Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I will briefly take this opportunity to welcome Mr Oakeshott Sr and to point out that Mr Oakeshott Sr and the mum of the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency were the tennis captains at Lismore High some little time ago.

Obviously trade is fundamental to Australia’s future prosperity and to the generation of high-skill, high-wage jobs. I was asked about the region—I will be visiting a number of countries in the region. On Monday I will be visiting Korea; on Tuesday, China; on Wednesday, Hong Kong; and on Thursday, Singapore. So it will be a whirlwind tour, but one that will be very important in furthering Australia’s trade objectives.

This visit will be ahead of the APEC ministerial meeting, which I will be involved in. What is fundamentally important about APEC is that this was an organisation to promote free trade in the region. It was an initiative of the Hawke Labor government, furthered by the Keating Labor government—a very important and shining example of economic reform. We will be delivering a report on the Bogor Declaration, the goal of which was free and open trade by 2010. That report will be delivered on the back of the pledges that were made back in 1994 and it will be great when Australia can report that we have substantially achieved free and open trade. Why? Because we have embraced economic reform.

This country, under the leadership of Hawke and Keating and in places furthered by the Howard government, has embraced economic reform, but unfortunately we are now going through a period in which the Liberal Party is moving to the far right to the position occupied by Pauline Hanson and Lyndon La Rouche.

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