Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

First I will make a brief opening statement on behalf of the Minister for Trade and Investment and I, and then we will accept questions relating to the portfolio. The 2014-15 Foreign Affairs and Trade Portfolio budget statement reflects the government's commitment to protecting and projecting Australia's national interests as an open market oriented economy and our values as a free liberal and democratic country. The government is giving priority to strengthening Australia's key bilateral relationships based on a foundation of common interests and mutual respect. We will continue to work with our friends and partners in forums such as APEC; ASEAN, where we are celebrating our 40th year as a dialogue partner; the East Asia Summit; the Indian Ocean Rim Association; and the United Nations and other for a to enhance cooperation and trust between nations.

We will build a new generation of people-to-people links through initiatives such as our signature new Colombo Plan, which will see Australian undergraduates study and work in the region. As we promised at the last election, we will have a pilot plan underway in the new Colombo Plan by the end of this year. About 1,300 new Colombo Plan scholars will be studying at four locations in our region: Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2015 we will be opening up the new Colombo Plan to other countries in the region, and already China and South Korea have agreed to be part of it. The new Colombo Plan is raised by presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers in our region as being a wonderful expression of Australia's foreign policy.

We have also elevated economic diplomacy to a core pillar of our international engagement to help drive greater prosperity for Australia. Just as traditional diplomacy focused on the goals of peace, so economic diplomacy focuses on the goals of prosperity. As part of this, the government will continue to pursue an aggressive trade and investment agenda. This agenda is already paying dividends: the Minister for Trade and Investment has concluded high-profile free trade agreements with South Korea and Japan and made very good progress on an agreement with China. These are trade negotiations that commenced under the Howard government, and it is fair to say the Abbott government has now achieved more in seven or eight months than those opposite managed in six years. We have staged major investment forums all around the world, and almost $1 billion in commercial deals were finalised during Australia week in China alone during the visit of the Prime Minister and the minister for trade recently.

The government's decision to restore $200 million in capital to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation after funds were ripped out by Labor and boost the Export Market Development Grants scheme by $50 million shows that, as the Prime Minister announced on election night, Australia is once again open for business.

Tourism is one of our economy's great strengths. Our $43 million commitment to the new Tourism Demand-Driver Infrastructure Program and $10 million in new funding for the Australia-China Approved Destination Status Scheme will further strengthen the tourism industry and create jobs, particularly in regional Australia. Other key funding announcements in the budget include over $35 million to continue Australia's diplomatic engagement in Iraq and support co-location of embassy staff with Britain, over $51 million to continue diplomatic engagement in Afghanistan and $6½ million over two years to support Operation Sovereign Borders and continue regional engagement on countering people-smuggling activities.

Fixing Labor's economic mess requires the government to make tough but necessary decisions to set the path back to surplus. The Australian government will deliver an aid program the country can responsibly afford. We are focusing on our region where we can make the biggest difference. In 2014-15 the government will spend around $5 billion in official development assistance. That will rank Australia within the top 10 OECD donors. We have increased funding for humanitarian emergencies and refugees from $264 million to an estimated $338 million to strengthen Australia's ability to respond to situations, such as Syria and, indeed, Iraq.

The government has reversed Labor's cut to the emergency fund. They diverted $740 million out of the aid budget to pay for the blow-out in onshore-processing costs. This was a policy that made the Gillard government itself the third largest recipient of the Australian aid program. We have also increased the scholarship program by 30 per cent to help approximately 4,500 students from developing countries study in Australia.

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