Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government is responsible for making judgements when it comes to the national interest in our foreign affairs. And the Australian government has the authority to determine what is in our national interest based on our democratic system. It is the Australian people who ultimately determine who gets to make those judgements on behalf of our nation. Australians rightly expect the Australian government they elect to set foreign policy. A primary focus of our government has been protecting and promoting the national interest. Australia is a globally focused, open trading economy. We want to ensure that our exporting businesses can sell as many Australian products and services as possible all around the world, including and in particular our agricultural sector, which sells our amazing agricultural produce into markets all around the world.

So we continue to engage with our trading partners around the world and we also are an economy which relies on foreign investment to reach its full potential. We have a very sophisticated foreign investment review framework in place which ensures that any foreign investment that does come into Australia is not contrary to our national interests. So the Australian people can have confidence that, through the measures that governments of both persuasions have taken in recent decades and also the measures we are taking as we speak right now, the Australian government is taking steps to ensure that internationally Australia speaks with one voice when it comes to standing up for our national interests.