E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SYDNEY
THURSDAY, 6 JULY 2017
SUBJECT: Barnaby Joyce’s threat to Australian trade with China
JASON CLARE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INVESTMENT, SHADOW MINISTER FOR RESOURCES AND NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
Well Malcolm Turnbull has barely left the country and Barnaby Joyce has already put his foot in his mouth. This morning on Radio National, Barnaby Joyce talked up the possibility of trade sanctions on China. Now this has got to be one of the stupidest things that Barnaby Joyce has ever said – and that’s a high bar.
He’s talking about trade sanctions against our biggest trading partner. We export more than $85 billion worth of goods and services to China every year. Threatening trade sanctions against China is a threat to hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs. It’s a threat to the jobs of miners, of farmers in the bush, of workers in big cities and in small suburbs.
Two years ago Barnaby Joyce threatened to kill Johnny Depp’s dogs, now he’s threatening Australian jobs. He’s threatening to cripple the Australian economy and Malcolm Turnbull needs to bring him into line.
Malcolm Turnbull lands in Germany tonight. The first thing he needs to do is to rule this out – rule out trade sanctions against China.
While he’s at it Malcolm Turnbull should also do to Barnaby Joyce what he doesn’t have the guts to do to Tony Abbott and that is tell Barnaby Joyce to pull his head in.
ENDS
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