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

Last night, a billion people around the world went to bed hungry, many of them children, most of them in our region, and tonight they will go to bed hungry again. The reason why I support so strongly the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Bill 2015 is that it is a mechanism by or a conduit through which Australia can play a role in reducing that frightful figure of a billion people going to bed this evening without having had sufficient food. We will have 1.9 billion more people in this region by 2050—again, a challenge Australia can be part of in terms of a solution. I do not want to focus just on China, but it is illustrative of Asia. In Indonesia, the figures can be similar, as they can for other countries within the Asian region.

You and I, Mr Acting Deputy President Whish-Wilson—you, in your case, having come from Western Australia originally and me, in my case, still coming from Western Australia—understand very clearly the fact that our state is Asia centric, whereas most of the east coast is still Pacific centric. Fifty per cent of the world's population now live within two hours of either side of Western Australia's time zone. We already play a significant role in this country, and this bill and the actions that flow from it will give us the opportunity to play an even more significant role.

I turn to China for a moment to speak about urbanisation. In the last 15 years, they have gone from being 35 per cent urban to 50 per cent urban and, in another 15 years, they will go to 65 per cent urban. They do not have sufficient land or sufficient water to be able to provide nourishment for their people. Using China as an example again, because it speaks to the importance of our involvement in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in the 10 years of the presidency of Hu Jintao, the per capita income in China went from US$1,000 per year to US$5,000 per year—from US$1,000 to US$5,000 in 10 years. The last time there was a fivefold increase in per capita income anywhere in the world was during the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, and that took 100 years, not 10. Therein lies the challenge.

What is the impact of this? As we all know, it is an increased demand for protein foods over staple foods as a community of people move higher socioeconomically, into the middle class, and an absolute emphasis on safe food and the reliable supply of food. Military leaders around the world have said since time immemorial that people go to war when there is a fear of inadequate, unsafe food and a lack of water—examples of which exist today. People want a better lifestyle. We saw this in the 10 years I spent working in India, where there was a burgeoning development of the middle class. It leads to a greater demand for services and a greater demand for better government management of the people's needs. Again, India is a prime example. In the city of Mumbai, no building has access to water 24 hours a day. Every building, be it a house, a leading hotel or a business, has a water tank on top so they get water for a certain number of hours a day, and power—unreliable power.

Why do I make these points so strongly? It is because Asia faces a major infrastructure financing gap estimated to be worth US$8 trillion over the next decade, and this Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will be the mechanism by which we and they can start to address these issues. For water, including harvesting water, storing water, delivering water and ensuring water is safe for potable purposes and of course for irrigation and others; and for power, including generation of power, distribution of power, safe and economical consumption of power—all these require infrastructure.

When we speak of the delivery of goods, a statistic that is not commonly known but should be is that it is estimated that more than 40 per cent of all food produced in the world is not consumed—40 per cent of food produced in the world is not consumed—due to poor delivery; poor infrastructure; poor storage, such as a lack of refrigeration so the food spoils; poor transport; vermin, such as rats; or being wasted. And our own developed world is no orphan, as we know, when it comes to the food wastage that comes out of our own homes. This is not just a developing world problem or an underdeveloped world problem. But what it does point to is the need for infrastructure, the need for supply chains, the need for logistics and the need for investment.

You can go further and talk about the development of ports: the efficient and safe movement of goods into a port, through the port, into the supply chain, into storage, into transport—if it is refrigerated or if it is perishable—and on its way to the end consumer. Those of us who have travelled throughout Asia understand very well where those challenges lie.

I want to give recognition to Treasurer Joe Hockey in this whole process. It is Hockey who has led Australia's drive to be part of the inauguration of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. He understands that our prosperity and economic growth in this country are closely tied to the region. I just made the point about our own state of Western Australia and of course it flows through to other states and territories. Senator Macdonald expanded that to the entire north of our country and the opportunity—magnitudes of orders of opportunity into the future. Hockey makes the point that it is important—