs on our beef to China?

COLLINS: As I said, this is a global safeguard mechanism that's applying to all countries.

LONG: It's the same effect, though, isn't it, Minister?

COLLINS: Essentially, part of the issue here is that the averaging of the three-year period includes some of the time when we had those restrictions on. That's part of the issue here and the way that it is being calculated. And that is our concerns that we continue to raise with the Government and with industry in China, to see if we can't get some improvement in terms of our export quota limit there.

LONG: Yeah. Do you think Australia has a chance of negotiating a better deal than, say, some of the other countries affected by this over time, like you were able to do with tariffs on our beef to the USA?

COLLINS: Obviously, that also took some time, and this has been applied consistently globally. We'll continue to put up our arguments and continue to work with industry, but we'll also continue to work with industry in terms of making sure that we have more markets available.

LONG: Julie Collins is with you, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. It's 13 minutes to 9. Just before I let you go, Minister, you would have no doubt seen today, and it's been in the media over a number of days, pressure on your Prime Minister to call a Royal Commission into antisemitism or the events of Bondi. The former Reserve Bank Governor, CEOs of more than 130 businesses, are doing that just today. Do you think it's time for the PM to rethink his stance on not having a Royal Commission?

COLLINS: I can understand why people are, I guess, thinking that that will resolve everything. I think that the fact that the New South Wales Government is already doing that, the fact that we have called a short, sharp review by Dennis Richardson, means that the Government is working and is acting decisively and quickly. I understand people want answers. They want justice, and we think that this is the best way to go about it so that we can do it short and sharp and make the changes we need to make as quickly as possible. The issue with the Royal Commissions is that they can go on for some time. Even if they do interim recommendations, they do take a long time to come into effect. But we're not standing still either. We have already implemented some of the recommendations of the Special Envoy. The fact that we have a Special Envoy for Antisemitism is a step that our Government has taken to combat antisemitism. We've got obviously the Nazi symbol being outlawed by our Government. We've criminalised doxxing. We've got a National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database. We have been working all of this time, and we continue to do that. And we're busy implementing -

LONG: So, you're backing the Prime Minister's stance now?

COLLINS: We're busy implementing the recommendations that we have been given, and we have been doing that for some time. We have not been standing still. But I do understand everybody wants answers, everybody wants justice, and people's calls for this come from a good place. But we're acting in the best interest of the nation by doing it in a way that has been recommended to us. And we're doing it fast and short and getting the recommendations as quickly as possible so that we can act on them very quickly

LONG: What do you make of the pressure then being applied for one, because this is a long-held campaign with a number of voices adding their names to the list saying there should be a Royal Commission?

COLLINS: As I said, I can understand why people think that that is the solution. Having been around for a little while and been dealing with various Royal Commissions, they do have a role to play. And as I said, the New South Wales Government is already doing that. What we're doing as a Federal Government is doing an independent review by Dennis Richardson. He is the best person placed to be able to do that review. And we're doing it as quickly as we can do it, to get recommendations and to act quickly. And that is what the Australian public expect of us to do. But certainly I can understand that there is, I guess, a feeling out there that they want the Government to act, but they also want us to act really, really quickly. And that's what we're doing.

LONG: Good to talk to you today.

COLLINS: Thank you.