>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — China will resume importing Australian live lobsters by the end of the year, removing the final major obstacle to bilateral trade that once cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year, Australia’s prime minister said Thursday.
>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement after meeting Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Vientiane, Laos.
>The ban on lobsters was the last of a series of official and unofficial trade barriers that Beijing has agreed to lift since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government was elected in 2022.
>“I’m pleased to announce that Premier Li and I have agreed on a timetable to resume full lobster trade by the end of this year,” Albanese told reporters.
>“This of course will be in time for Chinese New Year and this will be welcomed by the people engaged in the live lobster industry,” he added.
>Albanese has given assurances that relations with China have been improved without compromising Australian interests. Beijing is unhappy with restrictions Australia has placed on some Chinese investments because of security concerns.
>“What’s important is that friends are able to have direct discussions. It doesn’t imply agreement, it doesn’t imply compliance and I’ll always represent Australia’s national interest. That’s what I did today; it was a very constructive meeting,” Albanese said.
>“I’m encouraged by the progress that we have made between Australia and China’s relationship in producing stabilization to the benefit of both of our nations and with the objective of advancing peace and security in the region,” Albanese added.
>China’s Embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
>Australian lobster exports to China had been worth AU$700 million ($470 million) in 2019.
>Beijing ended trade with Australia in 2020 on a range of commodities including lobster, coal, wine, barley, beef and wood as diplomatic relations plumbed new depths.
>Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison had angered Beijing that year by demanding an independent investigation into the origins of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
>Tom Ryan, a manager at lobster exporter Five Star Seafoods at Port MacDonnell in South Australia state, said he was disappointed that his trade would be the last to resume with China.
>“It’s been a long time coming,” Ryan told Australian Broadcasting Corp. of Albanese’s announcement.
>“Between myself and other people in Port MacDonnell, it’s an absolute relief,” he added.
>The industry had found new markets for lobster products but at lower profit margins, Ryan said.
>Li said during a state visit to Australia in June that he had agreed with Albanese to “properly manage” their nations’ differences.
>Beijing had severed minister-to-minister contacts during the conservatives’ nine years in power.
ScruffyPeter on
> Albanese has given assurances that relations with China have been improved without compromising Australian interests. Beijing is unhappy with restrictions Australia has placed on some Chinese investments because of security concerns.
I’m unhappy with restrictions such as owning property in China through my money laundering ‘Chinese family’ compared to Australia.
Can we now declare illegal import tariffs on Chinese lobster, wine, barley, beef and wood?
What’s that, tariffs are only okay when China does it?
How about that. No wonder we need AUKUS subs instead of French as an alternative per Scomo. Wait, the subs alone won’t bother China and need to freeze to support country’s gas industries such as Japan? LNP screwed us over! How about nukes? No nukes but shitty nuclear power plants? So we’re just a dog to both USA and China then?
Hahaha at least the Labor government doesn’t support Scomo’s AUKU…oh right, LNP is the one that undo’s Labor’s shit, and Labor is the one that keeps LNP’s shit going.
PortabelloMello on
Woopdi fucken doo. We should have banned all foreign home ownership when these cunts started doing these sanctions.
_tgf247-ahvd-7336-8- on
All because the Socceroos let them score the first goal tonight
geoffm_aus on
That sucks. I loved having cheap lobsters to eat in Australia.
landswipe on
I wonder what that cost us?
Tekashi-The-Envoy on
China owns most of it anyway…..
WizKidNick on
Really surprised at all the negativity here (or maybe I shouldn’t be). This is an objectively great showing from Albo as he unfucks the lobotomized mess Scomo left behind.
Ah well, guess another decade of incompetent LNP rule was always inevitable.
xiphoidthorax on
So now we don’t get lobster at our supermarket again. We get the scraps in our own country, fuck I hate our governments.
9 Comments
>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — China will resume importing Australian live lobsters by the end of the year, removing the final major obstacle to bilateral trade that once cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year, Australia’s prime minister said Thursday.
>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement after meeting Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Vientiane, Laos.
>The ban on lobsters was the last of a series of official and unofficial trade barriers that Beijing has agreed to lift since Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government was elected in 2022.
>“I’m pleased to announce that Premier Li and I have agreed on a timetable to resume full lobster trade by the end of this year,” Albanese told reporters.
>“This of course will be in time for Chinese New Year and this will be welcomed by the people engaged in the live lobster industry,” he added.
>Albanese has given assurances that relations with China have been improved without compromising Australian interests. Beijing is unhappy with restrictions Australia has placed on some Chinese investments because of security concerns.
>“What’s important is that friends are able to have direct discussions. It doesn’t imply agreement, it doesn’t imply compliance and I’ll always represent Australia’s national interest. That’s what I did today; it was a very constructive meeting,” Albanese said.
>“I’m encouraged by the progress that we have made between Australia and China’s relationship in producing stabilization to the benefit of both of our nations and with the objective of advancing peace and security in the region,” Albanese added.
>China’s Embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
>Australian lobster exports to China had been worth AU$700 million ($470 million) in 2019.
>Beijing ended trade with Australia in 2020 on a range of commodities including lobster, coal, wine, barley, beef and wood as diplomatic relations plumbed new depths.
>Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison had angered Beijing that year by demanding an independent investigation into the origins of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
>Tom Ryan, a manager at lobster exporter Five Star Seafoods at Port MacDonnell in South Australia state, said he was disappointed that his trade would be the last to resume with China.
>“It’s been a long time coming,” Ryan told Australian Broadcasting Corp. of Albanese’s announcement.
>“Between myself and other people in Port MacDonnell, it’s an absolute relief,” he added.
>The industry had found new markets for lobster products but at lower profit margins, Ryan said.
>Li said during a state visit to Australia in June that he had agreed with Albanese to “properly manage” their nations’ differences.
>Beijing had severed minister-to-minister contacts during the conservatives’ nine years in power.
> Albanese has given assurances that relations with China have been improved without compromising Australian interests. Beijing is unhappy with restrictions Australia has placed on some Chinese investments because of security concerns.
I’m unhappy with restrictions such as owning property in China through my money laundering ‘Chinese family’ compared to Australia.
Can we now declare illegal import tariffs on Chinese lobster, wine, barley, beef and wood?
What’s that, tariffs are only okay when China does it?
How about that. No wonder we need AUKUS subs instead of French as an alternative per Scomo. Wait, the subs alone won’t bother China and need to freeze to support country’s gas industries such as Japan? LNP screwed us over! How about nukes? No nukes but shitty nuclear power plants? So we’re just a dog to both USA and China then?
Hahaha at least the Labor government doesn’t support Scomo’s AUKU…oh right, LNP is the one that undo’s Labor’s shit, and Labor is the one that keeps LNP’s shit going.
Woopdi fucken doo. We should have banned all foreign home ownership when these cunts started doing these sanctions.
All because the Socceroos let them score the first goal tonight
That sucks. I loved having cheap lobsters to eat in Australia.
I wonder what that cost us?
China owns most of it anyway…..
Really surprised at all the negativity here (or maybe I shouldn’t be). This is an objectively great showing from Albo as he unfucks the lobotomized mess Scomo left behind.
Ah well, guess another decade of incompetent LNP rule was always inevitable.
So now we don’t get lobster at our supermarket again. We get the scraps in our own country, fuck I hate our governments.