Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance) (14:31): I thank Senator Madigan for his question. I can confirm for the chamber that this morning the Prime Minister and President Xi announced the conclusion of negotiations for a free trade agreement. After more than 10 years of negotiations, the Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister Robb, and his Chinese counterpart, Minister Gao, will later today sign a declaration of intent, which is an undertaking to prepare the text of the agreement for signature. The Prime Minister said already that the government will release details of the outcome soon. This is a historic agreement. It is a high-quality free trade agreement which will open up significant opportunities for Australia in the world's second-largest economy and our largest trading partner. It will ensure the competitiveness of our agriculture, industrial goods and manufacturing industries, it advances and protects access for our service providers and it will attract greater investment into Australia, driving growth and creating jobs. Senator Madigan: Mr President, a point of order on relevance: I asked what percentage of Chinese exports to Australia currently attract no Australian tariffs. The PRESIDENT: The minister has 55 seconds left to answer the question. I remind the minister of the question. Senator CORMANN: As part of the announcement that will be made later today and subsequent announcements, the Minister for Trade and Investment will deal will all of these sorts of issues at the time when the government is in a position to release the formal details of the agreement that has been reached. The free trade agreement to be announced today complements the free trade agreements— Senator Madigan: Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevance. Senator Cormann, it is a pretty simple question: what percentage of China's exports to Australia currently attract no Australian tariffs? Surely to God the government knows that. The PRESIDENT: I remind the minister of the question. Senator CORMANN: I appreciate that question. I of course am only the Minister representing the Minister for Trade and Investment in this chamber. I will take that part of the question on notice and provide an answer to Senator Madigan, but I would point out that together the free trade agreements in relation to Korea, Japan and China cover 39 per cent of Australia's total trade, which is a very significant proportion of our total trade.