Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a significant community group in my electorate of Moreton, which has connections with Australia's 10th biggest export source. We are their 15th biggest trading partner; I am obviously talking about Taiwan. I note that recently, whilst there has been an increase in visitor arrivals to Brisbane—in fact, a seven per cent jump in May, compared to the year before—of that increase in visitor markets, the overall growth saw Taiwanese at 46.7 per cent. That reflects the increasing significance of the Taiwanese community not only in my electorate of Moreton where so many people with Taiwanese links and connections live but also in Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne, and all around Australia. The Taiwanese community have been arriving in increasing numbers.

Many of them are working in the agricultural sector and many of them are studying in Australia. We currently have a significant number of Taiwanese students living in Brisbane and in other capitals as well. Taiwanese students are adventurous. They come here with a great spirit and are interested in ensuring that they have a good time in Australia. Sadly, some Taiwanese students are being exploited by employers who are not considering the employment law in Australia and are taking advantage of them. I have spoken to the Taiwanese community as much as I can and to the Queensland and other state governments about ensuring that they understand employment law. I saw reports on the 7.30 report last week about Taiwanese employees who were spending the entire day in a field picking fruit and then, because of the arrangements with the shared accommodation where they were paying $120, $130 a week, they ended up only receiving $5, $10, $15 for a day's worth of picking in a field. There will always be people who are prepared to take advantage of travellers and, sadly, some Taiwanese students and travellers have been taken advantage of.

I particularly want to mention the director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane, Mr Wen-cheng Sung, who has served the community of Brisbane, Queensland and Australia for nigh on five years. Mr Sung previously spent time in Poland. He has spent five years in Brisbane and has been an incredibly hardworking, loyal servant of the Taiwanese community and the Taiwanese travellers who have arrived in Queensland. He is an incredibly quietly spoken gentleman but a great intellect and a great servant of the Taiwanese community. In that job he has worked closely with the Taiwan Friendship Association of Queensland, ably chaired by the president, Koda Chen. I also mention the former president, Anthony Lin, with whom I have had a close relationship; the president of the Taiwanese Women's League of Queensland, Alice Shen, and Jane Yu and Monica Hsu. I could give you a long list of the people who have loyally served the Taiwanese Women's League—people who step up every day but who particularly stepped up during the disastrous floods of 2011 where they were able to serve the broader Queensland community, particularly those people who volunteered to help clean up after the disastrous Brisbane floods.

I would also like to mention some other good friends of mine: Henry Chen and Wayne Ko, the commissioners of the Overseas Compatriots Affairs for the Republic of China, Taiwan. Henry and Wayne have been longstanding, hardworking, well-known, well-respected members of the Taiwanese community. Wayne is also the secretary-general of the Queensland Federation of Taiwanese Associations that do such great work in ensuring that the Taiwanese community is well connected with the people of Queensland. The local Taiwan centre, which is just near the Macgregor Primary School in one of the shopping centres, is owned by a very well-known Taiwanese family, the Fu family. They own approximately 20 shopping centres throughout Queensland. I think they might have even ventured into New South Wales. The Taiwan centre services the local community, not just the Taiwanese community.

I would also mention the big team at the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Australia, who do so much to make sure that Australia's trade with Taiwan continues to improve. Trade was at $11.346 billion in the last financial year, even though Taiwan is only a small country of 36,000 square kilometres. Under President Ma they have done so much to make sure that they have strong connections in the region so that there are strong employment opportunities and strong tourism opportunities, both with mainland China and the rest of Asia, and Queensland and Australia. Obviously there are great opportunities there, not just for Queensland coal, the resources that come out of Queensland and Queensland tourism, but also those that were articulated in the Labor government's Asian century white paper. That showed we need to have closer connections with the Asian community that surrounds us, especially as challenges arise in the next few years, as we have a remilitarisation in Japan. There are challenges that will come with that, for Australia with our connections with Japan, and also for China, which looks back 70 and 80 years ago to the horrors that were visited upon that nation. In fact, if you go back to Taiwan you can see 100 years or so of problems that come with colonisation of any island, any nation.

I particularly note and comment upon Australia's trade in services with Taiwan in 2013. We exported $704 million in services to Taiwan. There are some great opportunities there, in dealing directly with the nation of Taiwan but also with their neighbour of China. It is a great way to do business with China, in terms of going through Taipei and Taiwan, because of the connections that are there and their understanding of China. Obviously we have a smaller population, but Taiwan has 24 million people who appreciate democracy and have those great connections, not just in the Mandarin language but also culturally because of those historical connections with Beijing and beyond. At the recent Taiwanese elections, from memory, one million people arrived in Taiwan from China to vote, which is an interesting statement in and of itself in terms of the connections across the Taiwan Strait.

I have enjoyed my visits to Taiwan during my time as the member for Moreton. Three times I have visited that tiny, beautiful island in the Pacific Ocean. I have been close to China. I have seen the battlements where once upon a time shells rained over the island of Kinmen. I have knives in my house made from steel provided by Mao Zedong, because the shells that landed in Taiwan had then been forged into knives, which I have at my home—not to mention the Kinmen liquor. I know the people that come from that island are stout of heart, strong and independent.

As I mentioned earlier, I would particularly like to thank again the Director General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brisbane, Mr Wen-chen Sung, for his service and to wish him well in his endeavours when he returns to Taipei.