Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Trade. Would the minister advise the House of the outcomes of last week’s APEC trade ministers’ meeting? What was achieved and how will it help Australia’s exporters of goods and services, including farmers, manufacturers and small business operators?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I assure the member for Cowper and all honourable members that APEC last week was an extraordinary success, perhaps the most successful APEC ever. Sydney and the other APEC cities around Australia certainly did our country proud in the way in which they hosted these events. There were a wide range of really important outcomes for the future of our country and, perhaps just as importantly, Australia’s wonderful hospitality was shown off to the rest of the world and so were the tremendous opportunities we can offer.

Australia is a trading nation and so APEC is particularly important to us. Eight out of our top 10 trading partners are APEC members and they account for around 70 per cent of our trade. The growth in trade within the APEC region has created a lot of jobs within Australia and provided tremendous opportunities for Australian industry. Our exporters are doing a sterling job, but they need a government that will continue to fight to liberalise the multilateral trade and investment environment and will make it easier for them to do business. Trade ministers and country leaders demonstrated their firm commitment to the Doha Round with a very strong statement committing the political will to achieving a successful outcome for those discussions.

At the regional level there was further discussion about how we could cooperate amongst the 21 members of APEC to break down trade barriers. We spoke about the prospect of a free trade area within our own region as a long-term objective but set about dealing with practical measures which could achieve outcomes immediately. The report on strengthening regional economic integration identified more than 50 agreed actions and included a whole range of initiatives we can enact immediately to further break down barriers and reduce the cost of doing business for our trading companies.

Through APEC, doing business has become a lot easier. Businesspeople from 20 APEC economies have priority immigration clearance through the APEC business card scheme. Business transaction costs were reduced by five per cent between 2002 and 2006 and we have committed ourselves to a further five per cent reduction by 2010. There will be codes of conduct for business and public officials. We agreed to fight corruption through improved legal cooperation, improved customs processes, common standards, paperless electronic systems and the like. APEC developed a very strong agenda of positive action to help build on our trading performance.

Labor, which opposes bilateral trade deals and has never negotiated a bilateral trade deal, can contribute nothing to this kind of environment. We need a government that cares about building trading opportunities, opens up new markets, creates jobs and gives Australian business a chance to grow and prosper.