‘Rocks in your head’: Labor slams Nationals over trade ahead of new EU pact

Paris: Australia will sign a pact with the European Union to join research projects backed by more than $150 billion in funding, sparking new calls on the Coalition to vote for a free trade deal with the EU after weeks of dispute about its climate change provisions.

Industry Minister Tim Ayres will commit Australia to the Horizon Europe funding scheme in a major pledge in Brussels on Thursday in the wake of the trade deal and a defence partnership agreed to earlier this year.

The program shares €93.5 billion ($152 billion) for science, industry and innovation projects across EU member states as well as countries such as Australia that contribute money and research.

In one example, the University of New South Wales will on Wednesday announce a joint project with the University of Stuttgart in Germany to develop new materials to generate solar power.

University chiefs will back the move on Thursday in Brussels, where Ayres will finalise the agreement with European Commission counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva.

Ayres called on the Coalition to drop its objections to the trade deal in the light of the wider benefit of tighter ties with Europe on industry and defence as well as trade.

“This is now a very strong relationship that is all about Australia’s national interest,” he said in a phone interview during his visit to Europe.

“It’s all about a shared view of our strategic interest and sovereignty in a world that’s tougher for both Europe and for Australia.

“The world is more contested, more fragmented. There’s more of a premium on co-operation between like-minded countries on issues like defence, research and economic growth.”

Horizon Europe was launched by the EU in 2021 to spur more research across member states, and it later added Canada, New Zealand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and others.

All members contribute funding. Australia has promised $40 million.

The major benefits to Australia are expected to flow in the next phase of Horizon Europe funding, worth €53.5 billion over the next seven years and part of the broader €93.5 billion.

The research priorities for Australia are expected to be critical minerals, computing, energy, climate, health and space.

But the talks in Brussels come at a time when the EU Free Trade Agreement, unveiled in March, faces an impasse in the Senate because the Nationals are warning against the deal, while the Liberals and Greens are yet to declare their positions. It is backed by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan has blasted the trade deal because it includes provisions that commit Australia to the Paris Agreement on climate change and a net-zero target for emissions.

Canavan said on Sunday he would be “constructive” in talks with Trade Minister Don Farrell, but he stood by his rejection of the net-zero target by 2050.

Ayres said the series of agreements with Europe were good for the economy and national security and should not be put in jeopardy by the Coalition.

“You would have to have rocks in your head to oppose the EU FTA in this period, when we’re in the middle of a heightened strategic contest and trade volatility,” he said.

“Australia is anchoring ourselves in strategic terms and economic-growth terms to an economy with 400 million people in it.

“These are absolutely crucial deals for Australia.”

The defence partnership, like the trade agreement, was agreed in March. It aims to improve co-operation on defence industry initiatives, given that Europe has major defence exporters and Australia is seeking to export more high-tech defence equipment to Europe.

The trade agreement has been criticised by Australian food exporters for doing too little to open up European markets, although it increases some access for beef and lamb.

Ayres rejected Canavan’s concern about the climate provisions in the European deal.

“Every single agreement that Australia’s signed over the course of the last 15 years has similar provisions,” he said.

“It’s a nonsense argument. Nobody in the real world believes it.

“It’s not a real argument, and the Coalition ought to get serious and get adult.”

Some Liberals have pushed back at Canavan, with former cabinet minister Alex Hawke describing the Nationals’ position as “nutty” in a party room meeting last month.

Ayres arrived in the UK on Sunday for visits to advanced manufacturing centres and is due to travel to Stuttgart to discuss the UNSW agreement before heading to Brussels for the EU talks.

UNSW vice chancellor Attila Brungs said there would be an “enormous” benefit from the partnerships under Horizon Europe.

“Australia produces about 3 per cent of the world’s new knowledge each year, despite representing only 0.3 per cent of the global population, which means we must connect with the other 97 per cent,” he said.

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