Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

After listening to the contribution of Senator Milne you would have thought that the only subject for discussion at the G20 was climate change. Sadly, as important an issue as it may well be, there were a whole heap of other things that happened at the G20, and we should get this into some relative perspective.

There is no doubt that the Australian government welcomed a number of things raised at the G20 in relation to climate. The fact that the USA and China both agreed to make a major contribution to climate change should not come as any surprise to anybody given that both the United States and China are significantly large emitters. A lot of the changes the USA and China are proposing to make, in terms of how they emit, are things the Greens would probably find quite abhorrent. America is proposing that some of the cuts to its emissions will come from fracking.

I have a little trouble with the hypocrisy of those at the other end of the chamber coming in here and singing the praises of the wonderful comments made over the weekend, by both the Chinese and the Americans, on climate change. We obviously all support the world going forward to achieve a better, cleaner and greener outcome for our children. To turn around and make it sound like the Australian government is completely out of step with the rest of the world when the Americans intend to use fracking as one of the methods by which they will achieve their emissions reductions is just the height of hypocrisy. In the case of the Chinese, it is very commendable that they are proposing to look towards a greener future for their country, but they are proposing to use nuclear power as one of the ways that they will reduce their emissions. I am quite sure that those at the other end of the chamber are not going to stand up and say that that is a fabulous way to be deal with this. When we come into this place and try to put an argument forward, we need to make sure that we deal entirely in the facts and not just choose the bits and pieces that suit our argument.

A lot of things happened at the G20 summit that are really good for Australia and Australia's role in the world economy. This was the first time that the G20 leaders had a session entirely dedicated to global energy issues. It is now embedded in the G20's agenda that global energy issues will be a very important part of the discussions for the foreseeable future. Using energy more efficiently is the outcome that I believe every one of the nations that attended the G20 summit would have been seeking to achieve.

The G20 brings together the world's greatest producers and the world's No. 1 consumers of energy. It is all well and good for countries that have had the luxury of readily accessible energy for a very long time to pass judgement, but we have to remember that the one thing that will bring the rest of the world up to the standard of the countries that form the G20 will be a regular supply of affordable energy. We do need to have a balance with affordable energy and make sure we do not stand in judgement of those that are perhaps less fortunate and start making all sorts of wonderful demands like we hear from the other end of the chamber without realising that the global economy exists outside of just Australia, China and the US.

One of the things that I was particularly pleased to see come out of the G20 was the agreement by the leaders to reduce the gender employment gap. I am sure that you, Madam Acting Deputy President Lines, would have been very pleased to see the decision by the G20 to seek to reduce the gender employment gap by 25 per cent by 2025. Whilst it is an admirable goal, the economic and social benefits and outcomes that could come from actually achieving such a goal will be absolutely massive. Delivering on this commitment will bring more than 100 million additional women into the workforce just across the G20 nations. Consider the impact that that could have on global growth, on reducing poverty and on the inequalities that exist within nations—and we are only talking about G20 nations with that statistic.

The OECD have estimated that a boost to women's participation of this scale would actually increase the G20 GDP by between 1.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent by 2025. That will be more than $1 trillion to the global economy which is quite phenomenal when you realise that that sort of growth and that sort of benefit can be achieved by merely empowering a resource that you already have to become more productive. I am sure that for everyone in Australia it was fantastic to see the G20 thought that empowering women and increasing women's participation in the workforce was something that they considered as a priority. I think we should all be absolutely delighted.

Another thing that happened at the G20, outside the climate change hysteria that we hear from those at the other end of the chamber, was the decision to ensure that the world economy will be more resilient going into the future so that we do not see a repeat of the terrible consequences of the global financial crisis of a few years ago. Certainly Australia has been focused and we all commend those opposite when they were in government for putting in place some things that have ensured Australia is better prepared and better placed to deal with the impact should another global crisis occur.

Strengthening our financial institutions and making sure that we have all the things in place in our regulatory environment so our financial institutions can withstand the onslaught from international financial markets and protecting taxpayers from the necessity to bail out these organisations are very important. The adage 'too big to fail' should not be something financial institution should be allowed to hide behind when they run themselves into major difficulties. Addressing shadow banking risks and making derivative markets safer are further important components of the broad suite of activities that the Australian government along with its colleagues at the G20 seek to put in place.

These important reforms mean that the global financial system is now far more resilient than it has ever been, particularly at the time of the last global financial crisis. I think we can be very happy that our banks are now of a much higher quality and that capital and derivative markets are more transparent. We have reduced the risks that the Australian public will face and obviously the other members of the G20 and their respective places.

Another thing that occurred just a few minutes ago that was a very positive outcome of the G20 summit was the off-site engagement and discussions that occurred between the leaders of our countries. This afternoon we have seen the signing of a memorandum of understanding in relation to the free trade agreement that is being pursued between Australia and China. Only those involved in trade in this country will realise the extraordinary significance of having an arrangement where we have better, cheaper, freer and more equitable access to a market the size of China.

The one thing that Australia is never going to be able to do is sell all its product to itself. We are an exporting nation, and so it is very, very important that we put a priority on pursuing trade arrangements with markets that we can export to. Australia is never going to get rich selling to itself, as I have said time and time again. Having a market like China available to us in a much more easy and equitable way will have a major impact on all of our manufacturers but particularly on our farmers. In a state like South Australia, where agriculture is such an incredibly important part of our economy, we do not have the luxury of some of the other states—it would be nice to think that we could get our mining industry up and running, but that is a story for another day—but this is extraordinarily important. I commend the government, and Minister Robb particularly, for having achieved this magnificent free trade arrangement. (Time expired)