Page 1094 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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It is for that reason that I was particularly pleased in Shenzhen to be involved in the opening of a Canberra commerce office, a partly owned joint venture subsidiary of Snedden Hall and Gallop with Waratah International, an ACT-based business which has major paint interests within Shenzhen. It is providing a tremendous service for any ACT-based business that wants assistance, such as an office or a place to plug in a laptop. It provides assistance with translation, making contacts and simple assistance and direction on the ground. I believe that the Shenzhen Canberra commerce office represents a great opportunity for all Canberra business interests in gaining a toehold to explore the opportunities which China broadly, but most particularly Shenzhen, offers to ACT business.
I will report more fully to the Assembly. I have asked each of the participating businesses to provide me with a summary, if they wish, of their reflections, and I am happy to table those when I report to the Assembly next week.
MS MacDONALD: I have a supplementary question. How has the trade mission advanced plans for the Canberra leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay?
MR STANHOPE: I did meet in Beijing with the president of BOCOG, Mr Liu Qi, and the party secretary of the Beijing municipal branch of the Communist Party of China. Not surprisingly, the major feature of the discussions with Mr Liu was on issues around the torch relay. I expressed to Mr Liu the honour which I and the people of Canberra felt in being acknowledged by BOCOG as the only Australian city—indeed, one of only 22 cities in the world—that will participate in the Olympic relay. I think that is very significant. It is significant that China recognised the capital of Australia, as it recognised the other 21 participating cities as capitals of the nations also similarly honoured. I think that it is a reflection of the nature of the relationship between China and Australia. Indeed, it is perhaps interesting to look in another context at the 22 nations that China has chosen to recognise through the Beijing Olympics torch relay.
The relay represents a very significant opportunity for Canberra. I do not think that we can understate it. It is very important that the community of this place and the community generally work together to ensure that we maximise the opportunity which the Beijing torch relay represents for Canberra and the ACT in terms of international profile recognition and, indeed, the enormous tourism potential that would flow from, I think, perhaps the second-to-none exposure that the ACT will receive through this relay—five hours of direct telecast to China and around the world with 80 runners traversing, one would imagine, the most iconic and beautiful parts and places within the ACT.
Interestingly, Shenzhen and southern China represent the second fastest growing population in terms of international tourists to the Australian Capital Territory. There has been a 171 per cent increase in tourists from China in a very short span of time, the majority of whom have been sourced from southern China. Any exposure of Canberra to China and, indeed, those other places throughout the world will, I believe, reap enormous benefits for Canberra. It is something on which I am hopeful that the community will get together and there will be significant partnerships between the government and the business community and the community at large, including our
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