ABC Radio, AM
SABRA LANE: The Trade Minister Steven Ciobo takes off today fora quick trip around the globe to Indonesia, the UK and Chile, hoping to makesignificant progress on three trade deals. The first stop is Jakarta. Australiaand Indonesia are hoping to finally sign off on a trade and investmentagreement by the end of this year. Indonesian officials want to export morepalm oil and timber products and better access for young students to studyhere. I was joined earlier by Mr Ciobo from his home on the Gold Coast.Steven Ciobo, thank you for joining AM this morning.
STEVEN CIOBO: Goodmorning, good to be with you.
SABRA LANE: Negotiations with Indonesia on this agreementstarted more than a decade ago. You'd like it done by the end of this year. Howrealistic is that?
STEVEN CIOBO: Wellboth sides are working diligently toward that outcome. I'm pleased to saythat since Minister Lukita became Indonesia's Trade Minister, he and I haveeither met or spoken on the phone some 14 times since July last year, which Ithink is emblematic of the high level of commitment from both sides tocompleting this negotiation.
SABRA LANE: Indonesia officials say they'd like to see morepalm oil and timber products coming to Australia, suggesting that there seem tobe some unofficial barriers from stopping these things from cominghere. Are you sympathetic to that desire?
STEVEN CIOBO: I am,but there's of course a clear focus on securing a win-win outcome with anytrade negotiation. What I want is a highly ambitious agreement betweenAustralia and Indonesia, one that secures further liberalisation on goods andservices and investment, and underscoring that will of course be a good win-winoutcome for both sides.
SABRA LANE: And what about better access for young Indonesianuniversity students who want to come here to study?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,anything that we do, we do in the context of existing visarequirements. From my perspective, what we want to make sure that we do isget overall a good, comprehensive deal, one that's actually going to providefor, among other things, movement of natural persons, but in a way that'sconsistent with our existing policy, which means of course that we don't wantto preclude opportunities for Australians to have effectively the first go atjobs here in Australia.
SABRA LANE: Some of those visa standards though, I understand,for some people, they need to have $5,000 in the bank and also provide chestx-rays.
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,that's part and parcel of the requirements that we have in terms of securingvisas for people from outside of Australia. We would never, of course,compromise Australia's requirements in terms of health, things liketuberculosis and whatnot. But look, we'll look at it in the context of theoverall deal. Likewise, Australia would want to have much better accessinto Indonesia for our labour force. I mean, a clear example of thewin-win outcome that I'm talking about is a situation where as an Australian,for example, teacher who might teach vocational education. Well, if we canget more campuses, if we can get a greater presence of vocational education,tertiary institutions and others in Indonesia, that's a good export service forAustralia. But it's also good for Indonesia because it builds theircapacity.
SABRA LANE: You're also off to Britain to hold further talks onsecuring a trade deal once it breaks from the EU. Australian exports tothe United Kingdom have gone from $12 billion in 2010 to around $7 billion now.What's happened?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,unfortunately we have lost ground in the EU, and I want to make sure that wereverse that. A key part of my focus is making sure that we do achieve afurther liberalised outcome. In particular, of course, we've got to focuson quotas. I mean, it is a ridiculous situation that Australia importsmore from the European Union than we actually export to the European [Union]with their population of some 400-plus million people. So there isopportunity there. That's why we're close to concluding the scoping study withthe European Union. And it's also the reason why we'll have a good hardlook at putting in place an FTA with the UK once they have formally exited theEU.
SABRA LANE: You're also heading to Chile to continue TPP talkswithout the United States. Given where those negotiations are at, arethere new countries that you'd like to include in that deal now withoutjeopardising the progress that's been made so far?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well theTPP has always had open architecture. It's provided for other countries to joinit if they'd like to. Right here and now, of course, the key focus of theTPP is to look at whether or not the deal can be salvaged. I've spoken toa large number of my counterparts from TPP countries. There is a desire tonot let those gains slip through our fingers, but what that will ultimatelylook like is something that we'll be discussing in Chile. What I willabsolutely not do though is just pull down the louvres and say 'that's it, gameover', which is what the Labor Party is actually recommending - because we'veseen that Australian exports are underpinning a lot of Australia's economicgrowth right now. And to walk away from trade agreements, to walk awayfrom trade deals is to walk away from stronger economic growth and jobs forAustralians.
SABRA LANE: Given the suspicion though that some Australianshave about the benefits of free trade deals and voters favouring parties likethe Nick Xenophon Team, could the Coalition be doing a better job of explainingthe merits of these agreements?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, I think Australianssee, if they're watching Parliament, if they're looking at the messages that Iand others are consistently focusing in on, it is a fact that trade growth is crucial for Australia's economicgrowth. I know that sometimesthere is a siren call from some who say let's throw back up the protectionistwalls, let's put in place tariffs again, suggesting that in some way that'sgoing to lead to a beneficial economic outcome, but it doesn't. Allit does is lead to less prosperity in the future and fewer jobs forAustralians.
SABRA LANE: One of those groups has been the One Nation groupthat's been talking about, you know, concentrating more on manufacturing backhere, and in your home state many lower house seats saw a high One Nation votelast election. Why do you think so many Queenslanders find PaulineHanson's party so attractive?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well,look, that's difficult for me to say why they would. But, I mean, take forexample on the trade front, just last weekend we secured much more beneficialaccess for Australian sugar cane farmers into Indonesia. Now that's aconsequence of an early outcome from a trade deal that we're looking at doingin Indonesia. It's going to see good opportunities for sugar cane exportsto that country. Now, if we adopted a closed mentality, if we adopted astance that said we're not going to sell to foreign markets, then we would belosing out on those opportunities. So, all I could really highlight forQueenslanders is that is a concrete way where the Coalition's commitment toopening markets for export is actually delivering on-the-ground benefits, notonly in Queensland but, indeed, across Australia.
SABRA LANE: Mr Ciobo, thanks for talking to AM this morning.
STEVEN CIOBO: Good tospeak with you.