Interview with Bloomberg
12 November 2018
HAIDI LUN STROUD-WATTS: Let’s get straight into it. Australia-China relations, Wang Yi – the Foreign Minister – said last week they’re not competitors, we’re not rivals here. You’ve come out and said this is our patch though when it comes to this region. Those are pretty strong words.
PRIME MINISTER: I just think it’s a statement of the obvious. I mean, Australia is situated where we are, the Pacific has always been part of the family in which we’ve lived and we’ve always had an incredibly strong relationship but I was making the point as we sort of step up our engagement of the Pacific that we’re going to be working with all partners, including China, throughout the region and I’m looking forward to having some of those discussions when I catch up with the Chinese leaders over the next week or so. So, it is a partnership and we’re getting on with business with China as well and this is all to advance prosperity within the region and for that, you need stability and that’s how all citizens of the region actually do better.
STROUD-WATTS: A couple of weeks ago, we spoke about what Australia could do to be involved perhaps to counter the likes of the AIIB, the Belt and Road Initiative and you’ve recently announced this $2 billion infrastructure fund to be rolled out across the region. Is this a sign of a more regionally assertive Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it’s just a sign of us working together with our Pacific family. We’ve always had strong relationships in the region and I’ve taken the decision and the Government has taken the decision to enhance those levels of engagement. It’s been incredibly well-received by Pacific leaders and the meetings I’ve had and I’m looking forward to getting together with all of those Pacific leaders when I’m actually up in PNG…
STROUD-WATTS: You’re hosting a barbecue.
PRIME MINISTER: I am hosting a barbecue and I’m looking forward to that but we’re also looking forward to sort of getting together in what is very much a family group and talking through the issues that are important to them. Things like our Pacific Labour Scheme I know is very important, Seasonal Workers Scheme is very important but also our improving and assisting them with their own capability development in Fiji or in PNG.
STROUD-WATTS: There is some concern amongst those Pacific leader partners, or family members as you like to put it, in terms of getting stuck between a more assertive China where Australia finds itself and the fact that the elephant in the room is that at these ASEAN and APEC Summits, the US President won’t be there.
PRIME MINISTER: He’s got his reasons for not being there. Vice President Pence will be there and I think that’s highly appropriate. I mean, the President is currently over in Europe and he’s just had his mid-terms…
STROUD-WATTS: Actually the VP said don’t take it as a snub. He’s just said that now.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don’t think of it – I think he’s right. I mean, the Vice President, I’m looking forward to seeing him as well so the US is very engaged in the region and the President, I understand, will be in G20 down in Buenos Aires so there’s a lot of these meetings on at this time, this part of year, and Vice President Pence, I think, will make a very important contribution.
STROUD-WATTS: How do you rate the state of Australian-Chinese relations after the Foreign Minister’s visit? After what’s been a rocky couple of years?
PRIME MINISTER: I’d say they’re very stable and I welcome that and Australia’s always, I think, sought to be a very productive partner and our comprehensive strategic partnership, that is the official status of the relationship, and I welcome the most recent meetings with our foreign ministers, our trade ministers and I look forward to the engagements we’ll have during the summit season in the weeks ahead.
STROUD-WATTS: I want to get your view on where the lay of the land is with regard to foreign investment, particularly when it comes to a Chinese company or a Chinese-linked company. There’s been a couple of pretty notable high-profile knock backs. CK Group’s $13 billion bid for the gas pipeline operator, we’ve have of course attempts by Huawei, Ausgrid in building out the 5G network. Is it getting to the point where if you are a Chinese connected company you’re not going to have a very good chance of getting an approval for investment in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No not at all. I mean, you’ve highlighted some exceptions but the normal state of affairs is there has been, you know, many many approvals dozens of times over. I mean, at least in relation to the APA, that decision was taken about the concentration and aggregation of a single owner.
It wasn’t about the nationality of the owner at all. And Australia will always make decisions about foreign investment in our national interest but we will always be the most liberalized foreign investment regime in this part of the world. I mean, you can invest in Australia more so than an Australian can invest in the rest of the region. And so I wouldn’t describe the arrangements necessarily as reciprocal but we have a very open, liberalized investment arrangement.
We have clear rules and I think whether it’s on the most recent decision you’ve referred to or the others you’ve made mention of. We went through a very disciplined process of explaining the decisions and there were no surprises in those decisions and I think that’s an important mark of what I would like to be how we continue to engage with China.
We have our rules, we explain our rules and people can come and we welcome that investment in accordance with our rules and that is no less than what I am sure China would expect of any investment in China or that Singapore would invest in Singapore or Indonesia or Malaysia or any other part of the region. But it’s no question that Australia’s foreign investment arrangements are the most liberal of any of the region.
STROUD-WATTS: Let me get to this FTA with Indonesia. You flagged before that it would be signed in November, will it be signed at APEC or ASEAN?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I didn’t flag that, what I said when I was in Indonesia is that the intention was that trade ministers would be able to deal with that before the end of the year. But look, there’s no hurry here, we’re not pressing anything.
STROUD-WATTS: Are you still negotiating?
PRIME MINISTER: The negotiations have been concluded but I’ll leave that process to be finalized at the appropriate time. It would still require ratification in both parliaments so it’s not like there’s a pressing urgency on this and we believe it’s a win-win deal and we appreciate the very strong support for the arrangement, both from President Widodo but also the support that has come from Sri Mulyani in particular when she as a guest of Government which I was able to issue when I was Treasurer. And of course Thomas Lembong, the special representative when it comes to investment in Indonesia.
STROUD-WATTS: They’re not waiting to see if we’re relocating the Australian embassy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Australia doesn’t conflate these issues. We never conflate these issues and so from our point of view, they’re very separate issues.
