00:01The tariff announcements really landed like a thud on the second day of this ALP conference.
00:06So this wasn't surprising because the US had of course flagged this a couple of months
00:10ago but it has been bitterly disappointed that these tariffs have been imposed at a
00:15higher rate.
00:16Now for Australia's exporters we potentially lose a bit of competitive advantage here because
00:21most of our exports had been subject to a 10% tariff, now it's 12.5% so we don't
00:27have
00:27the lowest tariff rate although Don Farrell, the Trade Minister, says that our top three
00:33exports being copper, gold and beef remain tariff free but these imposition of these tariffs
00:40from the beginning was in breach of the Australian US Free Trade Agreement.
00:45Australia doesn't impose any tariffs on the US and so that is the basis for this argument
00:49that these tariffs are simply unjustified and on the issue of whether there is slavery in
00:55Australia's supply chains or this idea of Australia not doing enough to eliminate forced labour,
01:01well the government says that that's really just a furphy.
01:03Australia has strong anti-slavery provisions and the belief within government is that this
01:08is just another way of Donald Trump finding legal avenues to impose tariffs and pursue his
01:15tariff agenda with other countries.
01:16Here's how the Trade Minister Don Farrell responded earlier this morning.
01:20Can I say how disappointed we are in the decision of the United States Trade Representative to increase
01:31tariffs on some Australian products going into the United States. We do not believe it was justified.
01:41We believe that amongst all of the countries in the world, Australia does take the issue of slavery,
01:49modern slavery seriously and will continue to do that. But we think and we believe the Albanese government
01:57believes that this imposition of higher tariffs on Australia is completely unjustified and we will
02:05continue to lobby the United States Trade Representative to remove all tariffs on Australian goods.
02:15So you're there for the ALP conference. Jane, what's top of the agenda for today?
02:21Sure, it's day two today, Ros. And look, there are actually some interesting amendments to the national
02:26platform being debated today. What's sort of important to note is that there is this big 125-page national
02:32platform for labour and the amendments and the policies and priorities that are in this ultimately
02:37guide or the idea is for it to guide government policy. Now, the amendments that we understand to
02:43move today, there was a suggestion that there might be a fight over gambling, a push to strengthen the
02:49language on gambling. Well, a fight has sort of been avoided because an agreement has been put on an
02:55amendment which would effectively ensure that the government strengthens the powers of the relevant
03:03national regulators. So the wording of the platform will be strengthened on that. There will also be an
03:09amendment moved on voluntary assisted dying. Delegates expecting to agree on a motion that will push the
03:15government to remove legal barriers to accessing voluntary assisted dying over telehealth. And a motion just
03:21passed a moment ago pushing Labor to basically take ownership of renewable energy projects to help heavy
03:27industry that's currently struggling with high power prices. So there's some of the amendments that
03:33we're expecting today on the second day of the conference.
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