Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Kalgoorlie for his question and recognise the enormous input that the electorate of Kalgoorlie has into Australia’s national export effort. We have recorded in this place before the statistics for exports from Australia last year, which totalled $176 billion—a record in terms of the value of exports from Australia. Importantly, the economic rise of China, in transforming the global economy and through the impact it has been having on the regional economy in the last two years, has had a profound impact on that growth in Australian exports, with a lot of those coming out of the electorate of Kalgoorlie.

In the last two years alone China accounted for a quarter of the world’s total economic growth. It is a phenomenal growth to watch at the moment with the transformation and the industrialisation that is taking place in China, and of course Australia is a key partner in that. China has become our second-largest export market after Japan. Our exports to China rose in 2005 by a massive 41 per cent. Again, I include many of the exports out of the electorate of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, particularly minerals, fuels and energy, which recorded exports to China worth $8.3 billion. Agricultural exports have trebled in the last 10 years to $3 billion and China has become our third-largest agricultural export market destination.

On the services side, there are now a record number of Chinese students studying in Australian educational institutions, with 81,000 Chinese students studying in Australia. Last year 285,000 visitors from China came to our shores as inbound tourists. Manufactured exports soared by 133 per cent from 2000 to reach a record level in 2005. And, of course, China has become the largest market for Australian wool—a commodity, Mr Speaker, that I know you take a great deal of interest in.

Along with two-way investment flows the broad economic relationship between China and Australia is flourishing. Some of the agreements that have been put in place are quite significant, across the services and investment sector, not just the resources and energy sectors. With China throughout this decade we are building the foundations for Australia’s economic future. We have to lock ourselves in as much as we can to the growth path that China is embarking upon, because inevitably it will benefit all Australians.

Members would be aware that we have embarked upon the negotiation of a free trade agreement with China. We recognise that this will be a challenging agreement—it will not be like any other, but it is something that we must do to consolidate our position in this marketplace as well as create new opportunities for the future. It is all about our broader agenda as far as trade is concerned, its contribution to the Australian economy and the core objective of our government in keeping the Australian economy strong.

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