Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to speak to the Australian Political Exchange Council annual report 2005-06 and commend it to the Senate and the public. It is an impressive document and I want to highlight the report of the 15th Australian delegation to China—

Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be a 16th one soon.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

that took place from 28 June to 7 July 2006. I note Senator Webber’s interjection. She was involved in a delegation to China earlier this year, which she led. Likewise, I had the honour of leading the delegation to China during the period I mentioned and it was most informative and enjoyable. The members of the delegation included me, as leader, Mr Mark Powell, Federal President of the Young Liberal Movement; Andrew Conway, adviser to the Hon. Chris Pearce MP and federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer; Ben Wyatt MLA, state member for Victoria Park in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly; Mr Mark Butler of the Labor Party, Secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union and recently endorsed Labor candidate for the federal parliament; and Bridget McKenzie, Junior Vice-President of the National Party in Victoria. David Wilson was the representative of the Australian Political Exchange Council.

This was the 15th Australian delegation to China and it was hosted by the All-China Youth Federation. We travelled to Guangzhou in Guangdong province. We went to Yichang and Wuhan in the Hubei province and our delegation concluded its 10-day visit in Beijing. In the report that I prepared on behalf of the delegation, we indicated some reflections and views on the Australia-China relationship, saying that it has never been closer and that the relationship, which officially commenced in 1973, is based on mutual respect, recognition of our shared interests and differences and a desire for peace, social stability, economic growth and prosperity.

In terms of the highlights of the delegation visit, we wanted to note the importance of the Australia-China free trade agreement and, in particular, the recent visit of Premier Wen Jiabao and his meeting with Prime Minister John Howard. On the first day of our visit to Guangzhou, Prime Minister John Howard was in the same province signing an agreement for the export of liquid natural gas from Western Australia to China. It certainly underlined the importance of the free trade agreement negotiations. Five rounds of negotiations had been concluded at the time of our visit to China.

We met many government officials and were very honoured by the respect and regard that they held for Australia and for our delegation. We talked about the economy and economic reform and we noted that economic growth in China has averaged just less than 10 per cent over the last three decades and that it is expected to decrease a little but nevertheless remain at a very high growth rate over the next 10 years, certainly in the seven per cent to 10 per cent range. Of course, that is good news for Australia as China is a very key trading partner of our great country.

As a Tasmanian senator, the visit to the Three Gorges Dam was a very special event for me. It is the largest hydro facility in the world. It is in Yichang. Because it is important to Tasmania, it was absolutely fascinating to me. For the successful building and development of that dam they actually relocated one million Chinese people. The scale of the dam is quite amazing.

We were briefed on the Beijing Olympics, which are scheduled for 2008. We looked at the merit of economic development zones and education and cultural exchanges and we were briefed on the North Korea and Taiwan situation and some of the concerns that we hold regarding human rights and terrorism. All in all, it was a very successful delegation and it was a great honour to be part of it.

Question agreed to.