Page 3424 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 23 September 2015
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of a strong relationship with Beijing has been created and continues to be strengthened. The ACT government will continue its support of Canberra business accessing Chinese markets through trade and export, and indeed we are an open and welcoming business community keen to encourage a two-way flow of trade and investment.
The sister city agreement with Beijing provides an important channel for this to happen, but it is also facilitated by an active program approach. That is why, in partnership with the Canberra Business Chamber, the ACT government has developed a comprehensive range of initiatives that are designed to support companies to grow their export capability and performance. This approach is laid out in detail in the government’s business development strategy.
For export-ready businesses, we are working closely with the Business Chamber to undertake a further trade mission to China in April 2016 as part of the Australian government’s Australia week in China program. The trade mission program will be supported by mission focused workshops designed to give exporters the skills they need to operate most effectively in these markets. It will look to give ACT businesses the support they need to access opportunities in Beijing specifically but also more broadly across the great country of China, Australia’s largest trading partner, where two-way trade reached $130 billion last year. Our sister city relationship also stands to support the ACT’s inbound tourism aspirations out to 2020 and beyond.
Finally, when it comes to supporting ChAFTA—the economist in me does not like calling it a free trade agreement because it is not; it is a preferential trade agreement, but that aside—the government has clearly articulated a position on what constitutes a beneficial and fair free trade agreement. The ChAFTA agreement contains a number of important trade liberalisation outcomes for the tourism, education, healthcare and professional services sectors, all of which will come into force once the trade agreement is ratified.
These are critically important. They are growing sectors in the ACT. We will continue to work with and support local companies to identify and realise the opportunities that will open up from these trade reforms. In addition, the trade agreement will allow for the delivery of professional services through subsidiaries in China that can be wholly Australian owned, with a specific focus on research and development, environmental services and software development—again, areas where the ACT has expertise and significant international development aspirations.
We also recognise that the trade agreement presents more imminent trade opportunities for both Chinese and Australian companies in the large trade exposed sectors such as agriculture, resources and energy, and manufacturing. Whilst these sectors are not at the core of the ACT’s economy, we do recognise their importance to the Australian economy generally and indeed the flow-on effect to some of our knowledge-based sectors here in Canberra.
But before any of this can progress, it is clear that there is a critical issue that must be resolved, and that is the application of labour market testing. Clearly, policies regarding labour market testing must accompany free trade agreements. My proposed amendment to Mr Smyth’s motion goes directly to this point. I now move:
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