Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. Last night the Prime Minister met again with President Trump along with the leaders of Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, on the eve of today's APEC leaders summit. America is our largest two-way investment partner. We have a comprehensive strategic partnership with Singapore, which we are renewing on its 10th anniversary, and our economic relationship has never been deeper. Thailand is our third-largest trading partner in South-East Asia. We have a rapidly growing relationship with Vietnam, accounting for $30 billion in two-way trade. We have in prospect the biggest defence industry export in our country's history, and that is with Canada. The Australian and New Zealand economies are the two most integrated in the world today. And Korea is our fourth-largest trading partner globally, accounting for $67 billion in two-way trade. Now, together these seven countries represent fully one-quarter of Australia's exports. And given that one in four jobs today is based on trade, that means that these seven countries underpin about a million jobs in Australia. That is in the context of trade being an increasing part of Australia's national prosperity, and the APEC region accounting for three-quarters of that.

And so all of this is why the Prime Minister is in Korea today. He is over there fighting for Australian jobs right here. And it is really important that, in doing so, we place ourselves at the forefront of technology and modernity, and that is why the critical minerals framework agreement that we signed with the United States last week was so important. The downstream processing of the critical minerals and rare earths that we have, as a natural resource, underpins so many modern technologies today, and it is a really exciting prospect for a new sector in this country with huge employment opportunities and a massive potential to contribute to our national wealth.

Australia was a founding member of APEC under the Hawke government back in 1989. We understood then that connecting ourselves to the economies of these nations was the best strategy to lock in long-term economic growth and prosperity for our nation. And today, 36 years later, our Prime Minister is pursuing that same mission at APEC with vigour for the benefit of all Australians.

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