ABC, The Business
TICKY FULLERTON: Justa month into the job and Australia's new Trade Minister is headline news todaywith the Government announcing it will re-open a trade office in Iran. It comesjust days after New Zealand announced a new trade deal with Iran which led toan outcry from critics and particularly Israel after Iran reportedly test firedtwo missiles with the phrase "Israel must be wiped out". Joining meto discuss Iran and all things trades is the Minister Steve Ciobo. Minister,welcome.
STEVEN CIOBO: Thankyou, Ticky.
TICKY FULLERTON: Now,what's stopped Australia going as far as a trade deal with Iran like NewZealand? I see there are protests today. Is it the political sensitivity?
STEVEN CIOBO: No. Ithink first thing's first. Bear in mind that it wasn't that long ago that Iransecured agreement with the permanent five members of the Security Council plusGermany in relation to a plan around cooperation. We're now seeking to look atwhat opportunities exist in relation to trade. I made the announcement todaythat we would be reopening an Austrade office in Tehran that will be part ofthe Australian post that we have in Iran. There's clearly strong interest fromAustralian businesses to be able to move back into the Iranian market.
TICKY FULLERTON: Oneof the mooted opportunities was also the possibility of returning thousands offailed asylum seekers back to Iran from Australia. Now, there's no announcementon that, obviously. Can you see more of this sort of thing happening, taggingthe return of some asylum seekers to trade agreements?
STEVEN CIOBO: No.They're quite separate issues. So I can't stress that enough. I mean, they areseparate issues. The resumption of trade and investment discussions with Iranis a consequence of the normalisation of the relationship with Iran. It's notcompletely back to normal, but it's certainly a big improvement from where itwas. Discussions in relation to asylum seekers though is a separate matter. We,of course, continue to have a long tail in relation to the burden thatAustralian tax payers have had as a result of the Labor Party's dismantling ofour tough border protection laws. Of course, we saw the wave of boats andasylum seekers come to Australia. The Coalition Government is still dealingwith that process and dealing with the overhang from that time when Labor wasin Government, but the two are unrelated.
TICKY FULLERTON: Now,tomorrow, you are hosting the Indonesian Trade Minister here in Australia. Now,presumably that's a meeting very much about a repair job of our relationsbecause, from an Indonesian point of view, it was the threat to their proteinchain of course with that quite sudden halt of the live export industry, whichmust be still high in their minds.
STEVEN CIOBO: I thinkyou raise a valid point. Certainly, I know that the Indonesians were veryconcerned that the former Labor Government of course had a complete kneejerkreaction and shut down Australia's live cattle export industry to Indonesia.But I'm pleased to say that the relationship with Indonesia has come a verylong way since those dark days. We are now back in the situation where we'reactively engaging with Indonesia in terms of opportunities to look at what wecan do in relation to additional trade investment, discussions betweenAustralian based businesses, and business organisations as well as Indonesianbased businesses, and Indonesian based representative organisations, havingdiscussions about what their aspiration is for trade investment betweenAustralia and Indonesia. Because frankly, for two G20 nations, Ticky, the relationshipis very underdone, and it could be a lot stronger than it is.
TICKY FULLERTON: You're obviously working on trade deals on many fronts. The TPP, theTrans-Pacific Partnership, is very much part of the Obama legacy. Now, on dayone in the job, I think, you criticised Hillary Clinton for opposing the TPP.Donald Trump describes the TPP as being horrible. The TPP could be dead andburied by November, couldn't it?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, look,I mean, I'm optimistic about the chances of the TPP being ratified by theUnited States Congress. I met with Trade Ambassador Froman in Washingtonseveral weeks ago. He was quietly optimistic about what could happen with theCongress. I mean, let's not lose sight of the fact for all the rhetoric on allsides of the political debate in the US as part of the build up to thepresidential and congressional elections, Ticky, let's not lose sight of thefact that there still exists a very strong Republican base and, to a lesserextent, a Democrat base that seeks and supports freer trade because-
TICKY FULLERTON: Butat the moment, you've got two of the leading candidates on both sides whichseem to be rather against the TPP.
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,look, certainly some of the rhetoric doesn't look encouraging. But I don't gettoo worked up, being a practitioner of politics myself, too worked up aboutsome of the comments that are made by presidential hopefuls. What ultimately isgoing to matter is the policy decision that's taken by the respectiveadministration once we have a President. Let's also not lose sight of the factthat there is that period between, I should say after the presidential electionand prior to the inauguration of the new President, what's so called the lameduck session of the US Congress. A lot of people are saying that probablypresents the best opportunity for congressional ratification of theTrans-Pacific Partnership. I really hope it happens because it's going to begreat news for Australia.
TICKY FULLERTON: Alright. Now, I see the head of GE International in the Financial Review today,he's worried about the rise of trade barriers. Donald Trump, again, this weekargued that the negative interest rates in Europe mean job losses in the US.Now he wants to put up trade barriers. Are you concerned about this seemingrise of sort of protectionism, nationalism around the world?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,from my perspective, Ticky, what we really need to focus on is the benefitsthat flow from more liberalised trade and from freer trade. If there's oneclear message that history can send us, one clear account that is evidence onthe facts that we've seen over the last 20, 30 or more years, it's thatincreased trade around the globe has driven to improved living standards.Australia has had 25 continuous years of economic growth and in large part alot of that has been a consequence of our ability to access new markets and todrive trade.
TICKY FULLERTON: Minister,it can't be getting any easier for you though. Good luck with it all this year.Thank you very much for joining us.
STEVEN CIOBO: Thankyou.