Albanese bets on trade brawl to bash Coalition amid inflation woes

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has branded the Coalition “nativist and protectionist” over its resistance to a proposed European Union trade agreement, but Nationals leader Matt Canavan is doubling down and claiming Labor’s $10 billion valuation relies on figures from before Brexit.

Albanese escalated the brawl over the trade pact by seizing on internal Liberal dissent, after this masthead revealed backbencher Alex Hawke warned colleagues in a closed-door meeting that backing Canavan’s tough stance would be “nutty”.

“[Hawke] questioned why it is that Matt Canavan is making determinations without any process in their party room or their shadow cabinet,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

“Trade is a good thing. I thought this was resolved in the 1980s under the Hawke and Keating governments and that, since then, there was support across this parliament and across the mainstream political parties.”

“This is just an excuse for going down the road of protectionist and nativist politics. Nativist politics is not in Australia’s national interest. We are a trading nation.”

Albanese, who is struggling in the polls and facing increasing criticism on inflation, tried to turn the EU deal into a political test for the opposition. Labor used nearly all its set-piece speeches in question time on Wednesday to argue for the free trade agreement.

In a press conference to spruik the under-pressure government’s agenda, Albanese cited an upcoming APEC meeting between Donald Trump, often described as a nativist, and Xi Jinping and said at that summit “Australia wants to be … for free and fair trade unequivocally”.

The prime minister’s attack is unlikely to sway Canavan and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor. Canavan frustrated his Liberal colleagues by going out early and declaring both parties were against the deal before the shadow cabinet or leadership group had agreed. But on the substance of the deal, most Liberals agree the proposed agreement locks future governments into the Paris climate accord, shortchanges dairy and red meat producers, and embeds contentious, pro-union labour rules.

Canavan will on Thursday expose what he claims is a “fake figure” of a supposed $10 billion gain from the trade deal. The Nationals leader, who has been needling into the deal in Senate estimates, said the figure was from 2020.

“The fake figures also include the benefits of increased exports to the UK, from when the UK was previously part of the EU, but now that is no longer the case,” he said.

“The dodgy figures were also based on predictions of enormous export increases, which aren’t possible under Labor’s [deal]. It includes a staggering 528 per cent increase in beef and sheep meat exports, an 86 per cent increase in dairy exports, a 113 per cent increase in rice exports, and a 123 per cent increase in sugar exports.

“Labor has misled the public and the Senate to declare a $10 billion so-called benefit, which never modelled the actual outcomes of the worst trade deal in Australia’s history.”

Hawke, a factional opponent of Taylor, told a Liberal-only party room meeting on Tuesday that Canavan had no right to dictate the Liberal position and said voters could see the economic damage caused by the Trump administration’s stance on tariffs and trade.

“If we don’t have our own identity on key economic issues, then the Nationals will dominate us and that will be at our expense electorally,” Hawke told his colleagues, according to sources in the room.

Hawke praised Taylor for defusing the situation when Canavan, a maverick for years before becoming leader, moved unduly quickly. The backbencher added that it would be seen as “nutty” for a free-market party to outright oppose a deal with the world’s second-biggest trading bloc.

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