David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Bill 2015 is a very important bill because it is the mechanism by which we are becoming a foundation member of a very exciting, new international investment bank. I would like to say a few words about the importance of it, the nature of it and its relationship to trade and the wellbeing of Australia. Our signing into this bank is a very important international initiative, and it is central to our standing within Asian and international communities, and I support it. In this bank we see a new institution that will allow our economy to become more enmeshed in the amazing growth in Asia. It is essential that we are involved at its foundation and remain a member as we would lose so much credibility and influence and so many economic opportunities with our neighbours and trading parties, and I think we would also lose the respect of our allies.

This enabling legislation for us to become a member of the bank means we will be part of a bank capitalised to the value of $100 billion. Its aim is to deliver infrastructure across the Asian region: not in the form of small-scale micro investments or micro loans or loans with an aid flavour; it will be on a commercial basis to deliver ports, airports, roads, railways—all the major logistical things that Asian countries need at the moment. At the moment there is a huge deficit of infrastructure with a value of up to $3 trillion that needs to be installed in Asian countries for them to be able to continue to grow, flourish and trade with countries like Australia. The Asia-Pacific, as I said, is rapidly going ahead in leaps and bounds, but this will turbocharge the miracle of the Asian economy. Also, having a seat at the table and being the sixth largest contributor of capital will give us a seat on the board. The infrastructure that will actually come out of all of the investments that it will make will, in itself, mean potential markets for Australian products, whether it is for producers of metals, skills, financial services, IT, engineering, architecture, legal services and other services in our expanding service industries, or even for our traditional exports of food. Huge economic opportunities for our food and fibre will come out of the growth of a developed economy across all Asian nations. As I mentioned, it will not have an aid focus like the IMF or the World Bank; it will be a more commercially-generated banking ethic that will be in existence with this bank.

Our contribution will be to the value of US$3.7 billion, with an initial contribution of $738.3 million. It will be paid in cash over the first four years, with the remaining $2.9 billion in signed-up capital being presented in promissory notes. There has already been extensive dialogue with China and the other founding members. I am proud to see that Australia was the first signatory and has been followed subsequently by 55 others. They are not just countries in Asia. The UK has signed up. Other European countries have signed up. We are part of a very exciting initiative. We will have a constituency as a result of our seat on the board, and I cannot see too many bad things coming out of new infrastructure being built in Asia.

I have just a few words to say about the trade issue. It is a very topical issue at the moment, particularly as evidenced by the fine words of the member for Banks and the member for Hotham. We have established that multilateral trade and multilateral institutions are good, but in the press and coming from members on the other side there is a lot of dispute and, I think, distortion of some features of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, mainly revolving around a side letter to the agreement and taking matters in that out of context. If in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement there are investments over $150 million, there are facilities where the labour market testing does not have to happen at the front end of the deal. The deal gets signed, sealed and wrapped up. But when the employment comes at the back end of the deal, the same 457 criteria apply, the same employment criteria apply and the same skills and registrations apply. Taking it out of context has really been done quite mischievously by unions and unionists who are praying on people's fear about their job. The thing to remember about international trade and infrastructure building is that all these things develop stronger economies—particularly in a country like Australia, where 60 to 70 per cent of what we grow and make gets exported. So the more markets we have and the stronger trade we have mean that there are more jobs and more economic security for our economy and for people who are in work. There are more jobs for more trade.

The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement is going to put our existing trading terms onto another level. In my electorate of Lyne, the most obvious winners straight-up are our beef and dairy producers. At the moment we have a couple of producers, in Wingham for instance—Wingham Beef Exports—which export all across Asia and into China. In Wauchope we have another group that exports processed beef into China. At the moment they are facing 12 to 25 per cent tariffs, so Wingham Beef Exports and Meltique Beef will get a free kick as their tariffs of 12 to 25 per cent will be gone over nine years.

We have wine producers that export into China—Cassegrain Wines on the Pacific Highway at Sancrox, just between Wauchope and Port Macquarie; a great business. They are exporting into China and the current tariffs, which are 14 to 20 per cent, will recede to zero. Dairy producers across the Manning, on the Comboyne Plateau and to the north and south of the electorate who sell into the Australian markets will get better farm gate prices, because some of the exporters, like NORCO, one of the local producers on the Mid-North Coast, is exporting into China. That will open up a whole new market for their new factory, just to the north of my electorate. They will be able to have long-life milk—but fresh long-life milk—able to be exported directly into the Chinese market. That means there will be more demand for milk, so the local dairy producers will have more demand for their product and their farm gate price will go up over time.

There are many horticultural producers who will get great opportunities. Many of the fruit producers and other producers, like Ricardoes Tomatoes, have great opportunities, and so do macadamia producers. I have colleagues from electorates that produce pharmaceuticals—like my good friend the member for Bennelong. Australia has a huge pharmaceutical production industry, but there are tariffs when drugs made here in Australia go over to China. This is going to deliver wins for my city colleagues. The country cousins are jumping because we have different industries from our city cousins, but it is all good.

The other scuttlebutt that the commentariat and the unionists have thrown in and are having a field day with in the other multilateral trade agreements is about ISDS provisions—like in the TPP. That is stalled, because they cannot reach agreement. But there are also ISDS provisions in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement—investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms. Hello? All our trade agreements have ISDS provisions. This is nothing new. They are designed to protect Australian investors overseas just as much as trade investors in our country. There is nothing sinister about these mechanisms. They are there for a reason.

I reiterate: the labour market testing, the wages and the skill levels required for any workers that come to this country for these megaprojects, or on 457 visas, are not changing one iota. But, in signing a deal worth more than $150 million, at the front-end of the deal one does not have to go through the labour market testing or these other procedures—otherwise you would never get any deal signed. It is just a practical way of doing business; it sets the ground rules. Just like, in a game of sport, you need a referee and you need a set of rules, that is what happens when you have trade agreements, whether multilateral or bilateral.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will be a huge boost. It will capitalise loans on a commercial basis. It will attract other capital. All of these burgeoning economies in Asia will get the infrastructure they need to go forward and create wealth for their country, and there will be more economic opportunities for Australia. President Xi, in this chamber, spoke about the new 'silk road' into the Chinese economy—and this very infrastructure will be part of that silk road. The more trade that goes one way, the more that can come back the other way. Australia will be a beneficiary. We have got a seat at the table. We were one of the initial contributors—and the sixth biggest—so we will have a say in the policy and the decisions that are made. I commend this bill to the House.

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