Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always a pleasure to stand in this chamber or the House and speak about the great work that this government is doing with free trade agreements, and I rise today to speak in support of the agreement to amend the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Australia's free trade agreements are delivering tremendous economic benefits to our country—most importantly, delivering jobs. With Australia's trade in services recording strong growth in 2015-16, increasing 7.7 per cent to $146 billion, it is clear we are doing the right thing for our country. Service exports have grown nine per cent to $68.3 billion, driven by an increasing number of international visitors who are spending more when they come here. Australia exported some $1.7 billion of professional and business services to Singapore in 2015.

The agreement to amend the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement, signed on 13 October in Canberra, is the most comprehensive update of an Australian FTA. It shows that FTAs are living agreements that can respond to evolving business needs. The signature of this treaty formalises the outcomes announced on 6 May last year by Prime Minister Turnbull and his Singaporean counterpart, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, under the auspices of the comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement entered into force in 2003 and is one of our oldest free trade agreements. It is a central pillar of Australia's economic relationship with Singapore and underpins Singapore's position as Australia's fifth-largest trading partner. It has delivered substantial benefits for Australian exports, such as complete tariff elimination.

However, Australia's business needs continue to evolve. Over one-third, or $4 billion, of Australian exports to Singapore now comprise of services, and Australian businesses are eager to continue to expand. This update to the Singapore-Australia FTA will boost the competitiveness of Australia's services exporters by addressing key behind-the-border barriers and delivering new access and greater certainty to service suppliers in sectors such as education, law, communications and financial and professional services. The amendments to the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement will deepen economic integration between our two economies and make it easier for business visitors, including service suppliers and investors, to work in Singapore. It will provide greater opportunities for service exporters and create greater certainty by reducing red tape for exporters of goods, services and investment.

In key areas, Singapore is giving Australia its best free trade agreement treatment, putting our exporters on an equal or better footing than their foreign competitors. Under the amended Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement Australian lawyers and law firms will enjoy greater certainty to practise Singapore law and work in international commercial arbitration, while Australia will also benefit automatically from future market reforms in Singapore's legal sector, which will become a Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement commitments. We all know that Singapore is a major financial hub in Asia, and the opportunities for our legal profession are enormous.

The amended Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement establishes a framework to support mutual recognition of professional qualifications on an ongoing basis, with priority given to arrangements for engineers and accountants, with Singapore and Australia agreeing to commence negotiations on mutual recognition arrangements. Under the amended free trade agreement, financial services providers will now be able to provide a range of financial services on a cross-border basis to Singapore, including investment advice and portfolio management services and brokerage services for insurance of maritime, aviation and transport related risks.

The amendments will also enhance the opportunities for Australia's world-class education exports, through recognition of Australian tertiary qualifications. Singapore has agreed to recognise the juris doctor degrees of Australian universities currently listed in the Singapore-Australia FTA, providing new access for those universities that have moved to a graduate model of legal education. Separately, Singapore will recognise allied health degrees in physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy from a number of Australian universities.

Australian citizens and permanent residents who are businesspersons seeking to enter and work in Singapore will also benefit from new guaranteed access, enhanced certainty on length of stay and reduced barriers to labour mobility. There will be longer stays for investors and independent executives and contractual service suppliers—up from three months to two years; longer lengths of stay for intra-corporate transferees—up from two years to three years, with a maximum stay of 15 years; enhanced certainty on entry and the length of stay for installers and servicers of machinery and equipment for up to three months; enhanced certainty on entry and work rights for spouses and dependants of Australians granted entry as intra-corporate transferees, independent executives and contractual service suppliers; and the introduction of a help desk and a streamlined process to facilitate temporary entry and work permits for Australian businesspeople.

The updates to the free trade agreement will also seek to facilitate trade in the digital age by including the most modern e-commerce and telecommunications provisions from the TPP, including guarantees on the free flow of data across borders for service suppliers and investors as part of their' business activity. Businesses cannot not be forced to build data storage centres or use local using local computing facilities; customs duties cannot be imposed on electronically transmitted content; software and games are to enjoy fair and equal treatment; software suppliers will not be required to hand over a source code when seeking to import or distribute software; promotion of a transparent and reasonable rate of international mobile roaming services—and I am sure all of us in this place will be happy about that; protections on privacy and consumer rights; and efforts to combat spam messages.

The amendments to this FTA will lock in opportunities for Australian countries to win high-value contracts with the Singapore government in sectors such as road transport, construction and engineering, and will provide even more opportunities to create jobs for Australians. As well as these changes to create more opportunity for Australian services, the amendments have also been made—to the good for Australia—to allow an already generous access to duty-free in the Singapore market for our goods. This is where these free trade agreements are important. I am sure all of us in this place go and speak regularly to students at our various schools, and we explain to them that their opportunities for work are now on a global basis, not just locally here in Australia. Agreements like this free trade agreement significantly add to that capacity for Australians to work overseas.

The amendments to this FTA will reduce red tape for exporters and promote greater regulatory coherence by incorporating the TPP outcomes on technical barriers to trade and rules of origin. Australia is 100 per cent committed to trade agreements which achieve a win-win outcome for both the countries involved. This agreement reflects our desire for a closer economic relationship with Singapore. The Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which has been in place now for 13 years, has in that time generated tremendous outcomes for both our countries in the exchange of goods and trade services. We have a great working relationship with Singapore, which will only be made stronger under the amendments to the free trade agreement. I commend my colleague, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon. Steven Ciobo, for this positive outcome.

Debate adjourned.