Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging the work of my fellow committee members, as the chair has done, and I also acknowledge the presence in the chamber of the deputy chair. This was a report that was, almost in its entirety, signed up to right across the entire membership of the committee. As the chair just indicated, it received bipartisan support. I also acknowledge the extensive contributions provided to our committee by a whole range of submitters, in often very extensive and thorough written submissions but also in person, taking considerable time out of their busy schedules to come and give evidence. I would like to acknowledge that we were beneficiaries of extensive evidence from academic experts—some of the best trade experts in the world, I might say—and from experts in trade across a number of other professions, from peak industry groups and from a number of individual businesses and citizens. The work of our committee in coming up with this report was greatly assisted by all of that evidence and expertise. I also acknowledge the work of the secretariat, who, under often difficult circumstances, continued working on this very complex topic and assisted the committee in delivering what I think is a very sound report and a significant contribution to an important topic.

I begin by saying trade and investment have always been important underpinnings to Australia's economic prosperity and also to our national security and broader national interest, and that was something which this report reaffirmed. We have always been an open economy and, in being an open economy, we have specialised in a range of goods and services and used our world-class productivity in those goods and services in the export of those goods and services to be able to import a range of other goods and services that it would be difficult and, on occasion, impossible to produce domestically. So it is critically important to reaffirm the importance of being an open economy and using the opportunity of trade in goods and services and two-way flows in investment to benefit our economy.

There is an understandable focus on the need for diversification in relation to trade not only in the destination of goods and services to particular countries but also from particular sectors, but that has long been the case in Australia. We have gone through periods of time with a range of different countries and across a range of different sectors where there has been a degree of concentration of our trade in goods and services. That is part of being an open economy. That is part of the ebb and flow of supply and demand. It is a risk, though, and it is something which we need to be constantly alert to and manage appropriately. But in managing that risk we need to, I believe, always do so while reaffirming the importance of remaining an open economy.

So, first and foremost, in our response to managing that risk, we reaffirm that we want to continue to be an open economy and, indeed, to continue to be a global champion and global leader in reducing barriers. Labor has long been a champion of opening up Australia's economy, and many of the great reforms over the last three or four decades have been under Labor governments. Indeed, we support further reductions in tariffs and, in many sectors, non-tariff barriers. It is often non-tariff barriers that are the most material. We support this particularly through multilateral arrangements and, where appropriate, bilateral arrangements.

But, secondly, it is critical that trade diversification become more of a national priority. This is not about weakening our economic relationship with China. This is about a China-plus strategy. It is about building upon the strengths of the relationship with China by expanding our economic relationships with other major economies such as India and such as the major ASEAN economies, economies in South America and of course other major OECD economies. But what we need is a practical plan for implementing that diversification. The recommendations in this report do provide some useful guidance. It is important to note that this government has been in office for around eight years, and now is the time for action, not continuously mouthing the word 'diversification'. Now is the time for practical action. That requires building capacity in our business sector. That requires building practical links, effective links, with all of those economies that I just mentioned—India, ASEAN, other OECD countries and South America. That requires, for example, programs to boast Asia literacy, particularly in businesses. It requires the right training opportunities for the jobs of the future. It requires promoting outward-bound investment in Asia, noting that Australia currently invests more in New Zealand than all of ASEAN combined.

So the recommendations in this report in relation to diversification are fine, but now is the time for action, and we have had far too little action over recent years on these issues. If we just look at India as one example, there have been major recommendations from a very robust report about that particular relationship that have been on the table for far too long.

I want to conclude by making a couple of comments about leasing the port of Darwin. This is something which was identified in the report, and it's a matter of some concern that has arisen under this government. This was a transaction that occurred under the current Liberal-National government, which didn't recognise or understand or interrogate sufficiently the risks associated with the long-term lease of that port, which is a sensitive asset of national strategic importance. Neither the Northern Territory Country Liberal government nor the Liberal-National federal government identified or properly considered the strategic implications or the long-term consequences of this deal for Australia's national security or sovereignty, and the actions of the Northern Territory Country Liberal government in selling and leasing different parts of this critical infrastructure were not opposed at the time by the Turnbull coalition government. Indeed, the then minister for trade, Andrew Robb, welcomed the transaction.

We believe it is important that this transaction is reviewed, and we believe that, despite the fact that the Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2020 has been passed, it's important that the government explain whether this lease, whether this transaction, is consistent with Australian foreign policy and that they must explain what actions they believe are appropriate.

In conclusion, returning to the report as a whole, it is a report that, as I said, makes a significant contribution to this broad issue. It is an important issue. We do need to diversify. I believe that we need to maintain the strength of our relationship with China, but we need to build upon that and build our links with India, with ASEAN, with the OECD and with other major economies, and we now need to see appropriate funding of practical strategies to that end.

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