FRAN BAILEY (2:52 PM) —I direct my question to the Prime Minister. Would the Prime Minister inform the House of the findings of the final report of the WTO dispute settlement panel into US measures against Australian lamb?

Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) —I thank the member for McEwen for her question. I am quite delighted to inform the House that the final report of the World Trade Organisation panel on lamb meat has found against the United States. This is tremendous news for Australian exporters. For the first time in living memory, to my understanding, there appears to be a modicum of international trade justice for the farmers of Australia. For too long, our primary producers have laboured under a world trading order which not only has discriminated against primary producers to the benefit of those who depend more heavily on manufactured goods but, even amongst primary producers, has written the rules to advantage the Americans and the Europeans to the detriment of Australians and New Zealanders.

What was done by the United States in relation to lamb was indefensible. It was the subject of very strong representations at the time, by me and the Minister for Trade, to the American administration. Those representations at a political level were of no avail; but, to his very great credit, the Minister for Trade and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade supporting him did not give up. I want to thank the minister—who is once again overseas doing trade business on behalf of Australia—and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the great work that they did.

The WTO panel has reaffirmed its interim finding that the United States is in breach of its World Trade Organisation obligations and that the tariffs it imposed on our lamb imports are unjustified. I understand that the report will be released publicly in the next few weeks. From the beginning of this dispute, the government has been pursuing actively the vital interests of Australian lamb farmers. We have always maintained that the American measures were wrong. I understand that it is still open to the United States to appeal against the report. If it does so, Australia will vigorously defend the findings. I also make the point that, when the process of appeal has been resolved and this matter is finally concluded in Australia's favour, we will expect of the Americans immediate action to remove the unfair quotas that have been imposed on our lamb exporters—just as they required of us immediate action in relation to the Howe Leather company.

This is a very important victory for Australian farmers and it is a victory they deserve. It is a recognition long denied to them that there is some justice in the international trading system, and I hope that it is seen throughout the farming community as a token of the long-term value of pursuing more open trade. In the end, the salvation of Australian exporters is in a more open, liberal world trading system. Because of our size, we cannot retreat into protection and the imposition of quotas. It is tough, it is very hard and it is very unrewarding, but in the long run a country of Australia's size will benefit more than many others from an open, liberal world trading system.