Interview with Ross Greenwood on 2GB's Money News program

Subjects: Afghanistan, ASEM, Doha round.

Transcript, E&OE

6 October 2010

GREENWOOD: First up on Money News tonight, of course the big news in the past 24 hours in politics has been very much about Tony Abbott and his comments, and of course you've heard just earlier on what he had to say last night on this program; as soon as he arrived in England, he wanted to ring here, clear the air, and apologise to the troops. In the meantime of course, Julia Gillard, who as I pointed out last night I thought quite clearly saw a political head and kicked it as hard as she possibly could, has been in Europe, talking to the European Union and other European leaders as well, trying to see whether a new agreement could be set. Well in the middle of all of this of course is Australia's new Trade Minister. Now Craig Emerson, who's been on this program several times before is that Trade Minister, and as I say, right in the middle of all of those negotiations. He joins me now here on Money News. Hello, Craig.

EMERSON: G'day, Ross, and thank you very much for having me back on the program.

GREENWOOD: No, no problems at all. First things first I guess, is really the imbroglio that Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard have involved themselves in, over in particular the trip to Afghanistan. To a certain extent I feel a little sorry for Tony Abbott; he had planned his own trip to Afghanistan, but suddenly found himself in this unfortunate corner.

EMERSON: Well Julia said consistently that Mr Abbott's plans are a matter for Mr Abbott, and we don't seek to be in the middle of this. He's made some decisions. That's fine. They're Mr Abbott's plans, and I understand from media reports, and I think from Mr Abbott himself, that he will be going to Afghanistan at some stage, so that's fine.

GREENWOOD: And of course as people have said today, it's really, if you like, the issue of troops fighting overseas, in particular in Afghanistan, where quite clearly it's a serious situation there for our armed forces. It's not really the sort of thing you want to be seen used as a political football by either side.

EMERSON: Indeed, and we offered bipartisan support when the Coalition was in government on the deployment of troops to Afghanistan. The Coalition is offering bipartisan support on our presence in Afghanistan. There is an emerging difference in terms of the troop numbers. The Opposition's Defence spokesperson has suggested that there should be 360 more troops and the deployment of tanks. We're taking our advice from the Chief of the Defence Force, who says that the deployment is adequate. It's the biggest non-NATO commitment to Afghanistan. A bit of a difference there, but I don't want to over-emphasise that, because it is true that the Coalition is in general supporting our presence in Afghanistan.

GREENWOOD: Can I just then move on to where Julia Gillard then went next, which was obviously Europe, where she was engaged in the Asia- Europe meeting in Brussels, and in particular talked about a new treaty between Australia and Europe. Is our relationship so poor, that we need a new treaty with Europe?

EMERSON: I think that Brendan Nelson, the former Liberal leader, put it that where we are now is engaged, but we can do better by getting married [laughs], so it would be a bit of an upgrading of the formal relationship with Europe, but of course we trade very heavily with Europe. This was a really good opportunity for Julia to meet some world leaders, which she has done, not only from Europe but also from our own area: the President of Korea, the Prime Minister of Japan as just as two of those. There were more as well. So it's an engagement with Europe, but also very importantly with Asia, and I think that's the first time that Australia has actually had a seat at that table, of the Asia-Europe meeting, so that was a good thing for Julia, and for Australia.

GREENWOOD: I'm just interested here, what does it actually mean if Australia changes in any way, shape or form its treaty with ... how does it affect me, how does it affect an ordinary person in the street?

EMERSON: Well, it would depend on the actual content of the treaty, which would be a step up in the relationship in terms of ... I think it's just consciousness-raising, and a redoubling of efforts to see what goods and services, increasingly Ross, we can sell into Europe. We are very proud of our mining industries, we're proud of our agricultural and manufacturing industries, but increasingly as well we need to look at the sorts of expertise that we have in the service industries that might provide opportunities for exports into Europe. But of course we shouldn't take what is called a mercantilism view of this, which dates back a few centuries, where exports were regarded as good, and imports as evil. I mean if we can get imports from overseas at a lower cost than producing them here in Australia, then that's good for Australian consumers.

GREENWOOD: But are we going as far as talking about a Free Trade Agreement with Europe? I mean does it go to that extent, or not?

EMERSON: Not in the foreseeable future. What we want to do, and this was affirmed at the ASEM meeting, the Asia-Europe meeting, was a redoubling of effort to conclude the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations. This is right up a Labor government's alley. That is that we believe the biggest gains from reforming the global trading rules, do come from the multilateral negotiations and that set of negotiations for the so-called Doha round has been going on I think since 2001.

GREENWOOD: Yes.

EMERSON: It stalled in 2008, and coming out of this meeting, very importantly, was a statement saying that we should restart those negotiations and bring them to a successful conclusion. And I think it's that sort of statement that if backed up by actions by people like myself, trade ministers and leaders, then we can get the greatest gains, because we're reforming the global trading rules, not just the rules between say Australia and Europe, or Australia and individual countries.

GREENWOOD: Craig Emerson is Australia's Trade Minister, and Craig, we appreciate your time here on Money News tonight.

EMERSON: A very - a great pleasure to be on the program again, Ross.

GREENWOOD: That is Craig Emerson there.

ENDS

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