Thankyou for that introduction.
Andthank you to Business Advantage for making this conference happen.
Oneof the highlights of my job as Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism andInvestment has been getting to know Papua New Guinea better.
I'vevisited twice this year, for the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting,and for the APEC Tourism Ministers Meeting.
PNGhas been my go-to destination to meet my counterparts and take forwardAustralia's interests in APEC and in relations with PNG.
Ialso got to be on the judging panel in Port Moresby for a collaboration betweenGoogle and APEC to produce an app that would demonstrate the power of digitalcommerce.
Thewinners were a father and daughter team, Jonathan and Crystal Kewe, whose appwill link billum makers to buyers.
SoPNG has shown me how traditional, grassroots – or in this case, grass stems –industries can benefit from modern technology through brilliantprogramming.
VisitingPNG has been an eye-opener in other ways as well.
Fora start, it's a very different country to the place where I grew up, and it'sdifferent to that piece of Australia that I represent in the AustralianParliament.
Myelectorate, Parkes, is big.
Ifyou picked it up and moved it north, it would cover 85 per cent of PNG.
Parkeshas no mountains, no coastline, plenty of open plains, wonderful people, andvery little rain.
Lately,no rain at all.
Likemost of New South Wales, Parkes is in severe drought at the moment.
It'sa very difficult time for our farmers – a time when community spirit, thatcommitment to each other and to the place you share – becomes all the moreimportant.
People'scommitment to each other's wellbeing – that's the kind of investment that I'mmost interested in.
It'sour commitment to shared goals that gives rise to confidence, findsopportunities even in hardship, and steers a wise course in the good times aswell.
Bilateral relations
PrimeMinister – for Australia, PNG is a valuable partner, and the confidence thatour relations generate is a real national asset.
Thereare deep historical ties between us, forged through many generations ofcommerce, church and community contacts, development work and war.
Weshare the same democratic heritage and we have shared interests in the world asfellow democracies.
PNGsits at the crossroads of our two neighbourhoods, the Pacific and SouthEastAsia, and has growing global connections, as my APEC visits brought home to mevery clearly.
Asbefits a close neighbour, Australia takes a long term approach to this partnership.
That'sevident in the close security relations between our militaries, police forcesand coast guards.
Weare PNG's primary security partner, and this is borne out in our support forAPEC, particularly during leaders' week.
Australiais providing security support, including high-end incident responsecapabilities from the Australian Defence Force, and capacity-building for PapuaNew Guinea's police, defence force, and its border, intelligence, transport andcyber security agencies.
Soour security relations are strong and heading in the right direction.
Investment, growth andconfidence
Mytheme today is Australia's long-term approach to economic partnership with PNG,and the confidence we generate by working together.
Directinvestment is at the heart of this.
Australiangovernments and business know from deep experience that foreign investment is agreat way to build confidence, skills, capital and wealth.
Firmsfrom the United Kingdom first of all, then other European nations and the UnitedStates, Japan and more recently China have helped develop Australia from dayone; and that trend continues.
Alongwith much needed capital, they brought cutting edge technology, skills for ourworkforce, and revenue for our government.
Asmy colleague Mr Ciobo has said, foreign investment spurs economic growth,creates jobs and raises our standard of living.
Thisis the background to bear in mind when we in the Australian Governmentencourage the Government of PNG to maintain a regulatory environment thatwelcomes foreign investment.
Theother thing to bear in mind is that most countries around the world understandthe benefits of foreign investment and are competing to attract it.
Thisis certainly front-of-mind for the Australian Government, and it shapes ourpolicies on tax and competitiveness generally.
Forall these reasons, investment is central to the Australian Government's visionfor relations between Australia and PNG.
Weencourage Australian investment in PNG, for sure.
Australiahas $16 billion invested in PNG and that is a vote of confidence in thatcountry and its future.
Butjust as important is the common interest our two nations have in attracting andregulating investment from other countries.
Inthe time remaining, I will suggest three principles for our work together,governments and businesses alike, to boost our investment relationship. To competesuccessfully for foreign investment, and for each of us to achieve our economicgoals.
Partnering for success
Firstly,the partnership principle: at the heart of all success you'll find peopleworking together towards a common goal.
Thisis true at leaders' level, where relations between Australia and PNG are verystrong.
PrimeMinister Turnbull was delighted to welcome Prime Minister O'Neill and severalof his ministerial colleagues to Australia last month.
Thisis also true at the ministerial level, and I know Mr Turnbull, Foreign MinisterBishop, and Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Ciobo are looking forward tovisiting PNG for APEC in November.
Thisclose contact at the highest levels keeps our relationship heading in the rightdirection.
There'salso a strong network of personal relations in the public service, to implementour countries' shared agenda.
I'lljust mention two new bilateral forums; the secretary-level Economic CooperationDialogue and the Trade and Investment Working Group. Both promote economiccooperation and remove impediments to bilateral trade and investment.
Tomaintain a good environment for business, partnerships between ministries, andbetween business and regulators, are crucial.
Themore we can get business and government in the same room, as we are today,sharing perspectives and learning together, the better for our economies.
Oftenit is business that understands best many of the issues that regulators mustmanage, so it makes sense that they come together regularly.
Alsocritical are the relations between businesses and communities.
Thesocial licence to operate is now well-understood in the resources industry.
TheAustralian Government, through our aid program, is investing in businesses thatbenefit communities and help us to achieve our aid objectives.
So,relationships are at the heart of all our economic efforts.
Working together on rules
Thesecond principle is the power of agreed, predictable rules.
Contracts,of course, are the backbone of investment relationships.
Predictable,stable, consultative regulation, is also crucial, so that all stakeholders canhave their say, their interests reflected, and adapt to change in a timely way.
Muchof the international work that Australia and PNG do together is about agreeing onrules and standards.
APECfocuses on ensuring there are good rules for international trade that willtranslate to improvements in living standards.
Iunderstand this has been a major focus of a public discussion series at thePacific Leadership and Governance Precinct in Port Moresby in recent weeks.
MinisterPato said the message Papua New Guinea wants to send as APEC host is that theworld will be all the better for a steady, free, fair, inclusive, rules-basedtrading system.
ExecutiveDirector for the APEC Secretariat based in Singapore, Dr Allan Bollard, saidthat "Over the time that Papua New Guinea has been in APEC, since 1993, incomeper capita has doubled."
SoPapua New Guineans today are, on average, roughly twice as well off as theirparents.
APECis about setting the rules that help member countries to lead the world intrade-driven growth.
Australiaputs a high priority on setting liberalising trade agreements through tradedeals.
TheAustralian Government is delighted that the Government of Papua New Guinea hasexpressed an interest in looking at this again.
Wefirmly believe it is in the interests of PNG to have another look at the PACERPlus agreement – the Pacific Agreement for Closer Economic Relations. If you signon, it will benefit your economy and our entire Pacific region by freeing uptrade and investment.
Looking to the long term
Thethird principle is operating for the long term.
Australianand PNG both have enormous resources potential.
Itis tempting to see that wealth as something that can help meet current economicobjectives.
However,in Australia's experience, resource projects are typically complicated, capitalintensive, multi-year operations.
Theydeliver returns over the long term or, often, not at all.
Along term approach is also important for diversification of the economy.
Innovationthrives on a base of well-maintained infrastructure.
Thisis true of tourism, agribusiness and services industries.
That'swhy Australia helps to maintain 2,000kms of PNG's most important roads eachyear.
It'salso why Australia will majority fund undersea telecommunications cables to PNGand Solomon Islands.
TheCoral Sea Cable System will deliver faster, cheaper and more reliablecommunications infrastructure, affording both countries significant economicbenefits.
Withsound long-term planning and regulation, Australian and PNG businesses caninnovate together to build a fast-growing, sustainable digital economy.
Australianbusinesses are keen to enhance their relationships in PNG through the supply ofinnovative technologies that support and sustain PNG's development.
Anexample of this is a Sydney based company called Anstel, which brings thebenefits of digital information management to PNG through Digicel's extensivemobile network.
Threekey areas of focus for this technology in PNG are:
- agriculture,where Anstel's Autonautics platform will allow farmers to monitor temperaturechanges, humidity levels and soil conditions to improve their product yields;
- smart buildings,where the optimisation of electricity and heating, ventilation, and airconditioning will reduce electricity bills and power usage; and
- food safety,where the monitoring of temperatures across the entire supply chain will resultin better food quality.
Anothergreat example of digital cooperation that will be enormously helpful for acountry that relies so heavily on its air transport services.
Skynetis a leading Australian provider of satellite communications, and is supplyingsoftware solutions to aviation customers in PNG – fixed wing and helicopter, tomanage flight tracking, data telemetry, scheduling, in-flight messaging, duressalarms and analytics.
Thisis critical.
And,of course, the two Australian banks that have been operating in PNG for many years,ANZ and Westpac, have been very active in delivering innovative mobile andonline banking solutions to their customers in PNG.
Afterselling its retail banking operation to Kina Bank, ANZ maintains its corporatebanking business in PNG.
Manyof Westpac's customers, and those of Kina Bank, are in rural and remote partsof the country where access to banking services is quite problematic for muchof the population.
Thisextension of banking and financial services has also helped to provide greaterfinancial empowerment for more women in PNG.
Conclusion
Ladiesand gentlemen; Australia and PNG have an exciting future to look forward to.
APECis a sign of PNG's maturity on the global stage.
Australiais ready to invest in PNG and to partner with PNG, for the long term.
Andthe Australian Government is committed to further strengthening anddiversifying our longstanding relationship with PNG; a relationship thatcontinues to benefit both countries.
Thankyou.