Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

and the treatment of haemophilia. And I am absolutely delighted that my colleague Senator Carr has joined me in agreeing with the position that I am taking, about the excellence of it. Who would not recall the book by Bryce Courtenay April Fool's Day, where he wrote so eloquently about his haemophiliac son? At the opening of that laboratory in Broadmeadows, Mr Alain Weill, the President of the World Federation of Hemophilia, took part in the ceremony and made the observation:

The ongoing development of new and improved therapies for haemophilia couldn't be more important to the bleeding disorder community. It's very heartening to see CSL working with governments in Australia to invest in new technologies and facilities that may benefit people with haemophilia all around the world.

I think that is the important point that needs to be made in this debate.

I respect the fact that Senators Xenophon and Madigan have made the point about the use of Australian materials and Australian manufacturing in producing our flag, but, if the information that was given to me is correct, it is only contracts over $80,000 that have got to go to tender outside Australia. I learnt a lot as I read the transcript. Senator Madigan made the point, in response to answers given, that the existence of an ABN, an Australian business number, is not necessarily evidence that that is an Australian company. That is quite correct. I do not know how many contracts there are—maybe there are a lot—that exceed $80,000 and go onto the open market. I would have thought they would have been relatively limited in their scope, but I stand to be corrected.

Naturally, one would always encourage that, where possible, Australian icons such as the Australian flag should be produced by Australian manufacturers using Australian materials, but, as I think I heard Senator Xenophon say, if those materials are not available, what do we want? Do we not want the products to be produced at all? I for one would always say very proudly that Australia and Australians should not be disadvantaged and should have the opportunity—and I believe they do have that opportunity—but I do not want to see restrictions limiting it to Australians, particularly if retaliatory action by companies in other countries means that we are then denied access to markets in our region and beyond our region.

In the few minutes left available to me, I want to go to the issue of free trade agreements. For those who had the opportunity to join with representatives of the dairying industry this morning in the Mural Hall, it was a particularly interesting exercise. Dairying has been down in this country for some time, and we are now seeing a resurgence. I met with a milk production family in Manjimup in Western Australia's South-West on the weekend, and they told me that they are exporting directly now to the Singapore market. What is produced this morning is in the market in Singapore tomorrow. I just thought to myself, 'What a wonderful opportunity.' I was talking to a gentleman from Murray Goulburn about this question, and he made the observation to me that, as a result of the free trade agreement between New Zealand and China that was signed in 2008, the New Zealand company Fonterra now has 40 per cent of the fresh milk market in China. Think of the excellence of the marketers of New Zealand. Imagine a country that could take a product called Chinese gooseberries, rename them kiwifruit, produce them in New Zealand and then, under a free trade agreement, sell them back into the Chinese market. I think we have a lot to learn from that country.

I go again now to a Western Australian cooperative, Co-operative Bulk Handling, which is the large grain handling organisation with the biggest supply chain in Australia for grain. More importantly, because of our relationships with our trading partners, they now have grain mills, flour mills, in Vietnam, in Malaysia and in Indonesia. In fact, the mill in Indonesia is a fourth largest, I understand, in the world. That is an example of where we do not want protectionism, we want to be able to compete, in my view, out there on the world stage. We want Australian manufacturing to be excellent. We want participation. We want the opportunities for young people to be optimistic about these industries, to provide them with the skill sets, provide them with the employment prospects, so that they can participate. To the extent that if our Australian flag manufacturers can compete and can produce a product that we want, all well and good. But if it is going to mean that Australian skills development and jobs are denied because of retaliatory action then I for one have deep concern about that and would obviously like to discuss it further with my colleagues.

Finally, by way of examining the world ahead of us, Senator Xenophon made reference to Toyota, Holden and Ford. As a Western Australian, with Senator Whish-Wilson in the room I will make my contribution to my observations as a Western Australian about the GST and the contribution of the states. You and I had a very interesting discussion between Darwin and Katherine just recently and I do not want this morning in the limited time left to me to comment on trade protectionism in the southern states, particularly Victoria and New South Wales, vis-a-vis Western Australia, but I do want to draw the attention of the chamber to the demonstrations given to us yesterday by the 3D company in which they were giving us examples of products being printed. They were telling me that in September this year at the car show in New York over the four days, using this technology, they are going to print a motor car and drive it away. They were telling me that experimentally they are already taking kidney tissue of people who are on dialysis and need kidney transplants, they are growing that tissue out and they will be printing new kidneys to go back into that same patient. It is their own tissue with no rejection, no drugs, no immunosuppressant drugs et cetera. They were telling me of the instance in space where astronauts will not take tools, they will manufacture and print them in space. That is the world of the future for me. That is the world into which Australia and young Australians must go. That is where they must be trained. That is where their skills must be developed. Anything at all in my view that limits or puts a foot on the hose of that development in the future is not to our advantage.