Transcript
8 June 2009
Interview: Radio Australia 'Asia Connects' with Sen Lam
Subjects: Cairns Group meeting in Bali, Doha round, dairy subsidies, Chinalco
SIMON CREAN: Thank you for coming.
CREAN: It's not damaging to the bilateral relations because it wasn't a government decision, this was a commercial decision that has seen the relationship not proceed. The government did have to approve the relationship, we were working our way through that through our Foreign Investment Review Board procedures to meet the national interest test, that was not due to report till the middle of this month. But in the meantime Chinalco as I understand it have withdrawn and BHP and Rio have come to a new commercial relationship. So the proposal that Chinalco had put forward is no longer before the Foreign Investment Review Board. But Chinese investment is important in Australia, we welcome foreign investment, we don't discriminate on the basis of source. There are many of us that strongly believe that the greater and growing interdependency between Australia and China needs to be strengthened and it isn't just a trade relationship in goods. It must go to services, it must go to investment and what I've consistently argued is that, whilst we welcome Chinese foreign investment in Australia we see investment as a two-way street, and we look to developing through our free trade agreement with China a much better framework for encouraging investment flows between our two countries.
LAM: And Minister let's go to the Cairns trade meeting now, I understand one of the points Australia is keen to raise is that of dairy export subsidies by Europe and the United States. Is this a major sticking point that might prevent the Doha round from moving forward?
CREAN: No in fact it's a great motivation for why the Doha round should move forward. The dairy subsidies at the moment are legal under current WTO rules. They would not be legal in the future if we concluded Doha. So whilst the dairy subsidies is a frustration, and in many senses a demonstration of what can happen when for tit-for-tat protectionism emerges, that here we are talking about the need to liberalise trade, to open markets, to provide a new economic stimulus through trade to complement the fiscal stimulus packages that all countries are introducing, we also want to stop the spread of protectionism. The dairy subsidies reflect the spread of protectionism, we've got to stop them, the most effective way to do that is not just to cajole bilaterally in terms of why these are bad, but to get in place a discipline for the future that prevents this sort of thing happening, and that the Doha round conclusion would achieve.
LAM: Minister I've noticed that you've caught up with your Indonesian counterpart, Mari Pangestu yesterday, did you raise the issue of Aussie beef exports, that Indonesia's threatening to ban some Aussie beef if the meat does not meet Islamic Halal standards?
CREAN: Yes we have had good discussions on that and I'm confident that progress will be made in the very short term.
LAM: But what did Mrs Pangestu have to say about the Islamic Council calling for a ban?
CREAN: Well obviously it's not, I haven't seen the call for a ban, as I understand it it was a problem associated with certification. We have no doubt about the content of the meat, the quality of the meat, the meeting of the specifications if you like, what we've had difficulty with is through the bureaucratic processes. We are progressing those as quickly as we can and I'm confident about an early outcome.
ENDS
Media Inquiries Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555