Shanghai, People's Republic of China
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OMITTED]
PM: It's a really very great pleasure to be here this morning, in Shanghai, China's financial capital and a home away from home for so many Australians and so many of our most go-ahead companies.
To those who are already here in this market, in China, let me take this opportunity to commend your vision and your commitment, and for all of you who are looking to advance Australia's important business links with China, more strength to your arm, we want to work with you.
In particular, let me acknowledge the contribution of the Australian Chamber of Commerce under the leadership of Peter Arkell here in Shanghai.
Thank you for all of that hard work.
Your support, your practical support, your day-by-day support for the initiatives set out in the Australia in the Asian Century white paper is much appreciated, and I look forward to your active participation in the Asian Century Business Engagement Program.
For all of us here, we are looking at ways of boosting our trade and exchange with China, and I trust that my visit helps play that role.
Can I say across this room that the importance of this commercial relationship, the economic and trade relationship with China, doesn't need much explanation by me in this audience.
You are living it. You understand very deeply that China is our largest trading partner, and our largest source of overseas students.
And increasingly, an important source of investment, tourism and migration.
Our challenge today, as we set out in the white paper, the national plan for our nation's future, is to maximise all of the opportunities of engagement with Asia.
This has been a journey that has taken place over time, from Gough Whitlam laying the foundations 40 years ago to the work that we are doing today.
Certainly my government takes our relationship with China very seriously, and we are committed to taking it to a new level, to engage with China in building a stronger and more comprehensive relationship and to work with China in our region and in the world.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet China's new president, and tomorrow in Beijing I will meet China's new premier.
As you know, working here in China, personal relationships matter and I was very keen to make this trip early in the terms of the new leadership.
I made the point to President Xi when I met him yesterday and I will make the same point to Premier Li when I meet him tomorrow, that Australia sees great potential in all areas of our relationship.
There is much more that we can do together, much more that we can achieve together, and it's about focusing together on the opportunities of the future.
But whilst I have those discussions, I am very well aware that success in this Asian century requires work by government, but it requires effort too by business and the community working with us towards a common purpose.
That's a purpose of bringing people together today to stress that sense of common purpose.
Now I can't help but be impressed by the breadth and diversity of what the Australian business community does here in Shanghai.
We've got people across the board, the resources sector, agribusiness, tourism, education services, architectural services, legal services and of course our banks, who are represented today.
Our banks are at different stages of expanding their presence in China, but all of them are working hard towards having a presence here and recognising the excellent opportunities in this market.
Australia's banking sector rightly has a good reputation here in China and globally.
That reputation is well-deserved as our banks outperformed most of the developed world's banks through the GFC and subsequently.
That's something that we should be proud of.
China now faces important challenges as it continues the process of reform in its financial sector.
We know what reforming the financial sector feels like, we went through our own reform process in the 1980s and 1990s.
And whilst of course China's economy is different in so many ways - scale vastly different, vastly larger than our own - many of the reform principles are the same and there are many lessons from our experience in Australia that can be shared here in China.
There are also many lessons that can be shared from the development of our superannuation sector, from the development of our superannuation pool of savings, and from the expertise that therefore comes in Australia in managing those funds.
As China continues to open its financial services sector to global markets, and as China's middle class continues to grow, China will hunger for a more diverse range of financial products and Australia's expertise in providing them is well-positioned to come to the fore.
So we look forward to working with China as it expands its funds management sector and seeks to expand the range of financial products available to its people.
In my meeting tomorrow with Premier Li, I will be stressing the point that Australian companies have the expertise and the desire to make a significant contribution to the further development of China's financial services sector.
So our banks are already here and so many Australian companies are poised to join them.
Today I will be making an announcement about direct trading of our currency - the Australian Dollar - into RMB here in China.
This is an important announcement for the future, an important announcement for our currency and its exchange with China.
As you know in this room at the moment, in order to exchange between the two currencies you need a two-step process, normally through American dollars.
So RMB into American dollars into Australian dollars, or back the other way.
The announcement we will make today is that we will be able to see a direct trade between Australian dollars into RMB here on China's mainland.
We have been working on this announcement for some period of time.
It actually follows on work done by the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan when he visited China in the middle of last year.
It's an important foundation stone for what we can achieve in the future, a future of huge opportunities and potential.
I'm looking out on a room of people who will make those opportunities and that potential real.
I thank you for your work, and your commitment, and it's been a very great pleasure to be able to join you here for breakfast this morning.
Thank you very much.