Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on the Customs Amendment (Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement Amendment Implementation) Bill 2017. If you go back to 1965, to the time when Singapore became a nation, you would have to say their prospects did not look good. Here was a small island nation with virtually zero natural resources and a small migrant population. At that time in 1965 it was almost the height of the Vietnam War. We had the North Vietnamese, the Communists, wanting to infiltrate the rest of the countries through South-East Asia. Back in 1965, there was still a legitimate argument about which economic system would provide the greatest prosperity for its citizens. Was it the Communist socialist model promoted by Russia and the North Vietnamese, or was it the free market capitalist model promoted by the West?

We ask today why Singapore is so successful, and there are two things. Firstly, Lee Kuan Yew spoke in his autobiography about the importance of America and Australia's intervention in the Vietnam War. He said:

… the communist underground was still active in Singapore—

at the time of action in Vietnam—

America's action enabled non-communist Southeast Asia to put their own houses in order. By 1975, they—

the South-East Asian nations—

were in better shape to stand up to the communists. Had there been no US intervention—

of course, with Australia's support—

the will of these countries to resist would have melted and Southeast Asia would have most likely gone communist. The prosperous emerging market economies of ASEAN—

that we see today—

were nurtured during the Vietnam War years.

Singapore went down the track of free trade. They understood the importance of free trade—how that brings prosperity to your nation.

I was reading an article the other week and thought, 'This actually says everything that needs to be said about free trade.' It's by a gentleman called Allan Golombek. He said:

Imports are not a necessary evil; they are a necessary ingredient. Companies requiring inputs toward a finished product need to get the best price, quality, and service levels they can to compete. They need the widest potential network of potential suppliers. Being able to import—and therefore obtain the best possible terms and conditions from domestic and foreign suppliers—is crucial to being able to efficiently make products for export.

He continued:

In fact, the opportunity to import helps achieve productivity and prosperity more than the opportunity to export, because it does more to broaden choice. Importing widens the circle of potential suppliers competing to meet the needs of consumers and intermediate producers. It forces domestic companies to become more efficient and compete more effectively. It generates economies of scale, spreading production costs over a wider and larger market. It allows countries to utilize comparative advantage, importing goods and inputs from countries that are most efficient at making them. And it transfers knowledge, allowing importers to benefit from technological spillover.

That pretty much sums up Singapore's approach. And what have they achieved? One of the most successful and wealthiest societies on the planet.

We contrast that with those who decided free trade and free market capitalist policies are not the way to go. We look at a nation like Venezuela that, in contrast to Singapore, has more oil wealth than Saudi Arabia, but instead spurned free trade—that said capitalism is no good, that went for their thing of equality and social justice. What do we see in Venezuela today? A nation that once had a higher GDP than Australia—a nation that was once ranked fourth in the world with GDP—we now see in absolute collapse. Inflation there runs at 460 per cent. They have the world's worst economic growth at minus eight per cent. We see a nation where there are food riots and they slaughter the zoo animals for food. They have one of the highest murder rates in the world. Last year, there were over 21,000 murders in the nation of Venezuela, at a rate of 90 per 100,000. In contrast, Singapore had 16, at a rate of 0.3 per cent. In Venezuela, we see the re-emergence of diseases that were once eradicated—diseases like diphtheria. We see increases in child mortality. We see the final stages of socialism, where they even run out of toilet paper.

There cannot be a greater contrast—a greater example—between Singapore and Venezuela to show what is the greatest way to create prosperity for a nation's people and their economy, and yet we still have people in this parliament and state parliaments around this nation that argue against free trade. While the historical evidence of how it drives prosperity is there, we still have so many people who want to argue against free trade. Among all the wonderful things this coalition government has done, one of the best is the free trade agreements with China, with Japan and with South Korea, and now we can add this free trade agreement with Singapore to the list.

I will go through some of the things that this free trade agreement will achieve. Firstly, it will enhance our education opportunities. There will be new opportunities, through increased recognition of tertiary qualifications obtained from Australian universities. In the legal field, it will be simpler for Australian lawyers and law firms operating in Singapore to obtain and retain accreditation. In the financial markets, Australian financial service providers will be able to provide services to Singapore, including banking, insurance, fund management, portfolio management and brokerage. Professional services will benefit.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17:31 to 17:46

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