Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the 'EU-Australia Leadership Forum' was launched by Minister Bishop at Parliament House on 18 October 2016 following the European Union in Brussels, presented by Minister Bishop and European Union High Representative Federica Mogherini on 8 September 2016;

(b) the Forum will bring together a broad representation of talented individuals in government, business, academic and civil society from both Australia and the European Union to discuss common challenges and opportunities;

(c) Australia and the European Union are liberal democracies that share unwavering commitment to the rule of law and open markets to secure peace and prosperity for their citizens; and

(d) the Australian Government intends to encourage closer economic cooperation with the European Union through the negotiation of a European Union-Australia Free Trade Agreement; and

(2) welcomes these positive developments in the European Union-Australia relationship.

The personal links between Australia and the European Union are deep-rooted and profound. Over the past two centuries, from every corner of Europe, immigrants have come to Australia and contributed to our culture and our way of life. Just as important have been the Australians who have journeyed to Europe and returned. From the First Australian Imperial Force to the backpackers who travel today for work and new experiences, Australians have visited Europe and forged links between our continents that will never be forgotten.

Today, our respective peoples share a fundamental commitment to core values. The nations that gave us the Magna Carta, the Enlightenment and the Geneva Conventions believe unswervingly, as we do, in democracy, freedom and the rule of law. In the future, in this ever-increasingly uncertain world, close cooperation between Australia and the European Union is going to be critical to our security and our prosperity. According to the Institute of Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action, the combined military resources of the European Union represent the second-most-powerful armed force on earth, while its combined GDP is more than US$16 trillion. As was demonstrated last year in the release of the new Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy for the European Union, the member states of the union use and will continue to use this power and influence in the pursuit of objectives that are closely aligned to our own.

In the fight to defeat Daesh and prevent international terrorism, we work together through Europol and the Australia-Europe Counter Terrorism Dialogue. We cooperate as part of the anti-Daesh coalition and in the International Syria Support Group. In opposing Russia's expansionist actions in recent years, Australia and the European Union have been united in condemnation and in the imposition of sanctions. Closer to Australia, in the South China Sea, the European Union has added its considerable weight to our own calls for all parties to resolve their disputes by peaceful negotiation, while on North Korea the EU has led in seeking strong sanctions to restrain that country's aggressive and dangerous nuclear weapons program.

In economics, the EU is already our second-largest trading partner and the single largest source of foreign investment into our country. At a time when, in some parts of the world, there is an emerging sense of disillusionment with globalisation and an enthusiasm for protectionism, the continent of Adam Smith remains committed to the building of prosperity for all through liberalised international trade. With 500 million people, political stability and US$16 trillion in GDP, this will always be a market that Australian businesses want the best possible access to.

This government recognises the critical importance of the EU-Australia partnership to our future and has taken active steps to create ever-closer links. The Minister for Foreign Affairs should be commended by the House for her work in driving forward this agenda and building the strong relationships we need with the EU decision makers.

The EU-Australia Leadership Forum is just such a relationship-building initiative. Great ideas come from collaboration. By working together and sharing and developing our visions at an early stage, we can diversify and intensify our partnership with the EU. That is what this initiative will achieve. The project is unique among the EU's diplomatic activities. No government other than ours has forged this link. It is generously funded by the European Union, with a grant of nearly $3 million. Over the next three years, the EUALF will bring together key European and Australian leaders from government and opposition, business, media, education and civil society to provide input and ideas on growing our relationships in the future. The project's multi-stakeholder steering committee has already met for the first time, while the first meeting of the full forum will take place in Sydney between 2 and 6 June this year.

This government also has the foresight to recognise the importance of the next generation in continuing this ongoing work. That is why the project includes a second stream: the Emerging Leaders' Forum. This will bring together young and energetic professionals, MPs, academics and policymakers from both Australia and Europe to engage in discussions around the future of the EU-Australia relationship. They will contribute their ideas and recommendations to the Senior Leaders' Forum. The government should be commended for this successful, ongoing work.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for that contribution. Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The relationship between Australia and the European Union is long, strong and well established. The EU-Australia Leadership Forum will build on the hard work that has already gone into building and sustaining the bilateral relationship that has gone before. One of the first formal bilateral agreements—it is kind of weird calling it a bilateral agreement, given it is between a multilateral outfit and a nation—entered into by the EU and Australia was a joint declaration on relations in 1997. The declaration was based on principles of flexibility, practicality and mutual interest. A new agreement called the Australia-EU Partnership Framework was developed in 2008 and focused on practical cooperation in the areas of foreign and security policy interests, the trade-investment relationship, the Asia-Pacific region, climate change, science and innovation, education, culture and facilitating the movement of people. This framework was in place for more than 10 years and sustained the relationship between the EU and Australia.

In 2015, the government signed the Australia-EU Framework Agreement along with the Australia-EU Crisis Management Agreement. The framework agreement formalises the existing relationship and the previous agreement from 2008 in a formal treaty-level agreement. The Australia-EU Crisis Management Agreement formalises the existing framework for Australia's participation in EU crisis management operations. Australia is already a willing participant in some of the EU's activities. We have provided Australian personnel to support the EU's maritime operations in the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Based on the treaty-level agreements and the longer term bilateral relationship between the EU and Australia, the EU-Australia Leadership Forum will only serve to strengthen these existing ties. The core of the leadership forum is the EU-Australia Senior Leaders' Forum—a high-level event that will be held annually, alternating between Australia one year and Europe the next. The senior leaders forum brings together European and Australian leaders from a variety of policy areas to provide input and ideas to diversity and develop the relationship further in key areas.

One of the security areas that I expect to gather interest and momentum in the leadership forum is cybersecurity. As we heard from the previous member, it is not just the senior leaders who will be meeting to discuss issues but the emerging leaders as well, and I am hoping that the discussion at both those fora will highlight the fact that we have to have an ongoing deep and meaningful discussion on cybersecurity, particularly cybercrime. While experts in international law grapple with the constructs of jurisdiction and how the state should respond to cyber operations against it, particularly how it should respond against non-state actors, what we are seeing is that not every cyber activity will be a significant attack aimed at destroying or damaging infrastructure. As an increasing number of sectors and industries move their operations and data online, the risk that key information could be accessed and exposed or held to ransom is a global risk. How different governments and business sectors respond to the risk—the detection and response frameworks they put in place—is becoming an important consideration for the globalised trading and investment environment.

These types of cybercrime activities—access, exposure, and sale and ransom of information—are not necessarily state controlled but can be undertaken by an individual or organisation or a non-state actor. Where this occurs, the usual response options the state has available to it may not apply. The crime may be a domestic crime but not an international crime. So how can the issue of justice apply in these areas? It is very, very complex, Deputy Speaker. Just last week I was at the launch of the Tallinn Manual 2.0, doing a broad examination of the legal framework and environment that we are working in with regard to cyber and trying to work out where international law applies, where domestic law applies and where the gaps exist. It is incredibly challenging, and some of the world's greatest international legal minds have been put to that task.

The first emerging leaders forum will be held in June this year in Sydney. I understand there is a competitive process for people to apply to be part of the forum and I encourage many of our young policy professionals here in Canberra to apply and be part of this exciting new program. Applications close on 12 March—so there is not much time—and further information can be found at the EU-Australia Leadership Forum website. Canberrans, if you want to engage in multilateral policy discussion on cybersecurity, sign up.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We live in a world of ideas. Ideas are the things that drive our modern economies. And exchange of ideas is the thing that is most critical to ensuring that our economy moves forward and grows at a rate that all people can enjoy and take part in. It is incredibly important that the European Union has granted us $2 million to run a dialogue amongst our leaders and emerging leaders about the importance of what will be our future and their future, for there is much that we can learn from the European Union and there is much that we can do together.

Talking, in short, is important. Talking to Europeans is even more important than talking to other nationalities, mostly because so much of what we do in this country actually comes from Europe. Whether it be our legal system, our understanding of the economy or how we interact with our citizens, it is important that we understand that many of the basic concepts that we employ here in Australia originated in Europe. To borrow a line from Monty Python: what have the Romans ever done for us? Whether it be thinking around things like federation, subsidiarity, the role of the state, product integrity or privacy in the digital age, all are lessons that the European Union has been exploring for over 50 to 60 years. All are concepts that we can bring here to Australia to make sure that we create a more perfect nation.

Look at the concept of federation. I understand that the European Union is not a formal federation, but it employs concepts like subsidiarity, where decisions are made at the best level of government you can make them. For example, you should make decisions at a local government level about who picks up your garbage, but at an international level you may want to talk about things like monetary policy, global economics and, indeed, trade policy. This understanding, and the mistakes that the European Union has made, are important ideas that our leaders and emerging leaders can enjoy at these conferences.

It is fantastic that the first workshop is on digital transformation in government. So much of what we are seeing both here and around the world is a sense that people in democracies are feeling that they cannot quite connect to their government. The obvious answer to this is digital transformation—putting more information up on the internet for people not only to receive but also to interact with and make a contribution to. This government has started that process with its open data policy. We have taken 500 datasets that existed before we were elected and turned them into 23,600 datasets. The importance of open data cannot be underestimated. In New South Wales alone, it has helped save tens of millions of dollars in public housing, ensuring that scarce public resources are being directed to those people who need them and to programs that do the most to help people who need housing. This is not something that can be applied only to public housing. In the United Kingdom, for example, open data allowed citizens to find out that the department of defence was spending 175 pounds per mop and that there were better and more cost-effective ways to supply the military with mops.

The EU has been the crucible for the most critical idea of the 19th and 20th centuries, which is that free trade reduces war. The European Union was conceived after two world wars. After the First World War, Europeans said, 'We will never ever have another war like this,' and then they did. Free trade and the European Union were their ways of ensuring that it would never happen again. Thomas Friedman said that in the history of the world no two nations with a McDonald's franchise have ever gone to war. In the European Union, the French and the Germans came together, initially over a steel tariff, to trade openly because it would remove the incentive for war. The idea that France and Germany could go to war today is ludicrous but, of course, that is a new concept, something that has really only been conceived in the 21st century.

One is reminded, though, of some of the things that the EU has done badly, like its subsidies for agricultural production. We can learn both good and bad things from the European Union.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to participate in this important motion on the EU-Australia Leadership Forum, moved by the member for Fisher. As the chair of the EU parliamentary friendship group, I want to say a few words in support of this major partnership. This partnership between Australia and the European Union at a leadership level is very significant and important because it solidifies the historical bonds between our two continents by broadening and intensifying the bilateral relationships. It is no secret that we are living in challenging times and that the world today is a very different place. Globally, the political landscape is ambiguous, and we are still transcending the post-Cold War period, so where the world order will end up is probably not clear to any of us. The European Union is a powerhouse of nation states with deeply rooted histories, heavily steeped in culture and learning, and the birthplace of Western civilisation. It is a major player in leading the way forward. In the words of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau: 'The whole world benefits from the European Union, because it is a truly remarkable achievement and an unprecedented model for peaceful cooperation.'

As a country, Australia is geographically isolated. We are a vast nation, much bigger than Europe in land size but with a smaller population. We are rich in resources and our people are our greatest strength—in fact, our greatest resource. Our multicultural make-up allows us to naturally partner with the European Union through the many European migrants who have made Australia their home. The ties that bind the two countries are there, and the EU-Australia Leadership Forum has the potential to strengthen, broaden and diversify these relationships in key areas. Through our liberal democracies and our commitment to the rule of law, Australia and the member states of the European Union can ensure peace for their citizens and instil in them the belief that this partnership will advance their safety and prosperity. And, of course, this latest framework does build on the previous framework of 2008.

This recent initiative is particularly important to me as the federal member for Calwell. I have many established communities in my electorate that are European—both northern and southern Europeans—and, of course, from eastern and central Europe. There are my very strong Greek and Italian communities to Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Maltese, Polish, Latvian, Spanish and Lithuanian—to name but a few of the diaspora communities who have settled successfully in Australia and whose children and grandchildren have risen to become leading academics, scientists and businesspeople, and even politicians, in their new country. These communities have created our diversity and have added to our strengths. So in this sense Europe has a lot to learn from Australia, and also a lot to benefit from through its interaction with Australia. We are a creative, diverse, vibrant, young and innovative nation.

Now, while the business end of the relationship is very important, our dialogue with Europe should also cultivate the cultural dimension. Successful trade relationships need to be based on a genuine cultural understanding. So I do hope that the EU-Australia Leadership Forum will focus as much on culture as it will on trade, economic exchange and the other areas of concern. The Australian government's intent to create closer economic cooperation with the European Union through negotiation of a European Union-Australia Free Trade Agreement does raise the possibility of many possibilities. Many of my diaspora European communities are already finding ways of trading with their original homelands, especially in niche Australian product markets. So any assistance for them is very important, and they must and should be the beneficiaries of such a free trade agreement.

This agreement will see Australian businesses become more competitive on a global scale. Our economy, of course, stands to succeed on an international scale and with the Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy for the European Union, Australia is set to benefit a great deal from its focus on the Asia-Pacific region. I have always maintained that Australia has a crucial bridging role to play in Euro-Asian relations. Modern Australia, historically, is a European society while geographically very much part of Asia. So Australia is ideally placed as a conduit, because we happen to be European and Asian—with an Indigenous inheritance, of course; we must always remember that.

The forum's focus on working with the European Union to exchange ideas in government, business, academia, creative industries and civil society is fundamental to its success and outcomes. I do look forward to the work of the forum. It is guided by a very impressive steering committee of Australia's and Europe's greatest minds. Over the next three years, the forum will work to develop and exchange ideas and expertise. I am particularly interested in the focus on young people, as they are the leaders of tomorrow. They need to be the ones who embrace new ideas and learn from each other.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The European Union is Australia's second-largest trading partner, and the largest source of foreign investment. All up, the total stock of European investment in Australia is more than $600 billion. Today, I want to take the opportunity in speaking to this motion to talk particularly about the impact on infrastructure and aviation.

The EU is Australia's largest aviation market. Each year, more than 1.3 million Europeans visit Australia and more than a million Australians travel to Europe. When I was the minister, we signed the EU-Australia horizontal agreement on 29 April 2008. That entered into force in July 2009. This agreement replaced 16 outdated bilateral air services agreements and has allowed Australian and European airlines to offer more flights and a wider range of services at more competitive prices.

We need to continue, though, to work for a comprehensive Australia-EU air services agreement. That has been agreed to in the past, when Minister Tajani was the minister responsible for transport in the European union. He was very supportive of such an agreement. However, the bureaucracy in Brussels seemed to intervene at each stage and that put Australia at a disadvantage. We should continue to push for such a comprehensive agreement. Indeed, we had substantial benefit, I think, from our engagement with the European Union and infrastructure companies.

In November 2012 I hosted a delegation of Italian infrastructure and transport companies. That was led by the Italian Secretary of State, Mr Staffan de Mistura, and it was a very large delegation. They visited parliament here. Companies included Ansa do STES, Thella and Meramec. What we saw after meetings I held in Italy, France and Spain was an increased presence of these European infrastructure companies here in Australia. In some cases that is beneficial simply because it brings competition. In other cases, they bring specific required skills—for example, three is the South Road Super way project in Adelaide, which is an elevated roadway. The Italians, particularly, due to their topography, have an expertise in this. The company Rizzio de Escher was also part of the consortium that built this project. That was, at the time, the biggest project in the state's history and opened in 2013.

Similarly, projects like Legacy Way in Brisbane benefitted from the fact that it was a consortia. BMD Construction, a local Queensland based company working in partnership with Thella from Italy and Action from Spain, built that $1.5 billion project, which opened in 2014. The Italian industrial group Saline, part of the consortia that are building the elevated sky train section of Sydney's North West Rail Link, and German companies Hochstein and Ballinger Berger have a strong presence here in engineering and construction. And the French company Veolia has established itself, particularly in the water waste and transport sectors.

All of this bring skills and presence here in Australia but, importantly, for our overall economic future I have argued with the European companies that they can use Australia as a base into the Asia-Pacific region, with the certainty that is provided with our legal system, with the lifestyle that comes from senior executives basing themselves here in Australia. It is of great mutual benefit, this relationship between Australia and the European Union, and it should be strengthened into the future.

Debate adjourned.