Australia's Trade Minister Andrew Robb says consumers and businesses should be able to see the effects of the historic free trade agreement with Japan before the end of the year.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Australia on Tuesday to sign the agreement.

"This is by far the most ambitious trade agreement that Japan has ever done with any country in the world, this is a first," Mr Robb told Business Today's Whitney Fitzsimmons.

"Before the new year I think you'll see a lot more movement, a lot more trade, a lot more investment."

He says Australian consumers can expect to see cheaper electronics, whitegoods and cars, as well as automatic visa access for those with spouses working in Japan.

Mr Robb has rebuffed claims that tariffs would not come down fast enough, leaving Australian farmers at a disadvantage.

He says the compromises had to be made to make progress with trade negotiations.

"This has been ten years in the making, no progress through the whole period of the labor government and a lot of that was at the insistence of the rural sector, some areas of the rural sector that it's 100 per cent or nothing, well they got nothing," he said.

"Now we've got very major improvements to the tune of $400 million per year just for beef alone, and the other areas we will progressively improve over time.

"We could have done nothing if we'd gone for 100 per cent, we could have still been negotiating in another six years time but we didn't.

"We've got the best deal Japan's done with anyone, it's going to add billions of dollars of revenue for Australians, it goes heavily into services and many areas outside of agriculture to the benefit of Australia."

Indonesia moving away from Australian beef

Meanwhile, on the eve of presidential elections in Indonesia, both candidates have indicated a desire to lessen dependence on Australian beef.

Mr Robb dismissed claims this move is linked to strained relations between Canberra and Jakarta caused by revelations of government spying and tension over the Abbott government's asylum seeker policy.

He says the move is due to pressure on the Indonesian government to grow the local agriculture sector.

"There's a local expectation amongst their 4.9 million farmers, that they could and should be able to supply the needs of the Indonesian people," he said.

"This has been an expectation that has been put out there by Indonesian ministers for many years."

Mr Robb says Australian beef has been crucial to fuelling Indonesia's growing middle-class and believes the trade relationship can continue while Indonesia grows its local yield.

"The fact is, over the last 10 or so years, the import of Australian beef in particular has been an important supplement to meet the growing prosperity in Indonesia," he said.

"Australia's been able to meet that need with the cattle that we are exporting and sure, [Indonesia] would like to improve their herd, Australian producers can actually help them improve their herd so they can get higher productivity but in the meantime we're well placed to meet the growing needs for protein in Indonesia."

Two-way trade between Australia and Indonesia is valued at close to $12 billion.

Both Indonesia Australia Business Council president Kris Sulisto and Export Council of Australia chairman Ian Murray say there is not enough cross-border business between Australia and Indonesia.

Mr Robb says though this has been the case due to economic difficulties in Indonesia in the 1990s, he expects cross-border business to improve as Indonesia continues to prosper.

"Over the last 10 years, many Australian businesses overlooked what was happening in Indonesia... but Indonesia has really started to get into its stride and business has progressed well... there's a growing interest from Australians," he said.

Mr Robb says trade has improved, and the live cattle trade has rebounded to levels similar to those before the 2011 live cattle export ban.

Silence on asylum seekers

In light of Monday's High Court injunction to block the handover of 153 asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, Mr Robb maintains that not disclosing details of the handover protects the integrity of border operations.

"It is an operational issue, and the important point is are we delivering on what we said we would do?" he said.

"We said we would stop the boats, and we have stopped the boats, we've stopped thousands of people dying at sea."

He dismissed claims by Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs that turning back boats could lead to people dying at sea.

"They can speculate on that," he said.

"I can assure every Australian that everything we are doing at sea is according to international law and is safe.

"We are not losing any body at sea, no more deaths, and no more people coming by boat to be put into camps.

"This is a very good thing for Australia to control its borders so we can bring in other refugees, legitimate refugees, who are being displaced by the boat people and can now come from refugee camps and settle according to the refugee program we've had in an uninterrupted way for 60 years now."