Senate debates

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Committees

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee; Government Response to Report

5:55 pm

Photo of Christopher BackChristopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I seek leave to speak to the Australian government's response to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee inquiry into Australia's relationship with Mexico.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I will confine my remarks, in case there are others who wish to speak on other topics before the time expires. The committee, under the chairmanship of Senator Alex Gallacher, brought this report down late last year. The report records the fact that this year is the 50th anniversary of Australia's diplomatic relations with Mexico. We regard it as a critically important report, which went into our economic, cultural and other links with that country. There were 13 recommendations, and I am delighted to note that the government has either noted, supported or accepted 12 of the 13—and, indeed, they are correct when they say they did not support the 13th because time has moved on and it was no longer necessary.

I would like to comment for just a few moments on those recommendations the government supported. We recommended that the government work closely with Australian businesses to raise awareness of risks and particularly benefits of doing business in Mexico and to dispel exaggerations of risks with regard to security and corruption in that country. The government of Mexico has worked very assiduously to try and overcome those elements that have previously given it a reputation of being a corrupt place to work. I visited Mexico in January of last year and was particularly impressed by the diligence and the industry of the people I met in the hard-rock mining and oil and gas space, particularly, and I am pleased to see the government has supported that recommendation No. 4.

The fifth recommendation, which the government accepted, was one in which we urged our government to work together with Australian universities and institutions to review the accreditation of Mexican qualifications, so that we could achieve mutual recognition of qualifications by 2020. We are already seeing the benefits of the New Colombo Plan involving Asian countries. We will see some 50,000 graduates study at least a semester, if not a year, in Asia within the next 10 years. One of the recommendations was that we urged the Australian government, in funding and continuing to fund the New Colombo Plan, to extend it, given the benefits that accrue to the students themselves, the institution at which they study and the institution once they return home.

The relationship between Australia and Mexico was really brought home to me when I was invited to the geological survey of Mexico down at Pachuca. I was shown maps of the metalliferous states and territories of Mexico, those which are sufficient for mining companies and others to be able to use to examine the possibility of exploration in Mexico. The director-general very proudly turned to me to tell me that the software that had allowed them to develop those maps and that technology had been provided to them by Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO.

The sixth recommendation, again supported by the government, was that our government allocate additional funding to promote Australian vocational education services—VET sector services—in Mexico. Again, we have a tremendous opportunity for Australian institutions of higher education and in the VET sector to work with those in Mexico to improve standards. Internationally, as we know, Australia has developed an enviable reputation for not just the calibre and the quality of our higher education and VET sectors but the willingness of the Australian higher education and VET sector to share our expertise around the world. A very, very quick illustration of that: when I met with the executives of Pemex, the Mexican government owned oil company, they told me that Pemex was in the act of setting up a Pemex university so that their students in the oil and gas sector could get a focus of understanding. As a result of that visit that I made in January last year, Austrade has hosted a visit to Western Australia and Queensland in which UWA, Curtin University and Queensland University have, in fact, had the opportunity to discuss with Mexicans where they might be able to have that involvement. The recommendation that was not accepted was one in which we urged that there be a wider opportunity in Mexican cities for students wanting to come to Australia to study, to undertake medical examinations prior to being granted visas. In its explanation back in its response, the Australian government has noted that, in fact, there is an adequacy now of locations and medical personnel who can undertake those works.

In the same space—trying to make immigration easier between the countries—we recommended that our Department of Immigration and Border Protection review the current student visa provisions to reduce processing times for Mexican students, and you can see the obvious reason why. Again, the government supported the recommendation that we encourage research collaboration between Australia and Mexico and that more resources be devoted to that purpose, and we have seen enormous opportunity in the past. I hope we do in the future actually see closer collaboration between the two.

The 11th recommendation, again supported by the government, was for further allocation of resources to Austrade to raise awareness of the significant value-chain opportunities in the Mexican automotive sector. And I spoke earlier in this chamber today about the fact that, whilst our vehicle manufacturing industry is coming to a close, the Mexicans understand well the quality and extent of our vehicle component manufacturing industry. They manufacture three million vehicles a year, moving up to five million vehicles a year by 2020. And so we have already seen seminars in Adelaide and Melbourne where Australian vehicle component manufacturers have had an opportunity to meet through Austrade with Mexican suppliers to see where we can further those particular opportunities. I certainly commend Senator Gallacher, particularly for his work in emphasising the need to do that.

The final one that I will address myself to is, in fact, the final recommendation, again supported by the government, and that is that Austrade be encouraged to work with the Export Council of Australia to develop a suite of practical, user-friendly tools to assist Australian small to medium enterprises, especially service companies, to understand and utilise the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. It may not be in the form that was intended—the TPP is not going ahead—but I have certainly had preliminary discussions with the trade minister and I will be continuing to urge the government to examine options for increasing free trade between Australia and Mexico in not only agricultural and viticultural products such as wine and other agricultural products but also barley and oats, for example. Also, the Mexicans want to export a greater number of avocados into Australia—I hope it has got nothing to do with those terrible drinks that they were plying me with, tequila and others!

But, nevertheless, the opportunity exists in our mining sector in your state and mine. They know very well the calibre and capacity of the Western Australian hard-rock mining exploration industry and they want to tap into it. Of course, if we can develop free trade arrangements with them, we can reduce tariffs and we can eliminate tariffs all to the good. So I do thank the government for its response and, again, I commend my colleague, Senator Gallacher, for the work he did in chairing that committee.

Question agreed to.