In Senate Estimates hearings on Tuesday night, an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) revealed that further rounds of the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement negotiations have been placed on hold.

The information was provided in answers to questions by Queensland Senator, Russell Trood in the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

Senator Trood regards the negotiation of the trade agreement with China as an important priority for Australian trade policy. He therefore regards any delay in securing an agreement as a matter of deep concern.

 “Here we have Mr Rudd and Mr Crean espousing the virtues of Australia’s trading relationship with China and yet the negotiations critical to Australia’s future trade relations have stalled, “said Senator Trood.

“This is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs given the current economic climate and the fundamental importance of the Chinese market to the Australian economy.”

“May I remind the Prime Minister that it was the record iron ore exports to China that helped Australia dodge a recession by adding an enormous 2.2 percentage points to GDP,” said Senator Trood.

 While no date has been scheduled for the next round (fourteenth) of negotiations, Senator Trood said it should be given high priority.

“If political intervention is required to get the negotiations on track the Trade Minister and, if necessary, the Prime Minister should invest the time and energy to ensure this occurs,” he said.