By EMILY IANNELLO
A free-trade agreement between Australia and China would help Avalon Aiport’s push for an international terminal, according to business leaders.
Influential produce entrepreneur Frank Costa and airport chief Justin Giddings said the proposed agreement would increase fresh food exports to China, enhancing Avalon’s case for an international terminal.
Mr Costa, who has long-called for food exports from Avalon to Asia, said the only problem was the agreement was “not happening quickly enough”.
“It would give us the opportunity to grow more produce and employ more people,” said the recently retired Mr Costa.
“The worst thing that can happen is when kids leave school and there are no jobs. The agreement would really open up enormous activity.”
Mr Costa said an international airport at Avalon would be “ideal“ for produce suppliers like Costa Group Trading.
“It’s so close to us – we’d be really happy about that … it would be a very good thing for the horticulture industry.”
Mr Giddings said the airport would support “anything making it easier to export fresh produce out of Australia into China”.
“I’ve been over to China on recent occasions and have looked at their produce and a lot of it’s from New Zealand because they’ve had a FTA for some time.”
New Zealand’s exports to China have quadrupled since their 2008 agreement.
Mr Giddings said accessing Chinese markets would be “great for Australia and also provide more job opportunities for Avalon”.
Developing an international terminal would be “the easy bit”, he said.
“The hard part is getting the Chinese to buy our produce. If we can remove the barriers it makes it very easy for the airport to fund the infrastructure because the demand is so much stronger.”
Labor has opposed the Abbott Government’s proposed free-trade deal, which has yet to pass through parliament, over concerns it could allow Chinese workers to take Australian jobs.
“What we need now is for the Government to stop playing politics and address the legitimate concerns being raised in the community around the labour market-mobility clause and what this means for Australian jobs,” said federal Member for Corio Richard Marles.
“Make no mistake though, Labor absolutely wants to see this agreement implemented.”
