Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to join the Prime Minister and other honourable members in expressing my personal sadness and my deepest sympathies to the people of Japan at the passing, in such tragic circumstances, of Abe Shinzo, the former Prime Minister of Japan. The assassination of Mr Abe was an absolutely shocking event in a country that is very peaceful. I've had the great good fortune to visit Japan for work and on holidays many times. It is an extraordinarily peaceful and friendly country, and to see such violence put upon a former leader was a horrific thing to have witnessed.

Mr Abe was a catalyst for change in Japan and across the whole region. He was a true friend of Australia who was admired the world over for his leadership and diplomacy. Mr Abe has been a crucial player in the extraordinarily close bilateral relationship between Australia and Japan. Mr Abe visited Australia five times as Prime Minister. He was at the centre of delivering a number of historic agreements that brought our economies closer together, creating decades of resources trade and investment to the advancement and security of both nations. The friendship he offered Australia was immensely consequential. It helped shape, and continues to shape, our region as we understand it today. In no small way he also helped shape Australia's modern economic outlook.

Mr Abe, when he was Prime Minister of Japan, and the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott concluded negotiations for the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement in 2014. It was signed in the same year and came into force the year after in this country. The existing economic partnership between our two countries was cemented by this free trade agreement, and it ensured Japan and Australia's ongoing trading and economic relationship. Mr Abe also saw our bilateral relationship elevated to a special strategic partnership in 2014.

Mr Abe's four major visits to Australia have impacted our relationship and the relationship between Japan and our resources and energy sector. I was honoured to attend when he came to Darwin in 2018 for the official opening of the INPEX LNG facility, which is one of the world's most significant gas projects. It was driven by over $35 billion worth of investment from Japan. The Ichthys LNG project remains the largest-ever Japanese overseas investment, and Japan chose Australia; Japan chose Darwin. Mr Abe was very much aware of the significance of the Ichthys project for the energy security of his own country, as are we.

On the same visit, very significantly, Mr Abe attended a ceremony commemorating the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. In that ceremony he and our Prime Minister of the day, Scott Morrison, commemorated the hundreds of people killed in the bombing of Darwin so many years ago, and Mr Abe renewed his vow towards peace at that time. Reflecting on the significance of this moment, Mr Abe said:

Thanks to the devoted efforts of many, Japan and Australia have achieved reconciliation and have become special strategic partners driving regional peace and prosperity.

I was very privileged to attend that ceremony in Darwin. As many who were there have observed before, it was indeed very moving and an extraordinary display of how much the relationship between our two countries has changed over so many years.

On the same trip he attended the Australia-Japan Summit Meeting. During this visit a memorandum of understanding between CSIRO and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation was signed to increase cooperation and encourage joint research activities in support of the hydrogen value chain and unconventional resources for energy. This memorandum of understanding is paying off now, as we see continued investment from Japan into hydrogen activities and the development of that industry in Australia—again, like LNG, for our energy security but also, of course, for the energy security of Japan itself.

Very significantly, Mr Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to address both houses of parliament in Canberra. This added a new dimension to the Australia-Japan relationship, which is now a very deep friendship founded on mutual respect, trust and openness. Japan and Australia were the first countries to place the Indo-Pacific over and above their existing foreign policies at the time.

Like the member for Wannon, I want to acknowledge the work Mr Abe and the diplomatic heft of Japan did in relation to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Under his leadership, the CPTPP was progressed after the US, sadly, deserted this important multilateral trade agreement spanning the Indo-Pacific. Australia joined Japan in the challenge of reviving the CPTPP under the leadership, in Australia, of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The CPTPP, in its new form after America had left, ultimately came into force in this country in 2018. I want to acknowledge the economic magnitude of Mr Abe's role in ensuring Japan not only played a lead role but took it back up when the TPP was on the floor and nearly abandoned. The significance of the CPTPP cannot be overestimated. It accounts for 11 countries, representing 495 million people—nations with a combined GDP of over $13½ trillion. It is an agreement of vast significance, and I am proud that in opposition Labor supported this through the parliament, as it will be a key driver of economic growth in our region. It is a vital piece of trade and investment architecture for our region which will ensure peace and prosperity for many years to come.

The impact of the extraordinary partnership between Australia and Japan is plain for all to see. Last year, Japan was Australia's second-largest resource export trading partner, with $52 billion in export earnings. LNG exports earned Australia $17.2 billion. There was $12.8 billion derived from exporting coal to Japan, $11.3 billion in iron ore exports and $1.3 billion in aluminium exports.

Mr Abe's was a life of consequence. He made a difference. He changed things for the better, not just for Japan but for our region and around the world. He was a giant on the world stage, and his legacy was one of global impact and global leadership and a positive one in strengthening the relationship between Japan and Australia. Again, I express my sincere condolences to the people of Japan for the loss of such an exceptional leader as Mr Shinzo Abe. The world is all the worse for his passing. It was made much better by his life. I commend the motion to the House.

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