11 May 1995
GLOBALISATION AND TRADE POLICY
The Minister for Trade, Senator Bob McMullan, told a Business Council of Australia seminar in Canberra today that globalisation is putting pressure on traditional policy positions and processes, including trade policy.
Senator McMullan said globalisation means that Australia, as a nation, no longer has the luxury to do things at its own pace.
"We are now under pressure to do things more quickly," Senator McMullan said.
"For example, Australia proceeded at a leisurely pace, taking about 90 years to get around to the business of mutual recognition of standards between the States.
"We are now discussing its extension to New Zealand. At the same time, we are commencing involvement in discussions about its extension to APEC, and we are starting to receive hints about the possibility of APEC standards and Europe's standards and North America's standards all becoming common.
"We may well find the move from a national standard to a global standard much quicker than from State to national."
Senator McMullan said the emergence of the global economy will increasingly require problems to be dealt with on a multilateral basis, rather than an exclusively national basis.
"This means, for example, the time is gone when we can all stay at home wailing about Australia's involvement in international treaties. We have got to get in as actively as we can to get the best outcome in those international negotiations for Australia.
"It is too late to wish that somehow or other this development of a treaty network, and its impact upon Australia's economy and society, would go away.
"That possibility is as gone as old-fashioned protectionism, and it reflects the same thinking.
"We need to be talking about how we most effectively participate - the government needs to look at that, and business needs to look at that," Senator McMullan said.
Further information: John Flannery, (06) 277 7420