* 1 tToh, su
PRIME MINISTER
ADDRESS BY THE PRINE IINISTER, THE RON P J KEA3rNG xP
FRDICH BUSINESS COINXNITY LUNCH, PARIS, WEDNESDAY S JUNE
Thank you very much for coming. It is gratifying to see
so many senior business figures who have taken time off
from their heavy commitments to be here today.
I am in France because fifty years ago Australians took
part in the landings in Normandy. Australians were here
then as they had been in the First World War. It is one
of the remarkable features of our history that a
profound part of it was written on the battlefields of
France. A tragic part of it, yet a part which shaped the
Australian nation and the national character.
In fact the threads of our relationship go back much
further than the wars: they go back to the foundations of
European settlement in Australia. In 1788 as the Aritish
raised the Union Jack on the shores of Sydney Harbour, La
Perouse was anchored just offshore.
Indeed, the Australian coast from Perth to Hobart is
dotted with the names left behind by La Perouse, Baudin
and D'Entrecasteux.
The map of Australia tells the story of a scientific or
academic interest, rather than a commercial one.
I" am here today to tell you that we believe the time has
come to convert your interest to wholehearted economic
engagement. To be an Australian in the nineties is to feel present at
a definitive moment in our history. Literally definitive
the culture, including the work and business culture,
the economy, the nation's identity and international
direction are all being re-defined and newly articulated.
Australia's place in the world is being re-defined.
I believe the decade will, in time, be seen as one in
which the remnants of post-colonial ambivalence were
swept away, not with any loss to our best traditions, but
with the creation of institutions and procedures. which
reflect the great changes of recent years and are
appropriate to the reality and needs of Australia in the
twenty first century.
67 2 8 Mai fri
wi rei 101
De' th: ma( cu2 In
cai tal rej
The ou: if
aI co AU en Su
de exj us
Jul us ini an
bu th Th wol
Thi thq Thi col wil
The old barriers to the world outside and, in particular,
to our own region the Asia-Pacific have been
substantially removed.
mass post war migration, first from Europe, and then also
from Asia, long ago broke down the old monoculture and
with it the xenophobia which, if not entirely the
reality, was certainly the image of Australia for a very
long time.
Deliberate government policies, combined with what I
think is a strong underlying tradition of tolerance have
made it surely one of most successful examples of
cultural pluralism in the world.
In the last decade the Australian economy has also been
capital conro isadudroka araaic program ot
tariff reductions.
The sum result of the chanqes in Australia has been that
we now see ourselves in a much larger mirror a mirror
which reflects the comparative advantages on which we
must build and the comparative shortcomings which we must
rectify. The same mirror also suggests that we must clearly define
ourselves. If it is true that companies need corporate identities in
a competitive world, it is probably also true of
countries; and the need is greater f or a country like
Australia which has undergone rapid change and is now
entering the new world of the Asia-Pacific.
Such an identity does not need to be invented: the
deeper understanding and the imperatives which flow from
exposure to the world will essentially articulate it for
US. Just as this exposure in the plainest possible way told
us that work place practices had to change, and
international best business practice had to be applied,
and inflation controlled, and an environment in which
business, especially export business the business of
the future could flourish.
That is what has happened. And, because in a competitive
world change never stops, it is continuing to happen.
There has been massive structural and cultural change in
the Australian economy and the results are striking.
That is why, entirely without apology, I am urging French.
companies to invest inAustralia. I can assure you it
will be good for both'of us. 67 2.9
3
Never has the climate for investment been better.
We have the highest economic growth in the OECD. In the
last twelve months GDP increased by 5 per cent and
employment rose by over 3 per cent.
We have corporate profit share at an all time high of
just over eighteen per cent of GDP.
We have interest rates at their lowest level for twenty
years. We have inflation at around 1 per cent even less based
on the product deflators in the national accounts. And
we have it locked in by an Accord on wages with the trade
unions. We have wages increasingly linked to
improvements in productivity.
A revolution in the industrial culture has given us the
lowest level of industrial disputes for decades.
There is strong export growth. Ten years ago exports
made up no mare than 13 per cent of Australian GDP
today that figure is over 20 per cent and they are much
more diverse. The proportion of manufactures is now
equal to the proportion of agricultural product. Exports
of elaborately transformed manufactures have risen by
per cent in the past three years.
And when you see where our exports are going you see
another reason why you should invest.
if rising demand in the domestic-market is the first 1
reason, the international market is the second. ourIt
firms have demonstrated that Australia is a wonderful c
base from which to export into the booming Asia-Pacific h
markets. AW. all of us here today know, the scale of change in Asia 9
isremarkable. d
Take China.
At the present rate of growth, China's economay is e
doubling every eight years. c
While world trade grew by about So per cent between 1996 a,
and 1992, the trade of the three Chinese economies grew Ki
by 180 per cent.
But of course there is much more to Asian dynamism than a,
China. There are the rapidly growing markets of South a
East Asia, including that of Australia's nearest T
neighbour, Indonesia, and the likely new tiger, Vietnam. i
67: 30
It is with this most dynamic region of the world that
Australia now does most of its business.
Well over half of Australia's merchandise exports go to
-East -Asian markets. Almost two-thirds of our total
exports go to Asia. Australia's trade relationship with
Japan is one of the economic sinews of the region.
In the last five years our annual average -axpor-t -growth
to the ASEAN reqion has been more than double the growth
of our total exports and the increase in our exports of
elaborately transformed manufactures has been
particularly dramatic.
more and more Australian businesses are being born of our
new Asian export culture. One-third of our exports of
elaborately transformed manufactures are coming from
small firms that have begun exporting only in the last
ten years.
These days Australian companies measure themselves
against Asian levels of productivity and competitiveness.
We have substantial advantages: a skilled multicultural
workforce, high standards of education, political
stability, an effective legal framework, well-developed
infrastructure and a continuing program of microeconomic
reform.
Australia is a leading information technology country.
We invest more of our GDP in telecommunications than
Japan, Singapore or Hong Kong.
We have more computers per head of population a third
more than our nearest rival, Singapore than any other
country in the Western Pacific, and more telephones per
head of population than anyone else in the region.
Australia is a very good place to do business, a very
good place to establish regional headquarters which is
woat many international service companies have already
done. Not only can we more than match the newly industrialised
economies of Asia in skills, productivity, stability and
certainty, investors will find that the cost of an
international telephone call, office space and housing,
are significantly lower than, say, Singapore and Hong
Kong. They will find a corporate tax rate of just 33 per cent,
a 10 per cent tax rate for Offt Shore Banking Units, and
accelerated depreciation rates for plant and equipment.
They will find that the overall tax burden in Australia
is the lowest of all OECD countries. G7 3 t
p
They will find a lot more space to live in, air that is a
lot cleaner and the trip to the office quicker and less
stressful.
They will also find a first class universal health
system, and schools, hospitals and social services which
in general have few peers in the world.
They will find a small public sector but an effective
one. They will find a Western culture in an Asian location and
in an Asian time-zone.
In short, they will find that Australia is a very good Y
place to live and work.
In the 1980s Australia rejected the socially regressive
forms of economic rationalism in favour of structural C
reform allied to inclusive social policies. I
Last month we delivered a major statement on employment F
a comprehensive strategy for training and returning the e
long term unemployed to the workforce.
The strategy will deliver to us greater levels of social t
cohesion and justice and a more skilled and flexible
workforce. A b
We are building our economy on skills and productivityt
coupled with a sophisticated social net.
We have no intention of im~ itating the wage regimen of w
developing countries. We have proved that we can compete r
by other means and be considerably more attractive toI
overseas investors.
In other words, Australia offers a perfect springboard b
for companies wanting to take advantage of the dynamic T)
Aslan markets. al
You will be aware that Australia has taken a leading role
in building new structures in the region for trade and s
security. t
Last year I attended the first meeting of APEC countries a
in 9 -eattle., There fourteen Asia-Pacific leiders laid of
down objectives for the future. t
The aim is open regionalism regional tradeLt
liberalisation which avoids disadvantage to others.
We envisage ultimately an integrated market bringing
together the economies of Australia, ASEN, the three
Chinas, Korea, Japan and North America.
63% 8
A market of 2 billion people, producing half the world's
output, with harmonised trade and investment rules,
harmonised standards and certification and agreed means
of settling disputes.
APEC leaders will meet again in Indonesia later this
year, lending weight to the gathering momentum of
cooperation in the region.
It must be stressed that neither APEC nor Australia has
in mind turning away from others parts of the world. We
are certainly not talking about raising barriers.
We are inextricably linked to the world economy. We
depend on an open world trading system. We unequivocally
support the multilateral system.
our increasing integration with Asia does not mean that
Europe is fading from our minds.
Far from it, we remain actively engaged with European
economies and we want to do much more.
We want to do nore with France. And the gathering here
today rather suggests that we are and that we will.
At present only 7 per cent of exports from the fourth
biggest economy in the world go to East Asia. I know
that Monsieur Longuet wants to change that with his
" French Initiative Towards Asia". I am sure that he
-Qiti France to dramatically increase her trade-with the
region before other players take their shalre._-
I am in no doubt that great benefits will flow to both
our countries if French companies make Australia their
base for moving into these new markets.
There is also very great potential for increased trade
and investment between our two countries.
In recent times a number of French companies have made
substantial investments in areas as diverse as
telecommunications, air traffic control systems, resort
management, waste water treatment, film and television
and viticulture the last being an outstanding example
of cross investment combined with cooperation in
technology and research.
Ladies and gentlemen, if for the first two ' centuries of 6733
Leadei
We find them in vineyards from Western Australia to the
Hunter Valley of New South Wales. We find them in the
industrial suburbs and the central business districts of
our major cities. we find thou in laboratories and film
studios. They are present in the booming tourist
industry of Queensland as investors and managers, and
as tourists.
We want to see more of France in Australia and more of
the French.
I therefore hope to see you, M. Longuet, in Australia
soon. I also hope to see those of you here today and
senior executives from other French companies later this
year at our second National Trade and Investment
Conference, when France will be the European country
invited to join representatives from the Asia-Pacific.
It is for this reason that I want to thank the people who
organised this gathering, particularly Club Australie
with which I know many of you have been associated, and
M. Gandois who has played a crucial role in developing
business links between our two countries.
It is great enterprise and I have no doubt it will be a
very rewarding one.
ENDS 67 : 14 RPdrrfiimaMt