Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I particularly notice the attendance of the Ambassador of Peru, Luis Quesada, and I also note the extremely active Consul General in Sydney, Elizabeth Castro, who is certainly doing a significant amount of work to make sure that this 50th anniversary is noteworthy in Sydney.

I also note that 50 years of diplomatic relations between Peru and Australia has certainly been significantly recognised in Peru itself. On 30 January this year, those 50 years were recognised by an event at our embassy in Lima attended by 480 guests, including the Foreign Minister of Peru, Rafael Roncagliolo. The Congress of Peru on 9 May passed a congratulatory resolution, which was taken to the embassy by Victor Isla Rojas.

Today we recognise 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Obviously, there are many connections. We share borders with the largest ocean on this Earth—the Pacific, which covers 46 per cent of the world's water. We have a strong Indigenous population—in the case of Peru a far higher proportion than our own. Both countries are troubled by the struggle for equity of these people. We are both heavily dependent upon extractive mining, which tends to cause a degree of dislocation in our economies, and we have very strong ties. Through representative diplomats—in our case through Dr Herbert Vere Evatt, the former Australian Leader of the Opposition, and in their case through former UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar—we have also had significant roles on the international stage with regard to United Nations activities.

Our relations of 50 years involved, on our part, an embassy in Lima from 1968 to 1986. It was closed, but it is pleasing that it was reopened in 2010. It is important not only for Peru but also for large parts of South America with regard to immigration and other matters. In the case of Peru we are the 30th export source and the 39th import source. Peru has a population of 30 million—not that far distant from our own. Both countries have been very strong on international diplomatic fronts: Peru involved in the United Nations, APEC, the IMF, the WTO and the Organisation of American States, and this year it is the chair of the Union of South American Nations. We also bear common membership of the Pacific Alliance Forum.

Both countries are heavily dependent on extractive industries. In the case of Peru they make up 63 per cent of the total merchandise exports for that sector. The CIA handbook for the last year said of Peru:

The Peruvian economy has been growing by an average of 6.4% per year since 2002 with a stable/slightly appreciating exchange rate and low inflation, which in 2013 is expected to be below the upper limit of the Central Bank target range of 1 to 3%. Growth has been in the 6-9% range for the last three years, due partly to a leap in private investment, especially in the extractive sector, which accounts for more than 60% of Peru's total exports.

There is the question of how you finance investment, development and infrastructure in a mining industry, and it is worthwhile noting that Australian companies have $1.7 billion invested in the country, and $5 billion worth of new projects pending. When we hear people talking about foreign countries investing in Australia and what they own with regard to mineral sectors, it is important to note that Australian companies are themselves very active in other nations. We are in the top 10 investor sources for Peru.

There are other facets to our relationship, and one of them is migration. There are approximately 6,800 people in this country who claim Peruvian ancestry—a medium group by the standards of Australian migration diasporas—and of those a high proportion were born in Peru rather than being Australian-Peruvians born of parents from Peru. In my own electorate there are only 286.

People-to-people relationships are important, and I will talk briefly about three typical people I know who have migrated to this country. Francisca and Felix Grau have been known to me for the last decade or so. They are hardworking people: Felix is a handyman at a private school in Sydney and his wife is a trained teacher. They are people who make sure they try to enhance Australia's knowledge of their country through heavy involvement in music, dance and drama productions that they and friends put on in the Parramatta region. I have also known Isabel Almendrades for approximately two decades. She is a social worker who has been very involved with women's issues and with migrant needs in both North Sydney and Western Sydney. These are typical of migration sources, and typical of people who help build up a country.

The relationship between the countries takes many forms. It is worth noting that a very strong accent has recently been on educational efforts. Recently we have had applications for AusAID's Australian award scholarships for Latin America. They opened in February and closed on 30 April. These are very important. We also as a country have the Australia Latin America leadership program taking place in Australia in October this year. Young leaders from Peru and Bolivia between the ages of 28 and 42 with at least eight years work experience benefit from the program in terms of getting to know Australia and Australian participants and working with other young leaders from Latin America. We will select 24 people from both countries to make sure that this exchange between the countries is valuable.

Another aspect of relations between the countries is the question of volunteers. Every day of the week you hear about those people who have a change of lifestyle. One of my wife's relatives the other week, a well-paid chef in a London restaurant earning big bucks, suddenly became connected with an African village and was running a small fundraiser in Parramatta the other day to make sure that water and education will be provided. In Peru at the moment there are 12 Australian government-funded volunteers working there and many NGOs and religious orders. For instance, two Sisters of Mercy, Patricia McDermott and Joan Doyle, have just left Peru after devoting 17 years to changing the lives particularly of women and children in Candela, north of Lima. I notice that recently in the Queen's Birthday awards one person in Western Sydney in close proximity to where I live was recognised for those kinds of efforts.

We salute today Peru's historic liberation in 1821 from Spanish control. The efforts of Jose San Martin and Simon Bolivar headed a struggle that involved a multiethnic effort to replace the Spanish regime. As I noted earlier, on the world stage in recent years Peru has very much punched above its weight in a variety of international fora. The country also holds attractions for Australia in regard to investments in a number of other industries: energy, airports and traffic systems, agribusiness, sugar, dairy and gourmet foods. Australia is of course aware of Peru's arrival in a big way on the international gourmet cooking front. Agricultural equipment, genetics and veterinary products are also seen by Australia, along with environmental management, as being areas in which there can be development by Australian investment.

As of December last year there were 1,700 students enrolled in Australian universities. These are apart from those scholarships I talked about before, being students who have financed themselves. That is another significant way in which we can develop contacts between our two countries. Ex-president Garcia has visited Australia and back in 1975 Gough Whitlam enhanced Australia's contacts with the continent by a visit to Peru. I salute the efforts of Peru since its independence in 1821 and more particularly over the period that Australia and Peru have had diplomatic relations. These are important ties which are part of our wider engagement with South and Central America. Lima is indeed, through the embassy, an important stage post in that relationship. I also recognise that Peru's diplomats in Australia will make sure that that the Peruvian community is aware of these 50 years of ties and has an opportunity to participate in festivities and to drive home the connection between the two countries.

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