PRIME MINISTER:
Well thank you very much, Tamerlaine for that very warm introduction.
Welcome everyone to today’s SME Conference and to the ASEAN–Australia Business Summit — the first of its kind in Australia and a new era in our engagement with Southeast Asia.
Firstly I acknowledge that we meet on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and we pay respect to their elders past and present.
I acknowledge ASEAN Secretary General, His Excellency Dato Lim Jock Hoi and of course, as Tamerlaine said a moment ago, we are so fortunate to be joined by our friend, the Prime Minister of Singapore and ASEAN’s 2018 Chair, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong a man who understands, implicitly, the value of hard work, enterprise and from whom we can learn so much.
Prime Minister, Lucy and I were delighted to have dinner with you and Ho Ching last night and I understand that they have done a stellar job already today, with a presentation.
Now, I look forward to strengthening the historic links between our economies and our people during your visit.
Small and medium-sized enterprises make up 65 per cent of Singaporean employment, and contribute 45 per cent of your country’s GDP.
In Australia, our small and medium businesses contribute more than $600 billion to Australia’s economy each year – almost half our annual economic activity. They employ two in every three Australians. These businesses are the heart and soul of the Australian economy. We’re proud to have you all representing us on the world stage, competing for the incredible opportunities of the region.
Your passion, your innovation and drive are the markers and the makers, of enterprise.
A spirit of enterprise is at the heart of our prosperous and secure nation.
Individual enterprise, free enterprise, is our present and our future.
Now Australia recently broke the world record for the longest run of economic growth; 26 years. Our economic indicators show more jobs, more growth and more choice for consumers. 403,000 jobs created last year, the largest annual growth in jobs in our history and 16 months of continuous jobs growth. Again, the longest since we started keeping records on that. It’s clear that much of the heavy-lifting is being done by our small and medium-sized businesses.
Our greatest resources are our people, not the minerals beneath their feet. It is us, Australians, 25 million Australians and our SMEs — their enterprise and imagination and the enormous potential they hold — prove this point.
They embrace uncertainty with courage and tenacity, by taking a risk and creating something. They make volatility their friend, not flee from it as a foe.
A great example is the Australian company, Rode Microphones, which is competing on the world stage and winning. I’ve visited the Silverwater factory here in Sydney where they make the most advanced microphones in the world.
They’ve grown their workforce by 30 per cent through the use of technology and an incredible 94 per cent of their sales are exports. Competing with the best in the world, including many markets where labour costs are much lower than Australia. So, they’ve shown courage and taken risks an innovative company, with an innovative product, the future of advanced manufacturing in Australia. It’s the kind of enterprise the Australian Government is backing with policies that give businesses the confidence to invest, compete and create jobs.
A vital part of that is delivering on our commitments to free trade, investment and open markets.
People are at the heart of enterprise and it’s the role of governments to enable, to smooth the way and open doors.
We need to hear from you about the challenges and prospects across the region and how we can improve economic integration and growth.
Forums like this improve our connections, but they are also an opportunity for governments to listen and to learn.
Now, Australia is a nation whose economy is built on trade. Throughout our history, it has delivered for our people and our businesses.
Free trade opens new doors for Australian businesses to millions of overseas consumers, meaning more jobs and more prosperity here at home. 2.2 million Australians are employed in a trade-related activity.
We also know that as a result of trade liberalisation in the last 30 years, our real GDP is 5.4 per cent higher and real wages are 7.4 per cent higher as well.
Open markets together with democracy, have been two of the most powerful forces in human history.
They have led to worldwide growth and prosperity.
That’s why Australia will continue to work with our closest neighbours in the region.
You don’t grow stronger by closing the door to other markets.
Protectionism is a dead end.
It is not a ladder to get you out of the low growth trap, it’s a shovel to dig it much deeper.
We must face the world, not turn from it.
Embrace free trade, not retreat from it.
And do so on the basis of strong and transparent rules, fair and open competition and non-discriminatory legislation.
Australia is fortunate in this regard, our high-quality free trade agreements mean our businesses are competing on a level playing field - large and medium, small and micro — so they all have a chance to grow and capitalise on their ideas. Digital platforms give small and very small businesses the ability to go into markets which hitherto, a generation ago, had really only been available to large firms. So the power of these digital platforms, the ubiquitousness of the internet and smart phones and so forth, is a real enabler for small and medium businesses. So many of them here in Australia are taking on global markets with great confidence and success.
Now, the ASEAN region is already equivalent to the world’s fifth-largest economy. The IMF forecasts its GDP will grow by more than 5 per cent every year for the next decade.
So it’s understandable that Australia embraced the comprehensive ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. It’s a demonstration to the world of what can be done, sharing our ideas, expertise and new technologies for our mutual benefit.
Of course, ‘AANZFTA’ as it’s described, operates alongside our free trade agreements with other ASEAN member states. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and, more recently, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam through the TPP-11, Trans Pacific Partnership.
Taken together, these agreements mean ASEAN is now one of Australia’s top-three trading partners.
ASEAN is currently home to more than 630 million people. That number is tipped to grow by around 100 million by 2030. That means so many opportunities for Australian and regional companies.
One of them is Fibre King, a 91-year-old Australian company that designs and builds automated packaging machinery, which has expanded its manufacturing to Thailand.
Their subsidiary company Oryx Automation, which operates just outside Bangkok, is riding the huge manufacturing growth wave in ASEAN.
I’ve just met Susan Jenkin whose story demonstrates the depth of connections between our people. Susan and her husband Allen have a thriving business, Ironbark Citrus, which exports mandarins to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and China, to name just some of the countries they access. She has discussed with me just this morning, their social business in Laos, helping smallholding farmers grow citrus on a commercial basis and of course, in the counter season. They offer disease-resistant crops, starter loans and much-needed commercial and nursery expertise. They already have around 13,000 trees growing on 33 family farms.
We can all benefit from the powerful exchange of knowledge across our region, which is home to a young and entrepreneurial population, keen for globally competitive skills.
Almost 100,000 students from ASEAN countries are studying at Australian universities. Tens of thousands are enrolled in vocational education training, English language and non-award courses in Australia last year. Australian companies are also helping train local labour forces in the skills needed to meet the demand from foreign direct investment in the region.
Site Group International trains locals to work in mining, construction and energy projects. They operate in Myanmar, Malaysia and the Philippines, where they’ve trained thousands of workers. Chief Executive Vernon Wills will tell us more about that later today.
These are really good news stories and so is what’s happening in tourism.
Our region has a shared goal to deliver world-class tourism and enjoy a larger slice of what is, globally, a growing sector.
Last year, the ASEAN region was Australia’s largest source of overseas visits; larger in fact than China, despite having half the population.
We’re already seeing the forming of closer links.
Avalon Airport in Victoria for example, has secured AirAsia to operate its first overseas services and we’ll hear from AirAsia Group Chief Executive, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, later today.
There’s also scope to work together as we navigate the next Industrial Revolution, digital transformation.
We live in a world where the pace and the scale of change is utterly without precedent. It’s an age of disruption, where the ever-evolving trend of digitalisation is turning old business models on their head. As you all know so well, businesses must adapt and invest in new technologies and in their workers. If I may say, both from experience and observation, small and medium businesses are the ones that are most able, most swiftly, to make that adjustment.
Nowhere is the potential for digital trade greater than in our region. Google estimates that almost four million new users from Southeast Asia will come online every month, making it the fastest-growing internet market in the world.
However, the scale and pace of this change that I’ve described, has placed enormous pressure on our existing approach to regulation. It’s moving much faster than legislators, regulators and policy makers to be frank.
Digital trade standards will underpin the benefits of new technologies - everything from big data to artificial intelligence — and harness the opportunities they bring to our region.
So that’s why I am very pleased to announce that Australia and ASEAN will be working together to develop, adopt and use international standards that promote digital trade. It will mean up-to-date, harmonised standards that make it easier to do business across borders. Standards for business and, most importantly, developed with business.
Together, we will ensure we take advantage of the potential of digital trade to gain greater access to markets and secure a more certain online environment in which you will do business.
It’ll show the world yet again what can be achieved when nations work together.
So that’s why we are here; to point Australian businesses towards the opportunities in our region. To assist businesses in our region with greater engagement with Australia and help them, together, to participate competitively in ASEAN’s economic expansion.
The opportunities on Australia’s doorstep are remarkable. It’s your enterprise, your efforts, that will determine our future and that’s why your Government is backing you. It’s why you can always count on me and the Government I lead, to support Australian enterprise. And above all, the small and medium enterprises whose innovation, whose energy, whose courage will steer us to an even more prosperous future.
Thank you very much.
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