John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities, I present the report of the delegation to China from 2 to 6 July 2018, and I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

Today, I present the report of the parliamentary delegation to China. In July 2018 a delegation from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities visited the People's Republic of China. Travelling to four cities in five days, the delegation spent time in Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu and Hong Kong. It witnessed the incredible progress made by China, particularly in the development of cities and transport infrastructure. A number of key lessons arose from the visit, perhaps the most important being that we have much to learn from our biggest trading partner in the planning and development of infrastructure and cities.

One critical lesson from China is the importance and value of integrated planning. All China's infrastructure is planned hand in hand with land use. This ensures that infrastructure development supports and is supported by other key economic, social, and, increasingly, environmental objectives. Furthermore, it ensures that the uplift in property values created by this integrated development is automatically captured to entirely fund the infrastructure development. In particular, the development model used by the MTR in Hong Kong is directly applicable to Australia, both in retrofitting infrastructure into our cities and in the infrastructure required for strategic decentralisation and sustainable growth. MTR provided the delegation with a full briefing of their business model—integrated planning of transport and land use, using comprehensive value capture to fully fund infrastructure development. MTR are already familiar with Australian conditions. They could easily apply their experience and expertise to assist with the development of transport infrastructure within our cities. More importantly, that model could be applied to the development of high-speed rail in Australia.

China also provides lessons for the development and financing of housing in Australia. Official government policy is directed at ensuring that the housing market favours homebuyers over investors, with much higher equity requirements for investors in purchasing real estate, and restrictions on the amount of property that can be purchased by individual investors. Planned growth is about housing future generations.

The delegation to China was also an opportunity to, in a small way, enhance China-Australia relations. The delegation received a warm reception at every meeting and had the opportunity to engage in open discussion on issues significant to both countries—a practice that should be encouraged. It is the delegation's view that, given the importance of China-Australia relations and the part that Chinese trade and investment is likely to play in the future development of Australia, it is vital that Australian policymakers have a stronger understanding of Australia's principal trading partner. This understanding can be gained only through direct engagement with and our experience of China.

It was noted in a briefing to delegation members that in the past four years nine committee delegations had visited Australia from China, but that in the past five years only three Australian parliamentary delegations had visited China. The delegation therefore believes that more opportunities should be created for Australian parliamentary delegations to visit China, thereby exposing more members and senators to the reality of modern China.

I'd like to personally thank those who played a part in the organisation and conduct of the visit—our hosts in China and the consular staff who supported us. In particular, I would like to thank Her Excellency Jan Adams, Australia's Ambassador to the People's Republic of China; Mr Tony Walter, the Acting Consul-General in Chengdu; Mr Sam Guthrie, the Acting Consul-General in Hong Kong; and Dr Yin Kwan, the Counsellor for Infrastructure with the Australian Embassy in Beijing. Dr Yin travelled with the delegation throughout the visit, ensuring that everything ran smoothly. I would especially like to thank my delegation colleagues, the members for Scullin, Fairfax and North Sydney, who, in a spirit of bipartisanship, ensured that the visit was pleasant and productive. On behalf of the committee, I commend this report to the House.

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