Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minster for Foreign Affairs and Trade: It's my first visit to Bangkok and Thailand, and I've been overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity of the Thai people. I'm here to strengthen relations between Australia and Thailand, both economically, our security relationship and our people‑to‑people links. This morning I had the privilege of meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister to discuss educational linkages between Australia, how we're collaborating on research and development, particularly as we face the challenge of climate change and the effect that that will have on food security and on local communities. And it's been beautiful to come here today, and I thank our guests and our visitors who have presented us here today from Tops Food Hall so that we could launch Australia on a Plate. Australian food products are being sold here in the Thai market, and we're ensuring that the Thai people have access to good quality fresh produce and that makes us very proud that Australian produce is making its way into the plates and to the homes of the Thai people
Journalist: How long will this campaign be going to run, Australia on a Plate
Assistant Minster: This will run forever, potentially. It will be an opportunity for the Thai people to learn about Australian produce, and what you can do with Australian produce. Today we're particularly highlighting Australian lamb, which is ‑
Journalist: Will it depend on the season? You mean the produce will be available as ‑
Assistant Minster: Lamb will be available ‑ lamb will be available all year round. Some of the fresh produce like the vegetables and fruits, they're seasonal, but the meat products are generally available all year round, and lamb for me says family. I come from a family that used to come together on a Sunday afternoon around the lamb roast, and now we're hoping to spread that joy, that love, to the Thai people and hopefully they can incorporate that into their meal plans so they can feed their families with good quality Australian protein, and it's flavoursome as well
Journalist: Okay. As we are talking about Australia on a Plate, so what opportunities do you see for expanding Australian agricultural export, particularly red meats and fresh produce to Thailand basing on what you have done so far
Assistant Minster: We think that there's a huge opportunity for the people of Thailand to benefit from Australian produce, for Thai restaurants and food producers to be able to access good quality fresh products from Australian markets in a relatively short period of time. The beauty of Australia and Thailand is that we're in a similar time zone, we're all part of the Asia‑Pacific and the economy that's generated around that, and we want to see more Australian produce get to Thai markets and to the Thai people, into your restaurants, into the homes of the Thai people, and that's what today is about, launching lamb in particular, but fresh Australian produce more broadly. It can be here – it can be picked on Australian farms, in Australian dispatch facilities within a day and then flown into Thai markets over eight or nine hours – and then on the shelf here in places like this in a couple of days. That's good, fresh, quality Australian produce available to Thai consumers in a couple of days after it's picked and that's the sort of relationship that we're trying to foster between Australian producers and Thai retailers and Thai consumers
Journalist: And so I'm from [indistinct] in Thailand. So from the presser this morning, so Australia on the Plate also highlights family-owned businesses too, in Australia. So can you explain to us just a little bit more about that, please
Assistant Minster: Yeah. Most of this produce would be produced on Australian farms, which would be family-owned businesses handed down through generations. As you know, Australia is a very large continent, and we have a lot of agricultural land and farmland in Central Australia, and that's why we've got good quality meat products, fresh fruit and vegetables that we have an excess of, and we like to export to other markets, particularly in ASEAN region. So we're keen to try and grow that relationship. Today is about explaining what is available to Thai consumers and to restaurant owners, supermarket retailers, so that they can avail themselves of those products and sell them into the Thai market
Journalist: Are there any areas that you need to see addressed to expand exporting Australian products to Thailand
Assistant Minster: Thankfully we have a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Thailand that has served both of our nations well, and that improves access to Thai markets for Australian produce, particularly beef and meat products, lamb. It's wonderful that those products can come into the Thai market without any quotas or tariffs, as Australian produce faces in some other markets throughout the world. That's a win for Australian producers, it's a win for Thai consumers, because they get access to good quality Australian protein and products without the additional cost of a tariff or a quota restriction. So it's cheaper for the consumer, it's better for the Australian producer, it's a win‑win for Thailand and Australia
Journalist: One more question about the export things. As we're talking about so far, is about the Australia exports to Thailand. What are the opportunities for Thai businesses for – regarding Thailand exporting to Australia
Assistant Minster: Yes, Thailand does export products to Australia, including some agricultural based products, and we welcome that, and that's what the Free Trade Agreement is all about – it's about both nations being able to export their produce, where they have a comparative advantage, into each other's markets without restrictions and tariffs and quotas being placed on them, and it's wonderful to see more and more Thai people visiting Australia as well as tourists. Thailand is one of the most popular destinations for Australians to visit anywhere in the world, particularly your fantastic tourism market here. We're seeing more and more Thai students studying at Australian universities, and the Thai diaspora in Australia is about 80,000, and we have the third largest Thai diaspora of any country in the world, and that's something that Australia is very, very proud of, and we want to encourage more of, and the Free Trade Agreement helps us to do that
Journalist: [Indistinct] free visa for Thai tourist
Assistant Minster: What's that
Journalist: Free visa for Thai tourist
MATT THISTLETHWAITE: Free ‑ well, we already have an ASEAN visa that allows people to stay longer in Australia. Australia also recently increased the fees on a number of visa categories in our budget, but we had an exemption for Southeast Asia, so Southeast Asian residents face no increases in visa application fees to Australia, and there's no restrictions on Thai people coming to study in Australia, bringing their family members as well. We're very welcoming of Thai students coming to Australia to study at our universities and technical colleges, and it's been a growing relationship that we're happy to foster into the future
Journalist: How about the new visa reform recently? Recently there have been lies about that, and it has been quite a widespread discussion among Thai citizens here and maybe some Thai population over there. So what does it reflect
Assistant Minster: When the Australian borders re‑opened after the pandemic, we had a large increase in migration to Australia, particularly temporary migration. To make the numbers sustainable once again to the pre‑pandemic levels that we budget for each year in the Australian budget, we took some measures to bring some of those numbers down. But I want to explain that we exempted Thai citizens from a lot of those measures, to bring those numbers down, because of the special relationship that Australia has with Thailand. So no increase in the visa application charges. Thai citizens are still able to bring their family members to Australia with them when they migrate to Australia
Journalist: Okay. Beside from promoting Australian products, what else did you do in Thailand, or what are you going to do in Thailand
Assistant Minster: Well, I only arrived last night, the first thing that I did was went to a Thai restaurant, which I loved, it was wonderful food and is a great example of the things that Australians love about Thailand. I said earlier in my speech, if you go to any town or city in Australia, you will find a Thai restaurant because it's such an important part of the Australian culture now, and there are so many good Thai cooks and chefs in Australia that provide that opportunity. This morning I went for a run in one of your beautiful parks to see the natural beauty here in Bangkok, and then I had a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister where we discussed a range of important issues around strengthening the relationship between our two countries. I've had this launch here of Australia on a Plate, and I'm now going to a meeting with a number of Vice Ministers from the Thai government where we'll continue to discuss deepening and strengthening relations between Australia and Thailand
Journalist: Okay. I have read from your press release about the transnational crime that you are going to talk with, you know, our Thai official, so you have identified transnational partners and area for cooperation between Thailand and Australia. What specific forms of transnational crimes are you most concerned
Assistant Minster: Yeah, Australia and ASEAN nations are deeply concerned about the scam setters that have been set up in the region. They have the potential to cause great damage and harm to citizens of all of our nations. Australia's been involved in a program to assist Southeast Asian nations through our cyber strategy to combat that. The transnational drug trade is of great concern to all of our communities as well, and tomorrow I'll visit the Thai Tourist Police to see first-hand the work that's going on here to combat that transnational drug trade. I'll also visit one of the anti‑scam centres tomorrow to highlight the importance of that and the relationship with Australia. These are the key issues that our governments are working on to try and combat and to make sure that the citizens of Thailand and Australia aren't fleeced out of their personal savings, aren't put in difficult situations because of online scams and other scams that people have faced in our region
Journalist: What are the opportunities for us to strengthen our relationship
Assistant Minster: We think that there are huge opportunities to strengthen the economic relationship. We've seen here today how important the trading relationship is around fresh produce and agricultural products. But that extends beyond that to educational services, to manufactured goods and other areas as well as tourism and people‑to‑people links. So that's very important, and we're going to be discussing deepening and strengthening the economic relationship. We're also going to be talking and discussing a lot around research and development initiatives. Recently our two scientific bodies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to deepen scientific research, particularly around medical research, the challenges of artificial intelligence, and how we work on innovation in the future to solve some of the world's largest problems, like the threat of climate change on food security and other goals. And of course we'll discuss the importance of regional defence and security and the notion of Southeast Asian nations working together collectively to strengthen and bolster their security and their defence so that we ensure that our region remains peaceful, stable, and importantly, that maritime shipping lanes remain free and accessible because this produce that we're seeing here today comes from Australia on a ship before it's unloaded at the docks and is available on the shelves here at supermarkets like this, so making sure that our maritime security is strong and that we have open and free shipping is vitally important to both of our nations. Thank you everyone.