7 PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTERl THE HON P J KEATING MP
BUSINESS SPEECH AT KASTEEL DE WITTENBURO
THE HAGUE -MONDAY, 13 MARCH 1995
It is a groat pleasure to speak to you today here In The
Hague. Au3tralia has very old links with the Netherlands. They
go back more than 350 years but it has to be said that
your countrymen in those days refused to see the
potential of the place.
In two years' time it will be the 300th an~ niv~. ersary of
the landing on the West Australian coast by the Dutch
explorer Willem de Vlamingh. Next month Her Majesty
Queen Beatrix will be launching a replica of Lhe Batavia,
the Dutch ship which was wrecked off the coast of Western
Australia in 1629.
In between those two events the most famous of Dutch
explorers in Australia, Abel Tasman, visited our southern
shores and discovered what is now known as Tasmania.
Tas-rian's impression unfortunately was not a favourable
one: he is reported to have said as he sailed away,
" There Is no good to be done here." And he went on to
trade with Japan,
One of the reasons for my coming to the Netherlands today
is to tellI you that Tasman was wrong there is much
good to bo done in Australia.
Tasman of course was exploring out of Indonesia. So a
nice circle has been turned. Australia's relationship
with Indonesia these days Is deep and full of commercial
promi se.
We recognise that the Netherlands itself has very old
connections with Asia; but these days Australia's active
engagement with the burgeoning economies of the region
can provide a perfect environment for European businesses
wanting a base in the fastest growing markets of the
world. Of course, our links with your country are already well
established. They are more than simply commercial. In
the year3 after World War II Australia welcomed thousands
of Dutch migrants, and they have made a great
contribution to modern Australian society. We feel at
home among the Dutch and I hope you won't mind me
saying, very much at home in the Netherlands.
We share a set of social and political values. In
politics we incline towards the liberal, egalitarian,
social democratic model. There is plenty of room for
differences within that broad philosophical canvas, of
course; but I think it is true to say that we share the
same notion of what constitutes a good society. And I
think that, in our own ways, we have both gone closer
than most to creating one.
So we have a lot in common including business.
We have been doing business in fact for years, and very
successful business.
The Netherlands is the sixth largest investor in
Austral ia and, amrong the countries * of the EU, the second
1largest. The great Dutch companies like Shell, Unilever and
Philips have been established for a very long time in
Australia. These days companies like Rodamco, Flexovit,
ABN AMRO, and the ING Group are among the 70 other Dutch~
companies who are active.
And increasingly Australian companies are setting up
their European operations in the Netherlands. The
transport firm, TNT, has its headquarters he~ re. Another
Australian company, Mayne Nickless, I understand is about
to become a logistics supplier in the Netherlands for
Unilever.
Goodman Fielder Wattie is another Australian company
operating here in fact it has become the largest flour
miller In Europe and the largast bread maker in the
Netherlands. The Australian company Boral, which has
recently made a $ 100 million investment in Germany, is
also a substantial investor in the Netherlands.
The point I want to make today is that these examples of
the substantial two-way investment which already exists
between us can be multiplied many times over. If we
seize the opportunities which now exist, in time in a
very short time I am sure we will be able to say that
this was just the beginning.
For on the eve of the 21st century Australia is uniquely
placed as a country in which and with which to do
busi ness.
We have made great changes in the past decade. I am
talking about a new Australia: with an economy which
grew at more than 6 per cent last year and is expected to
grow at 5 per cent this year; with employment growing at
3. S per cent; investment forecast to grow at 24 per cent;
and with an underlying inflation rate at just over 2 per
cent. We are a pro-growth Government, and my visit to Europe
has more than ever convinced me that we are right to be
so. We are right to aim for high growth, in a low
inflation environment. We were also right, I believe, to
pull down the tariff walls which for so long constrained
our industries.
Australia is now open to the world and competing in it
successfully. in the past decade our exports of goods
and services have grown from about 14 per cent to nearly
22 per cent of GDP. Our international competitiveness
has increased by around 38 per cent since the early
1980S.
These figures also speak of a cultural change. We are
talkirig about a country which has been prepared to make
the changes necessary to engage successfully in the
global economy.
We know about change in Australia. We have developed
something like a culture of change. As never before In
our history we are conscious that our future is in our
own hands, and we are extremely confident of our ability
to succeed.
I can tell you this Australia in the first decades of
the next century will be very strong.
We will still be a competitive and reliable producer of
minerals and energy, and of the products from our great
pastoral and zgricultural industries,
But we will be much more than this. We are much more
than this already. Let me give you a couple of examples
which in a sense tell the story.
Australian exports of elaborately transformed
mariufbctures have nearly tripled in the past decade and
tourism exports have doubled as a share of GDP. In
1993/ 94 Australian exports of computers and office
equipment increased by around 30 per cent. Our exports
of telecommunications equipment increased by 34 per cent,
We find that it sometimes comes as a surprise to European
audiences that Australia is in the forefront of
information technology and communications.
I was at the CeBIT Trade Fair in Hanover last week.
Australia is the partner country this year. There are
170 Australian companies represented none of them,
perhaps, quite so famous as Philips, or Eriecson, or
Siemens, but every one of them a measure of Australia's
expertise in information technology and communications.
Collectively, they are helping the European perception of
I
Australia to catch up with the contemporary reality of
Australia. It is true to say that Australia is not seen in the world
as an outstandingly high technology country. But in fact
it is. Australians enjoy one of the most advanced
telecommunications networks in tho world. What is more,
they export their expertise.
Telephone networks in Germany and other European
countries rely on switching systems developed in
Australia. Australians have developed high-tech
solutions in fields like geographic information systems
and satellite navigation. They have developed the
world's most advanced traffic monitoring and control
systems; and built pcwerful, flexible world class
software applications for banking, transport and retail
industries,
AUStralian software runs air and ground traffic control
at Schiphol Airport. The " smart cards" and PIN pads used
in banks and sup -markets throughout the Netherlands were
produced by an AL, tralian company called Intellect.
I could list many more examples which w. ould illustrate
this essential point about contemporary Australia: that
we have taken on the information revolution with a
passion. And with great success.
Perhaps It has something to do with our being for so long
remote from the world and, living ort a vast and sparsely
populated continent, remote from each other. In such
circumstances people learn the value of communi cations.
Our embrace of the information revolution is certairly
related to the boost we have given in recent years to
research and development through such measures as tax
concessions; the establishment of Co-operative research
centres to link various strands of business arid industry
with our scientific institutions; and to the Governmnent's
encouragement of information technology and
communications and the new media In a wide range of
policy initiatives including last year a major
statement on employment and industry, and another on
cultural development.
There are myriad reasons why Australia has developed its
interest and expertise in information technology and
telecommunications. We have a healthy independent film
and television industry which increases our potential to
provide content for the new media. We have a highly
sophisticated system of closely targeted social services
which the new media can serve; and we have people in
remote communities who are entitled to the sorvices in
health and education and the arts which mainstream
Australia enjoys, and which the new technology can
provide.
I said In Hanover, and I know the Dutch would understand,
the new information technology switz cur tncial ambitions
as wellI as our economic ones. Notwithstanding its traps
and limitations, it has enormous democratic potential.
And it is where the jobs of the 21st century are going to
be. The outstanding reason for our enthusiastic embrace of
information technology and communications is the future.
The information highway is the highway to the world
Australia has always needed. It eliminates the
disadvantage which distance has always imposed upon us.
With instant international communications our handicap is
gone. Along with the new markets of the Asia-Pacific, the new
information technologies are the keys to Australia's
success in the 21st century.
it is only natural that we should have pursued both. As
I said, we are at the doorstep of the fastest growing
region on earth. Indeed, we are rapidly becoming part of
it; and for this reason we are uniquely placed to help
Dutch business people like yourselves to pursue the
extraordinary opportunities which lie there.
The explosive development of the Asia-Pacific may well be
the most important phenomenon of the second half of the
century. Asia's development will shape the 21st
Century. It will shape the world's economy, its culture,
environment and security.
You will be aware of the development of APEC Asia
Pacific Economic Co-cperation. The member countries of
APEC account for half the world's production. By the
year 2000 they will account for 60 per cent of world GDP,
per cent of world trade.
I am sure you will all know about the historic decision
which APEC leaders made in Bogor, Indonesia, last year:
they agreed to achieve free and open trade and investment
in the region by 2010 for industrialised countries and
2020 for the developing countries. This is an
extraordinary development, It will mean a dynamic and
integrated market of two billion people.
I don't think APEC's objectives and rationale are
sufficiently understood in Europe. It has developed very
rapidly and in quite a different way to the EU. It Is
not a community in the EU sense. It has little
infrastructure and few bureaucrats.
But it is no less serious. One of its great strengths is
that it brings together both developed and developing
economies in one framework. It sets a new standard for
co-operation in what is known as the North-South
dialogue: it turns that dialogue into a concrete
creative reality.
understand the sc ,' 1snism about APEC which exists in
Europe. But then twelve months ago there were sceptics
saying that what was achieved at Bogor wculd never be
achieved; and, twelve months before that$ there were even
more sceptics saying that we would never get the leaders
of Japan, the United States, China and the other 12
together for a meeting in Soattle.
Scepticism is a healthy sentiment of course, but APEC has
defied it and I expect the pattern to continue when the
Heads of Government meet again in Osak~ a in November this
year I expect that we will agree on a comprehensive
agenda for reaching our free trade and investment goals.
The comnmitment we have made is not like any other trade
negotiation. We have set the end point for
liberalisation -comprehensive free and open trade in
goods, services and capital. So, unlike the Uruguay
Round, we will not be haggling about the Sxqn to which
we remove trade barriers.
We are not about to form an inward-looking or
protectionist trade bloc. All APEC leaders agree that
the trade and investment liberalisation we are
undertaking should feed into and fuel further global
trade liberalisation. What we want is a more open and
liberal multilateral trading system.
I think it goes without saying that Australia would like
to see non-APEC countries come to the same view and match
our efforts.
Australia's fut~ ure is in the Asia-Pacific. That is
unde~ rstood these days by all Australians, 6S per cent of
our exports now go to east Asia, and about half of our
mi grants now come from the region. In the process of our
integration we have learned a good deal, and that is one
of the reasons why Australia is a good place for European
companies to establish their headquarters in Australia.
They will find that Australians are comfortable doing
business in Asia.
They will also find a great many other advantages,
including a standard of living and quality of life
comparable to their own. Becaulse We share a long
tradition and a common cultural heritage, they will find
that they are working within a very fami liar frame~ work.
They will find commercial advantages, such as a highly
competitive corporate tax rate, generous research and
development concessions and, perhaps most valuable of
all, that sophisticated telecommunications system and
highly developed information technology which I have
already described to you.
It seems to us that a circle really has been completed.
Australia has spent the best part of 200 years on the
7
outer reaches of Europe's influence. We are no longer in
that rbit. We look to Asia and the Pacific. And it is
precisely that shift In our priorities which now makes
the potential for a productive and mutually beneficial
relationship with European countries so much the greater.
In other words, nothing In our European past comes close
to matching the potential which now exists to do business
with Europe in our Asia-Pacific future.
And In that future, it goes without saying, we see the
Netherlands as a most important partner.