Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Economics Legislation Standing Committee, I present the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to Singapore and Canada, which took place from 7 December to 18 December 2014. I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I seek leave to incorporate a tabling statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

The trip took place in December 2015 and consisted of two legs, the first to Singapore and then onto Canada.

The Delegation was led by myself and Senator Dastyari with three other members taking part including Senator Carr, Senator Canavan and Senator Ketter.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Dr Sean Turner who organised the delegation and ensured a full program of meetings and engagements and the delegation certainly proved to be informative and highly productive.

The key focuses of the delegation included the finance sector and capital market regulation, tax reform and pension policies, science and innovation, the energy markets, digital currency, affordable housing and more broadly, emerging challenges and opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.

Such diverse areas of importance, which are all directly related to Australia's own challenges.

In Singapore the Committee met with the senior leadership of seven government agencies, representatives of the Australian banks and key Australian businesses based in Singapore. The Committee also met senior representatives of the Singapore Business Federation, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Austrade.

In Canada the committee held a range of discussions with provincial and federal authorities and agencies, think tanks, private sector interest groups, and chambers of commerce. We also met with members of Canada's Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce and toured the Canadian War Museum.

The aim of this visit was to provide an opportunity for a parliamentary committee to explore issues relevant to its work in two countries and enhance the parliament's contacts.

In its letter of nomination the committee highlighted the similar characteristics in the Australian, Singaporean and Canadian economies. These similarities included relatively low systemic credit risk, importance to each economy of industries which compete on a global scale and strong growth potential of each respective economy.

The success of the visit would not have been possible were it not for the professionalism and dedication of staff in Australia's diplomatic missions in Singapore and Canada, the staff in the International and Community Relations Office and the Senate Economics Secretariat.

The Committee found all of its meetings and engagements highlight informative, we gained a stronger understanding of the economic challenges and opportunities.

Just as significant the Committee believes such meetings are critically important in helping build and maintain Australia's strong, productive relationships with both Singapore and Canada.

Question agreed to.