AUSTRALIANS AND MALAYSIANS: A NEW ERA OF PARTNERSHIP
Keynote Address by The Hon Alexander Downer, MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs
of Australia, at the Malaysian Australian Alumni Convention, Kuala Lumpur,
19 October 1996.
AS DELIVERED
Introduction
Tan Sri Taib, Senator Vanstone, the Minister For Employment, Education,
Training and Youth Affairs, Mr Krishnan, Dato' Lee, High Commissioners for
Australia and New Zealand, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I am very glad to be back again in Kuala Lumpur so soon, having been here
only two months ago, and to have the opportunity to speak to so many long
standing friends of Australia.
I would particularly like to thank Tan Sri Taib Mahmud for the invitation
to deliver this address. His leadership of the Malaysia-Australia Foundation
has been outstanding - part of his wider contribution to propelling our
two countries forward into a new era of cooperation.
In a speech I delivered in Kuala Lumpur two months ago, I said
`Malaysia and Australia are entering an exciting new stage in our relationship.
It is a stage defined by transformation in both our countries and by historic
change in the Asia Pacific region. It is a stage of new opportunities'.
Now let me assure you today that the new Australian Government will work
tirelessly to turn those opportunities into concrete achievements. We are
doing that at two levels.
First, we are building a more solid basis for understanding, dialogue and
cooperation at the government-to-government level. I am glad to say the
Malaysian Government is fully reciprocating. For instance, I have now had
four meetings with Prime Minister Mahathir - twice in Australia and twice
in Malaysia - in the space of only seven months .
Second, the Australian Government is giving its total support to the development
of stronger links at the people-to-people level. People-to-people links
- built up in fields like business, education, science and technology, the
arts and sport - are after all the lifeblood of any relationship.
That is why I regard this Convention, and the Malaysia-Australia Foundation,
as being at the very core of the future relationship between our two countries.
Today I want to talk about three things. First, the tide of economic, technological
and social change that is transforming Australia. Second, the opportunities
this creates for cooperation and partnership between Malaysia and Australia.
And third, I want to suggest some practical ways in which you, the alumni
of Australian universities, can help make the most of this era of opportunity.
PART ONE: A CHANGING AUSTRALIA
The dynamism of the new era is being generated by the tide of change that
is occurring in both our countries.
Malaysia has risen to the challenge of a changing world economy with extraordinary
vision and vigour. Its economic performance over the past decade has been
a remarkable success story. The marvellous spectacle of the grand opening
of the new Kuala Lumpur telecommunications tower a few weeks ago symbolises
that success.
But I am not here to tell you about Malaysia. What I want to do is to outline
the fundamental changes that have transformed Australia.
The Howard Government came into office with a vision for Australia in the
21st century as a cooperative, economically competitive and secure nation,
fully engaged with the East Asian region.
That vision includes making Australia's economy more productive, more outward-looking
and more capable of generating growth and jobs for the long term future.
Turning the vision into reality means taking disciplined choices in economic
policy, and using all the resources and talents of our people.
The Government has moved quickly to inject discipline into macroeconomic
policy.
Our first Budget set out a program for this year and the two following which
will erase last year's Australian budget deficit of over 2 per cent of Gross
Domestic Product. During the life of this Parliament, we will achieve that
overwhelmingly through expenditure reduction.
That will boost public savings, and release resources for private investment
and higher growth.
We forecast growth this financial year of 3.5 percent, higher than any G7
economy, and with an inflation rate of just 2 per cent.
The Government is backing up firm fiscal policy with a revitalised microeconomic
reform program.
We are committed to making the labour market more flexible, so as to create
jobs and lift productivity. We are also working to improve efficiency in
infrastructure services like the waterfront, aviation, communications and
energy. Amongst other things, the Government will:
. Establish a competitive electricity market;
. Sell one third of Telstra, our national telecommunications carrier;
. Privatise federal airports through the sale of long term leases; and
. Encourage greater private participation in rail services.
The Government is particularly committed to reducing the burden of regulation
and paperwork for business, because government is about creating a business-friendly
environment. An environment in which business will be free to play its role
- to generate wealth and, of course, jobs.
Finally, the Government has recently established what we call the Wallis
Inquiry into the Australian financial system, which will recommend how to
meet the challenges posed by globalisation and new technology. The objective
is to take a dynamic, open and secure financial system into the next century.
I believe that these reforms will reduce the costs of doing business in
and with Australia. They will make Australian companies more competitive,
productive and attractive partners for Malaysian companies and institutions.
Australian companies are already responding impressively as the Australian
economy opens to the world. Let me run through, if you will excuse me, a
few key statistics.
First, international trade and investment flows now account for fully half
of Australia's Gross Domestic Product.
Secondly, manufactures now total over 30 percent of merchandise exports
and they are growing at about 14 per cent a year. Services will soon reach
one quarter of our total exports.
Thirdly, two-thirds of Australia's export dollars come from Asia. Indeed
eight of our ten largest export markets are Asian economies.
Australia's economic transformation has been reinforced by rapid technological
advances.
Innovations in information technology, communications, energy, and food
production, to name but a few fields, are creating new opportunities for
Australians to achieve higher productivity and a higher standard of living.
Like Malaysia, the Australian Government is promoting closer links between
industries and our universities and research centres. Reforms to the education
sector are aimed at strengthening the ability of our institutions to meet
the new demands.
Two recent examples highlight the strength and innovativeness of Australian
education and research.
First, the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine this year to Professor
Peter Doherty for his work on immunology at the Australian National University.
Second, the University of Melbourne's plan to create a privately-funded
$120 million dollar Asia Pacific Graduate School of Energy and the Environment.
The School would provide training, consultancy and research services to
governments and corporations across the Asia Pacific. And it would be a
truly Asia Pacific body - involving top-ranked Asian and international universities
and corporations.
Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to these economic and technological developments.
Australia is also becoming evermore diverse and outward looking at the community
level.
For example, the proportion of the Australian population born overseas has
now reached one quarter. Each year, around 40 per cent of our migrants come
from Asia. Australia is a successful multicultural society and this success
is due to the fact that Australia has been built on the hopes, aspirations
and sheer hard work of migrants from all around the world.
In all societies there are those who question the pace and manner of change.
But the ultimate reality of that change cannot be doubted - nor can Australia's
commitment to make it work.
Let me take the opportunity to put some points very clearly on the record
in the light of some media coverage on Australia's immigration policies.
As the Prime Minister said in Parliament on 8 October, Australia's immigration
policy is and will remain non-discriminatory.
The Government completely rejects any notion that the immigration program
should have any reference to race. I personally, and the Government as a
whole, find any such notion to be repugnant. Australians in general regard
such sentiments as repugnant and we reject them in their entirety.
The fact is that Australia has a proud record for welcoming migrants from
all around the world and we will not let that achievement be threatened.
Moreover, Australia's commitment to a non-dicriminatory immigration programme
and to engagement with Asia is bipartisan and enjoys widespread support.
Indeed, our record on immigration has been and remains vital in developing
Australia's international links - particularly with our region.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the Australian Government is resolutely
opposed to racist sentiment and will fight against it in all its manifestations.
That statement is clear, absolute and unequivocal.
PART TWO: GROWING OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION
The tide of change I have described is making Australia an even stronger
partner for cooperation with Malaysia into the next century.
The resulting opportunities for bilateral cooperation are enormous.
Already over 200 Australian companies are operating in Malaysia, with a
total investment of well over $1 billion, and they include just about every
major Australian firm.
For example, Proton drivers rely on brakes made by PBR Automotive. Commuters
on the KL light rail system will travel in carriages by Evans Deakin on
a track laid by Transfield. And international commuters at the new KL airport
will be sheltered under a roof by Chadwicks.
Australian companies are also working closely with Malaysia in the services
sector. CCK, for example, is supplying software systems to many Malaysian
banks.
Further liberalisation of Malaysia's services sector over time should create
even more opportunities for partnership in fields from finance to information
technology, marketing to medicine.
For example, I hope Australian IT and multi-media companies will be contributing
strongly to the Malaysian Multi-Media Super Corridor and Putrajaya projects.
Joint ventures are an increasingly important way of establishing partnerships
based on high technology.
Invetech of Melbourne is a good example. Now established in Malaysia, it
is helping Malaysian and international clients design and develop new products
using world-class technology: computer-aided design; model-making and fabrication
facilities; and on-line database access.
There is a natural fit between the Australian Government's initiatives to
create an internationally competitive environment for Australian companies,
and your Government's support for "smart partnerships" between
Malaysian and foreign companies.
Australia's strength in research and development and high-technology infrastructure
is already enabling many Australian companies to form smart partnerships
with Malaysian firms.
In the field of education too - the reason so many of you are here today
- there are new opportunities for partnership.
The establishment of twinning arrangements and branch campuses in Malaysia
will mean Malaysian students will study for longer periods at home before
finishing their study in Australia.
I particularly hope that more Australian students will train at the new
campuses in Malaysia, so improving their skills and becoming more Asia-literate
- I see this as a smart relationship in education.
In all these fields of new opportunity it is you - the alumni - who can
lead the way. You are the key assets in this relationship.
PART THREE: THE VITAL ROLE THE ALUMNI CAN PLAY
How then can those of you who as former students already know Australia
help bring our two peoples together?
I think there are five practical initiatives alumni can take further to
develop the relationship between Australia and Malaysia.
First, you can work individually and through your organisations to
promote Malaysia to Australians. The Malaysian story needs to be better
understood by a wider public in Australia.
We have moved beyond the time when governments alone were responsible for
promoting national achievements and highlighting the opportunities for mutual
benefit.
I encourage you to work as a group to promote Malaysia more actively through
the media, through your companies and through community organisations.
The Malaysia-Australia Foundation and its counterpart in Australia, the
Australia-Malaysia Society, are showing the way forward. At the end of the
year they will be opening - simultaneously in both countries - a major photographic
exhibition on life in our two multicultural societies.
Secondly, I hope that you will continue to be active in searching
out Australian partners in all fields: from business and industry to scientific
research, sport and the arts.
Australia, as I have outlined, is now, more than ever, an outward looking,
competitive and exciting country.
Thirdly, I hope that you will be energetic in renewing your friendships
with and knowledge of Australia and Australians.
It is becoming easier to do that. We are now introducing a new Electronic
Travel Authority system which will streamline the visa system. You will
be able to obtain your visa through travel agents at the same time as you
collect your ticket.
So I invite you to visit Australia as often as you can and to help expand
further the people to people links between our two countries.
Fourthly, I want encourage you to recruit the new crop of alumni
and young Australians who have the skills you need to develop your businesses.
By keeping the pool of alumni strong in the future we can strengthen what
is already a unique and strategic partnership. More importantly, by being
involved in recruiting new Australian-trained Malaysian graduates, you can
also play a vital role in the education process - sending signals to Australian
universities about the skills you need to grow your industries.
I hope, in particular, that you can be engaged in developing the curricula
and programs of new Australian campuses here in Malaysia. Your experience
will be vital to their success.
Likewise, I suggest you may find it useful to employ young Australians for
short placements in technical and professional fields where Malaysia's dynamic
growth is causing labour shortages.
The understanding of Malaysia they would take back with them to Australia
would be invaluable to building new partnerships in the future.
I leave it to you - as people who understand both countries - to consider
how that idea might be put into practice.
Fifth and finally, I hope that all of you will get more involved
in the programs of the Malaysia-Australia Foundation and the Australia-Malaysia
Society. These organisations can do so much to create networks and facilitate
people-to-people links at all levels.
I know, from what I have seen and heard during my visits here, that your
efforts will bring a huge return in business and personal fulfilment.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the outset of my speech I said that the transformation of Malaysia and
Australia will bring unprecedented opportunities for cooperation and mutual
progress. And I said that people-to-people links are the lifeblood of any
relationship between two countries.
I want to conclude, therefore, by reaffirming to you that the Australian
Government is totally committed to promoting private initiatives in all
fields of the relationship.
The philosophy of the new Australian Government is to encourage private
individuals and corporations to use their own initiative. It is not the
role of government to tell business how to do business.
The role of government is to create the conditions in which the aspirations
of Australians and Malaysians for greater cooperation can best be fulfilled.
I believe both governments are well on the way to creating those conditions.
I believe there is a strong sense among Australians and Malaysians that
the time is right to build new partnerships - in business, in science and
technology, and in all other areas of life.
I invite you - the alumni - to take up now the challenge of turning aspirations
into concrete achievements.