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INNOVATION IN PRACTICE
porting would become less expensive for business and our exporters would likely find it easier to ac- cess a wider range of markets, thereby supporting government diversification objectives. ABARES modelling shows that removing NTMs would bring annual benefits to Australian agri- cultural exporters exceeding $4 billion over the medium term, underscoring the importance of strong resourcing for technical market access ne- gotiations to combat their growth. Exports are the engine room of our agricultural, fish- eries and forestry sector, earning $75 billion in 2023-24. Consider also that around 70 per cent of our agri- cultural, fisheries and forestry production (by vol- ume) is destined for international markets.
But sorting the more protectionist measures, or bar- riers, from the more legitimate measures requires effort. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade de- fines measures it considers barriers – termed non-tar- iff barriers or NTBs as “any kind of 'red tape' or policy measure, other than tariffs or tariff-rate quotas, that unjustifiably restrict[s] trade.” The first step in understanding whether these measures create barriers to trade is to understand the impact that the full range of NTMs are having on our trade. ABARES analysis has quantified this impact on bilateral trade at a product level, finding that they now cause the equivalent change in trade as a 19 per cent tariff—and this has also been growing over time. If these compliance costs could be removed, ex-
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