1 April 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON. JOHN HOWARD MP
OPENING OF THE AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGE!
CHINA SECURITIES REGULATORY COMMISSION SYMPOSIUM
BEIJING, CHINA
E O E
Thank you very much Maurice Newman, the Chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange, to
the Minister for Metallurgical Industry, Mr Liu Qi, other distinguished guests, ladies and
gentlemen. May I say how particularly pleased I am to open this very important seminar. Can I
congratulate the Australian Stock Exchange and all of those associated in putting this seminar
together. I suppose when you think about the market system, when you think about free
economies, nothing quite expresses in a more robust and uncomplicated way a market
approach to economic management than a stock exchange.
It's impossible to conceive what has become known as the market economy or the market
economies of the world without thinking of stock exchanges. Because it is through stock
exchanges that equities are traded, capital is raised and judgments are made about the
strengths and the future prospects of companies and the stock exchanges of the world are an
indispensable, indeed a crucial element of the increasingly globalised economy in which we all
live. And when in 1978 the late Deng Xiao Ping began the great opening of the Chinese
economy, it was inevitable over time that that opening would embrace a greater concentration
on the role of stock exchanges in the economy of China and ultimately, of course, the listing of
Chinese securities and companies on the stock exchanges of the world. And that is why I'm
so delighted that this seminar brings the Australian Stock Exchange and the people who run it
and advise it and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and I particularly welcome the
presence of its Chairman with us today. We had a very brief but lively discussion about the
role of his Commission and the interaction of such commissions with the Stock Exchanges
both of China and of Australia.
This seminar will be an excellent opportunity for Chinese delegates and our Chinese guests to
gain an understanding not only of the listing requirements and the intricacies of the Australian
Stock Exchange but also the vast array of services that are associated with the operations of
securities markets in Australia.
The Australian Stock Exchange is a very sophisticated operation. It has a high reputation for
integrity. It also, I think today, celebrates its I10th birthday as a national exchange having
years ago brought together the individual State exchanges of Australia that operated for so
long. It has great advantages for Chinese companies, it operates in roughly the same time
zone as Beijing. It's electronic trading system is at the leading edge. It's surveillance system
and company recording requirements are outstanding and of course it has particular expertise
in areas such as mining and construction and building, industry and engineering which is of
such great and ongoing importance to Chinese companies and Chinese investors.
Associated with this seminar are representatives of many of the large and reputable legal and
accounting firms of Australia and as you move amongst the delegates from Australia, our
Chinese guests will meet representatives of what are household names in the legal and
accounting professions in Australia. And once again, in that area we bring services that have
high reputations in Australia, they are of world class professional capacity and they are part of
the very, very deep layers of professional services available to investors in Australia.
This is another occasion in which I want to emphasise the partnership between the Australian
government and the business community of Australia in interacting with the Chinese
government and the business men and women of China.
I have brought with me on this trip to China a very strong delegation of business men and
women. In fact it's the strongest and most senior business delegation ever to accompany an
Australian Prime Minister abroad and that has happened quite deliberately because of my belief
and my government's belief that in our dealings with China it is important to emphasise that
we and the business community are doing it together. That doesn't mean that our
predisposition in Australia towards allowing the business community freedom to make its own
decisions and to reduce the burden of government regulation on business has in any way
changed. But it is a recognition that in dealing with China it is important for the government
and the business community to work together.
Can I say to our Chinese guests and the participants in this seminar that the process of
economic change and reform is moving very dramatically in your country and although the
rate of change in Australia, by definition, is no where near is as great because the base from
which we have started is different, there is nonetheless an ongoing process of economic
change and reform. One of the things that my government will address in the next few weeks,
after my return to Australia is an examination of the Wallis Committee Report into the
Australian financial system.
About 17 years ago when I was Treasurer in the Australian government we received the
Campbell Report which ultimately led to the greatest changes in the financial system that
Australia has seen, the introduction of foreign banks, the floating of the Australian dollar and
general deregulation. May I say that it was a policy approach I'm pleased to remark was
embraced by both sides of politics in Australian and I have never been reluctant to give my
predecessor as Prime Minister credit for the work that he did in implementing that particular
report. The Wallis Committee Inquiry is in some respects an update, a stocktaking of what
has happened to the Australian financial system since the implementation of the Campbell
Report and we will be taking some decisions on that Report in terms of a statement of how
we're going to handle it already made by the Treasurer. But I mention it ladies and gentlemen
to simply underline the fact that although we have a very modern and sophisticated and
thoroughly integrated financial system which is part of the globalised economy in which we all
now live, the process of change, surveillance and review must always go on.
Ladies and gentlemen I therefore have enormous pleasure in declaring this seminar open. I
congratulate again the Australian Stock Exchange and particularly it's Chairman, Mr Maurice
Newman, who has not only made a great contribution to the Australian business community as
Chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange and his other professional pursuits but he has
made an extremely thoughtful contribution over many years to the ongoing policy debate
within Australia about economic matters and he's been one of the strongest and most
persistent voices in favour of a deregulatory market approach to the management of the
Australian economy. And in a society such as Australia debates on those sorts of issues go on
endlessly and it is always important to have loud and strong voices in favour of an intelligent
approach to economic management.
So ladies and gentlemen I have enormous pleasure in declaring this seminar open. I hope that
all of our Chinese delegates here today derive great benefits from it. All of you will be very
welcome participants on the Australian Stock Exchange. I can assure you of a ready but of
course necessarily professional and critical appraisal of your offerings and if you do decide to
list you will be listing on an exchange which has impeccable world wide credentials, is
conducted with enormous integrity and whose operations are underpinned by highly qualified
brokers, financial advisers, lawyers and accountants.
I declare this seminar open. Thank you
Ends