Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister update the House on how the government is supporting the rebalancing of the economy by promoting Australia's growing services sector?

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for his question. I know he takes a very strong interest in Australia's services sector and in the operation of free trade and markets and, no doubt, follows on from the very strong footsteps of the previous member for Goldstein, who also has a very strong track record in this respect. I note, as well, that in his first speech he raised the importance of services exports. They are important, because the Turnbull coalition government recognises that, as the Australian economy continues to rebalance, we need to make sure that we put a strong focus on driving services exports.

The fact is that services account for about 80 per cent of the Australian workforce and make up about 70 per cent of our GDP, yet only 21 per cent of our exports are in fact services. So herein lays a tremendous opportunity for Australia. One way, in particular, that we are focusing on it is in relation to the Trade in Services Agreement or TISA. TISA is an opportunity for Australian education exports, in particular, to be brought to the forefront, when it comes to powering the Australian economy, so we continue to see the strong growth the coalition has delivered of some 3.3 per cent.

Education is also an important opportunity with respect to investment. We see, for example, where foreign businesses will look at investing in Australia to capitalise on education export opportunities. We see, for example, that Top Education Institute invested in Australia hoping to maximise, no doubt, the opportunities that flow from full-fee paying international students. Unfortunately for Top Education Institute that has not always been the case. The Labor Party have not been the strongest advocates when it comes to full-fee payment, and they have not been the strongest advocates when it comes to some of those investment opportunities either.

We also see other opportunities around foreign trade. In particular, under the China-Australia Fair Trade Agreement we have a clause called 'most-favoured nation treatment'. This effectively means that Australia ensures that our economic competitiveness with our largest trading market is maintained. With the rising middle class in China, the opportunity for Australians has never been better. I suspect that Senator Dastyari recognised some of these benefits in the Senate during an adjournment debate, when, in 2014, he explained that few countries were better placed than Australia to capitalise on the rise of China for their own economic benefit. Little did we know that when he was referring to 'own economic benefit' he was taking it on a very personal level indeed.

Fundamentally, the issue, when it comes to trade and when it comes to education exports, is that this side of the House will continue to champion the economic opportunities to take our nation forward, while that side of the House will only look at what their own personal interests are with respect to those opportunities. (Time expired)