Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Banks for his question because it is a very serious question about the bilateral relationship between Australia and China, and the member for Banks knows the significance of this relationship, including through his Australian-Chinese community. I know that he recently celebrated Chinese New Year at Club Central with about 300 members of that community.

Next week I will visit Beijing as part of our overall comprehensive strategic partnership with China. I will attend the annual foreigners strategic dialogue with my counterpart minister, Wang Yi, and we will take forward our political, economic and strategic agenda, which benefits the national interests of both our countries.

Despite moderating growth, China remains our fastest-growing and largest trading partner. With $80 billion in exports last year, most of it from the resources sector, it has certainly underpinned our economic growth.

The exciting opportunities that exist in the services sector—$9 billion of exports from the services sector—have been highlighted time and time again by our magnificent Minister for Trade and Investment. Through the signing of a free trade agreement with China, we have left an economic legacy that will benefit this country for years to come, particularly in services and in the agricultural sector, as the minister for agriculture well knows.

I was told that, in January of this year, Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative established the first live lobster holding warehouse in Guangzhou, and this reflects China's desire for high-quality Australian seafood. Likewise, Fresh Select is working with China's merchants to establish an online portal—it is very innovative—for selling Australian fresh produce in China.

In tourism, the story is quite extraordinary. With direct flights to Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Cairns, over one million Chinese nationals visited Australia as tourists last year, contributing about $7 billion to our tourism industry and, therefore, our economy. We are delighted that, just over Chinese New Year alone, over 200,000 Chinese nationals visited this country, injecting about $500 million into our economy. So we are focused on strengthening and enhancing the bilateral relationship between China and Australia. It is in our economic interest and it is in our strategic interest to have a very close and enduring relationship with China. May I say to Chinese communities in Australia as they welcome in the Year of the Monkey, a year of innovation and optimism: Xin Nian Kuai Le— (Time expired)