 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Lowy Institute. I'm Michael Fully Love, the executive director here, and it's my pleasure to welcome you all to today's event. I see many familiar faces in the audience. Let me acknowledge in particular Stephen Lowy and Mark Grine, two of my directors, at the Lowy Institute, Her Excellency Mena Rawlings, the British High Commissioner to Australia, Francis Adamson, the Prime Minister's International Affairs Advisor, and my host in Beijing last year for the Boyer Lectures, and David Gallup, the chief executive of FFA. Ladies and gentlemen, we're now approaching the end of the second longest Australian election campaign in history, and if it feels long for us, then spare a thought for the candidates. Lowy Institute scholars have been active during the campaign on foreign policy issues in the media. Via our digital magazine, The Interpreter, we've hosted a lively debate about the role of foreign policy in the race. Tomorrow, we will release the 2016 Lowy Institute poll, and this year, as in 2013, we've polled Australians on what they think about the two parties on a range of foreign policy issues. So please keep an eye out tomorrow for the poll. And finally, the Institute has served as the essential forum in which political leaders can speak about Australia's place in the world. So over the past six months or so, we've hosted the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of the opposition, Bill Shorten, the leader of the Greens Party, Richard De Natale, and the Shadow Foreign Minister, Tanya Plibersek. And today, we're delighted to be hearing from a good friend of the Institute, the Honourable Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Julie has been a welcomed counterbalance to the unprecedented leadership churn we've seen in Australia over the past decade. She's been the deputy leader of her party since 2007, and she previously held a number of ministerial positions under the Howard government. She has served, of course, as our first female Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2013, following four and a half years as the Shadow Minister. She's been the member for Curtin in the House of Representatives since 1998, and prior to entering Parliament, Julie was a lawyer and managing partner at Clayton Utes. Minister, I'm sure everybody here is looking forward to hearing from you about economic diplomacy and, more broadly, your vision for Australian foreign policy. Thank you for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Minister. Excellencies, friends and guests. Michael, thank you for the introduction, and I thank the Low Institute. Stephen, thank you for this opportunity. Today, I'll set out the important role of foreign policy within the Coalition's overall national economic plan, and I'll focus particularly on our approach to economic diplomacy. By way of background, I note that it's often said that in most areas of Australian foreign policy, there's a level of bipartisanship. Both sides of politics believe in a confident, outward-looking Australia as we promote our interests overseas. However, there are key differences in approach that have a major bearing on the way in which Australia is perceived abroad and in how we leverage our influence to best effect. Broadly speaking, there are two aspects to the practice of foreign policy. The first is to shape developments to our best advantage, such as agreements and treaties with other nations to promote our economic and trade, defence and security and cultural interests. This creates a framework to deal with the second aspect, which is responding to events over which we have little or no control, particularly in the early stages, such as natural disasters, pandemics, conflicts, terrorism and economic crises. The Turnbull government's approach rests on the proposition that Australia's continued prosperity and security cannot be taken for granted and will depend on how well we engage regionally and globally. For no government can long afford to close its eyes to how the world is changing. It is vital that we are attuned to trends and changes as they occur and to the best of our ability anticipate changes so that we are better equipped to respond wisely or not at all. Either way, the consequences for Australia can be enormous. We are aware of the impact of globalisation and interdependence and the prosperity that has brought to Australia and to our region. Less well understood is what economic interdependence will mean for Australia, especially as the commodity boom gradually recedes. Australia is the 12th largest economy in the world. We have not had a recession for a quarter of a century. In fact, we are in our 25th year of continuous economic growth. The strength of the global economy will continue to go through cycles. However, there is one thing about which we can be certain. The competition for capital, access to markets and even labour will be increasingly intense. This is happening because the economic barriers that once existed between countries are crumbling. Take, for example, our major trading partners. Japan is negotiating or has concluded 24 free trade agreements with other countries, China, 23, Singapore, 32, Malaysia, 22. Australia has signed, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, 13. And we're negotiating at least another six. Coalition governments have been responsible for virtually all our free trade agreements, including with Singapore, the United States, South Korea, Japan and China. We're creating a vast network to liberalise trade and as an export-oriented market economy of 24 million people, our prosperity and our standard of living depends on our ability to sell our goods and services overseas. Now, these are all high-quality agreements. And with China, Japan and South Korea as our largest trading partners in Asia, they give our exporters greater access to a marketplace of around 1.6 billion people. Direct investment is the lifeblood of any economy and these free trade agreements also enhance investment opportunities for Australia. The consequences of the slowing of the availability of capital in the United States and Europe during the global financial crisis are still being felt today as the effects work through the global economy. It's worth noting that since 1992, there's been an average gap of about 4% of GDP between what we save as a country and the amount we invest directly to grow our economy. Additional capital equivalent to around 4% of GDP each year or around $70 billion has come from overseas. Capital can be described as both fickle and demanding or at least those who hold the purse strings on investment decisions may be so described. Capital goes where it receives the best return and takes flight when something better comes along or the investment environment becomes less favourable. Remain an attractive place to invest, foreign capital comes into the country creating new jobs and opportunities for Australians. Likewise, Australian firms and individuals will invest more of their savings in our economy rather than overseas if they believe the return here is better than that achieved overseas. The point is we cannot force foreigners to invest in Australia and we cannot enforce Australians to invest domestically. This is the nature of the free and open markets to which we are committed. So it's important for our future prosperity that we ensure the policy settings in Australia make us as competitive and attractive as possible to investors. This is how we've grown our economy continuously for 25 years, a feat unprecedented for any advanced economy over the past five decades. The top five sources of direct foreign investment into Australia by capital stock are the United States, Japan, Singapore and European countries. These advanced economies are also the major sources for direct investment throughout Asia, meaning our economy is competing with Asia as an investment destination. China is now our sixth largest investor. We've done well over the past few years although there are challenges ahead. If you look at where foreign investment in Australia has gone over the past five years, almost 40% went into the mining and resource sectors. Now this isn't surprising given that we are a minerals and energy superpower and there was a commodities boom. However in 2015, foreign investment into Australia was at its lowest level since 2005. The decline is almost entirely due to falls in the value of investment in the mining sector which fell from $51.2 billion in 2013 to $15.3 billion in 2015. This is not a cause for alarm, it is the entirely predictable result of the structural slowdown of capital investment in China as our largest trading partner transitions towards a more domestic consumer driven economy. However it does mean we must adjust and adapt and be agile as the coalition has emphasised and as the Prime Minister has stated on more than one occasion and create a broader based and more diverse economy. We don't seek strong macroeconomic numbers for their own sake. As economies in East Asia change as China is doing, we need to reposition Australia to ensure another long period of growth and prosperity lies ahead. Future Australian jobs, improving our standard of living and servicing our debt levels depend on it. This is where the Turnbull government's national economic plan, including our innovation and investment agenda comes in. The key is playing to our strengths and not those of other countries. Like other fully industrialised nations we cannot pretend the world is what it was decades ago and try to compete on cost of production, especially labour. Labour costs in almost all of our major trading partners are significantly lower than in Australia. Even in these countries, advanced robotics and other technologies are replacing human labour, driving the cost of production even lower. China, Japan and Taiwan are investing huge sums in advanced manufacturing and robotics. Taiwanese company Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, estimates that by 2020, around one third of its production will be performed by robots. Even now, a single $30,000 robot can assemble almost 100 iPhones a day at a cost of less than a dollar each phone. There are currently almost a quarter of a million manufacturing robots in China alone capable of replicating around 20 manufacturing processes traditionally performed by humans. Manufacturing is getting cheaper and faster every day and even for jobs requiring a human element, there are lower cost workers numbering in the hundreds of millions in our region. Moreover, Asia, America and Europe have become one vast and integrated production zone. The iconic example is a single iPhone which is made from parts manufactured and assembled in around 20 countries, 12 of which are in Asia. Huge transport ships have driven down the cost to less than four cents to transport one small part from one major port somewhere in the world to another major port anywhere in the world. The globalization of supply chains is relentlessly driving down production costs. For us, trying to do what other countries can do at a fraction of the cost is an unwise race to the bottom. As a government, we can do a number of things to help our economy adapt and thrive in this regional and global environment. This is where we offer a positive contrast with the other political parties. First, we must have policies that encourage investment in the Australian economy, not discourage investment as Labor and the Greens are intending. This is because investment is needed for economies to successfully transition away from older models of growth in our case as a commodity boom subsides. It is an established theory and an empirical fact. The more you tax an activity, the less the activity takes place. The converse is obviously equally true. When Peter Costello reduced our company tax to 30%, we were the ninth lowest in the 34 member OECD. Currently, there are 27 OECD countries with a lower corporate tax rate than Australia. Competition for Australian and foreign investment is truly global. As investment flows out of our mining sector, we need a competitive taxation policy as we transition. The lower the corporate tax rate, the better the immediate return on investment. This equates to a larger capital pool for firms already operating in Australia to invest further. It's one reason why we are proposing immediate company tax cuts for small businesses with a turnover between $2 million and $10 million of 27.5%, then to 25% for all companies over time. Labor is wrong to assume that investment and economic growth will not be affected by their policy of a higher company tax rate. Second, when labor costs are a disadvantage compared to other competitors, the best thing you can do is ensure that the cost of Australian labor is relatively low to the value of the product. And this is what all successful advanced economies must do. In other words, we must be smarter in how we do things and to take advantage of our intellectual resources. We must embrace our human capital. The greatest natural resource that Australia has is the creativity and innovation of its people. That is why we have a $1.1 billion national innovation and science agenda offering incentives for startup companies operating in cutting edge industries or utilizing advanced technologies, providing tax breaks for startups, encouraging collaboration between the private sector, our research agencies and universities to commercialize ideas and focusing on inquiring the STEM skills, science, technology, engineering, mathematics. We must embrace creativity, innovation and enterprise. Now, we can be justifiably proud of the fact that there are around 30,000 Australians in Silicon Valley. Many go there because of the supportive environment for startups or early stage capital funding. There are also clusters of innovative people and firms feed off each other in a virtuous and creative cycle. Now, while it's not possible to recreate Silicon Valley in Australia, we can seek to emulate parts of that environment and entice our best and brightest back here or keep them here in the first place. In my own portfolio, I established the innovation exchange which identifies trials and if successful scales up solutions to seemingly intractable aid and development problems. Our aim is to collaborate with private sector partners to ensure innovation becomes intrinsic to the delivery of the whole aid program. We've brought together innovative and creative thinkers from across the public and private sector, from the World Bank to Google, and we've already partnered with Michael Bloomberg's Philanthropic Arm to undertake a groundbreaking big data project for better health delivery in our region. The innovation exchange is already identifying efficient solutions that will impact on our aid program and outcomes for many years ahead. Likewise, the coalition's economic plan embraces innovation in our defense industry. Our comprehensive defense plan is not only about our national security needs and capability, but also investing more of our defense budget in Australian industry with a fully-costed, fully-funded plan that aligns strategy, capability and resources. This will support and sustain a growing local defense industry, increasing the capacity for local Australian firms to export to like-minded countries with shared strategic interests, especially in our region. A dozen offshore patrol vessels will be built here in two years' time. After that, the building of nine future frigates will begin. Then we will start construction of the first of 12 advanced submarines designed specifically for Australian conditions. This will be our single biggest military capability investment in peacetime history. These projects will also drive jobs, growth, advanced manufacturing and innovation across the public and private sector for decades. In contrast to our continuous build philosophy, I point out that Labor did not commission a single defense vessel to be built at an Australian shipyard during their entire six years in government, creating the infamous Valley of Death to defense industry jobs. The third element of our economic plan addresses the competition for markets and the government will ensure Australian firms and individuals compete on a level playing field, if not a privileged one. The free trade agreements we concluded with China, Japan and South Korea are all about providing our exporters with advantages or at least equivalent access as our competitors. Independent modelling has found that these free trade agreements will boost our GDP by $25 billion over the next two decades. That equates to each household being $4,000 better off. The benefits for Australian firms are immediate and real and will increase over time. As I travel around the world, it's become increasingly apparent to me that the brand made in Australia. Produced in Australia, grown in Australia, manufactured in Australia is synonymous with quality. For example, the growing Chinese middle classes need our food and actively prefer that it is sourced from our relatively pristine environment. Tariffs for our dairy, beef, lamb, wine, horticulture and seafood exports have been completely eliminated. For dairy foods, company Bega, with free trade agreements with China has triggered even more interest for its products on the back of a $100 million UHD milk deal with the Kongqing General Trading Group. I was down at Bega the other day and they were waxing lyrical about the opportunities the China Free Trade Agreement present to them. Wine makers like Warren Randall of Seppelsfield described the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement as the single most important development in wine marketing in the 40 years that he's been in business. An ageing Chinese population can look to us for services. The Free Trade Agreement opens up opportunities for Australian private hospital providers such as Ramsey Healthcare and for our aged care providers. Our Free Trade Agreement with Japan is the most ambitious trade deal Japan has ever signed with another country. When fully implemented, more than 97% of Australian exports will enter Japan completely duty-free or with preferential access. Tariffs on many agricultural exports will be eliminated. Tariffs on our beef will be halved. Our services sector will gain unprecedented access to the lucrative Japanese domestic economy. Likewise, almost all our export tariffs with South Korea will be eliminated under that Free Trade Agreement. Grove Juice in Southern Queensland has now sold almost 100,000 bottles of orange and apple juices into the Japanese and Korean markets. The 24% tariff on cherries to Korea was eliminated under the agreement and a cherry grower in Tasmania has reported a 30-fold increase in cherry exports in the months following the signing of the Korean Agreement. Last month, we concluded a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Singapore, an advanced and innovative regional economy with whom we have much in common. Our aim is to have as close an economic relationship with Singapore as we do with New Zealand. This partnership will lead to even closer collaboration on the commercialisation of research between our agencies and universities and private firms. We're exploring joint investment opportunities in sectors such as food and agriculture in Northern Australia. We are promoting mutual recognition of standards and qualifications so our professional and other service firms can operate in the Singaporean market. Importantly, we're not resting on recent achievements. We are negotiating further export agreements with India, Indonesia, the European Union, the Gulf countries and a number of Pacific nations. Now, it will not escape you that in an address about foreign policy, I have spoken primarily about economics. Just as the objective traditional diplomacy is to secure peace and security, economic diplomacy is designed to promote our prosperity and economic opportunity. One of the first things I asked of our diplomats when sworn in as foreign minister was to develop business plans in the nations where our embassies and high commissions are located. Corporate business plans to enhance the economic ties between the host country, wherever situated on the world map, and Australia. These business plans have been a great success and I was pleasantly surprised at the level of enthusiasm and the quality of the plans which include milestones and measurable outcomes on increased trade and investment. We've also expanded our overseas economic and diplomatic presence with the addition of eight new posts and funding for three more, the largest expansion of our diplomatic footprint in at least 40 years. So this is a central part of my portfolio as Minister for Foreign Affairs and I see my role as no less relevant to the Turnbull government's jobs and growth plan as other ministers in charge of domestic economic affairs. Investing in Australia's future generations is also an important part of Australia's cultural and economic links with the Indo-Pacific. By the end of 2016, our new Colombo Plan which we established in 2014 will have given more than 10,000 Australian undergraduate students a chance to live, study and undertake work experience in over 35 locations in our region. Our students get to know the host country, learn the language, understand the people and build networks and connections and return with new insights and perspectives into Australia's place in the region. Just as enhancing prosperity is a fundamental aim of our foreign policy, so too is national security. Greater independence and integration between economies and nations means economical strategic turmoil in one place is likely to have direct consequences for other nations. Recently, Prime Minister Turnbull described the United States as the irreplaceable anchor to the global's rule-based order. No other country can take on this role. Defending such an order is not aimed at any particular country. It works to ensure competition is regulated and takes place according to a set of rules and processes that enhance stability and security. Every country which has risen within these rules has benefited enormously, including countries that are allies of the United States, Japan and Australia and those who are not, such as China. This is why the coalition has strongly reaffirmed the importance of both the role of the United States and the ANZUS Alliance. It is to be noted that Labor's political partner, the Greens, have taken a different approach. While there's broad bipartisan support for the Australia-U.S. relationship, the great difference between the coalition and Labor comes down to execution. Strategic architecture requires constant attention, effort and resources in order to endure. In our region, bilateral security relationships between the United States and its allies and between like-minded countries form the backbone of such architecture. The advances in our strategic and security partnerships with countries such as Japan and Singapore over the past three years reinforces an order which is overwhelmingly in Australia's and the region's interests. Additionally, and for the strategic order to survive and evolve, other countries need to carry more of the security burden. We are doing just that with the plan outlined in the 2016 Defence White Paper, which accepts our fair share of that work. While Labor drove defence spending as a percentage of GDP to its lowest level since 1938, the Turnbull government is committed, unlike the two previous Labor governments whose defence blueprint was never funded, to invest real and credible funding to back our strategy. I remind Labor of the words of former Secretary of Defence Arthur Tang, who said, a strategy without dollars is not a strategy. Hence, our plan to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP. Ladies and gentlemen, there are significant regional and global economic and strategic challenges ahead. Continued prosperity and security is never guaranteed or easily achieved. Australia's brightest days are ahead of us if we evolve and we adapt. The Turnbull government has an economic and security plan to achieve just that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Julie. Thank you for those interesting remarks on economic diplomacy, on free trade, on national security. The Ministers agreed to take questions and we have about 25 minutes or so and I want to go to as many people as I can. I'm going to ask the first question. Minister, can I ask you to reflect a bit on your term as Foreign Minister over the last three years? What is the achievement that you're proudest of? What's the single thing that you're most glad to be associated with? And what's your biggest regret? What was the issue that you felt unable to push as far as you would have liked? There is no single initiative or outcome that I prefer over a number. So I'll just set out a few that I think have been, for me, really outcomes in Australia's national interests. First, our refocus on the Pacific and the direction of most of our aid budget to the Pacific. And the realignment of our aid budget towards economic self-reliance rather than handouts. And the Pacific leaders that I speak to invariably want greater economic engagement with Australia rather than what had been a traditional form of delivering aid. So I think our aid program backed by the Innovation Exchange has been truly groundbreaking, all against a very challenging fiscal environment that we inherited. Secondly, our ability to enhance bilateral relationships, particularly with China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and how that has enabled us to participate more actively in multinational forums like the United Nations. Because if you have strong bilateral and regional relationships, you have a greater influence and capacity to engage. For example, in the East Asia Summit, we are a voice in the East Asia Summit due in major part because of our relationships with the member countries. Likewise, our time on the Security Council, very proud of what we were able to achieve on the Security Council. And much of that had to do with the relationships we have with the permanent members of the Security Council. Our response to the global terrorism threat that has emerged in the Middle East, particularly in Syria and Iraq, has been challenging. But I also think that Australia has done more than its fair share as a nation far removed from terrorism central, but no less potentially influenced or impacted by global terrorist events. And Australia is now one of the leading voices in the coalition against ISIL and our military and humanitarian contribution to Syria and Iraq, I think, has been a high point. Our ability to respond to events outside our control, where we had otherwise little coverage, and I refer to our response to the downing of the Malaysian Airlines MH17, the ability of our departments, our agencies, our diplomats, our Defence Force personnel, our Australian Federal Police, to come together and achieve an outcome in very hostile territory and a hostile environment, I think, is a credit to us all. Personally, my greatest pride lies in the establishment of the new Colombo Plan. This is something I spoke about a great deal in opposition. It's something that I had dreamed about for some time, and that was to establish a program like the original Colombo Plan that saw 40,000 people come to Australia to gain qualifications in Australia between 1950s and the 1980s, and then return to their countries as ambassadors for Australia, an irreplaceable initiative. I wanted to reverse that and ensure that young Australians had that opportunity to live and study at universities in our region. I think as a soft power diplomacy initiative, that has done more for our standing in the region than any white paper, any strategy, any other single initiative I can think of. So the new Colombo Plan is something that should, that should underpin our engagement in the region for decades to come because it's an investment in our young people. And for them, it's life-changing, it's transformative, but it's also, in many ways, transformed our relationship with countries in the region. When presidents and prime ministers of other countries speak of the new Colombo Plan in their public addresses as an example of Australia's willingness to engage with the region, then I know that that is public diplomacy, soft power diplomacy at its very best. I also asked you for a Gretz. Well, I wish we'd signed all six free trade agreements that we're currently negotiating before caretaker provisions kicked in. That's obviously something that's important. In terms of regrets, none come to mind, apart from wanting to achieve more and be able to be as significant a voice as we can on the world stage. There can be frustrations from time to time, but we doggedly pursue our national interest and our right to be heard. One example was when Russia played itself into the conflict in Syria and Iraq, then the United States and Russia became the two negotiators, if you like, for the outcomes there. And there was a period where Australia was not included in the International Syria Support Group. And I thought that was not fair or appropriate given the level of commitment that we had made. And so we worked very hard through our diplomats and our influential representatives to ensure that Australia took its place at that table. And we were able to achieve that, although it meant I had to leave the election campaign and head off to Vienna for four days to sit at the table for the International Syria Support Group meeting. But it was certainly worth the effort and worthwhile. Had we not been able to achieve that, I would have listed that as a regret. LAUGHTER OK, you have no regrets. All right. Madam, I'll ask people to confine, to please address the minister with a question rather than a statement, and please indicate your name and any affiliation at the beginning. Deborah Snow, Fairfax Media Minister. I wonder if you could confirm the report in the Australian today that you're on the verge of appointing the first female head of DFAT. I note Ms Adamson sitting in the front row here. I presume for a reason. And if that is the case, why is that a particularly significant appointment? I mean, we've obviously had other women heading up federal government departments. Why should this be a particular milestone in your portfolio? And also, could you just quickly comment on the... Just quickly. ..your thoughts on whether Britain should be... Brexit. Sorry. Whether Britain should be leaving Brexit, thank you. Well, first on the question about the article in the Australian today, we are in caretaker mode, so it would be entirely inappropriate for me to make any announcement about the Secretary of Department as important as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I assume Frances Adamson is sitting here because she has been a very distinguished ambassador to China, a Deputy Secretary in our department and now the Prime Minister's international adviser. But I am confident that whomever the Prime Minister and I choose should we be re-elected will carry on the great tradition of de-fat secretaries that have served this country so well. Were it to be a woman, that would be notable because, of course, it would be the first female Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. And that in itself is a milestone. Just as people often comment that I'm the first female Foreign Minister of Australia, the first always draws comment. As to Brexit, it would clearly be in Australia's interests, in my view, for there to be a strong Great Britain within the European Union. We have a deep economic, strategic, historic relationship with Great Britain. We are like-minded partners. We have deep intelligence ties, security ties. We work exceedingly closely with the United Kingdom on a whole range of issues. To have a like-minded partner within the European Union would be in Australia's interests, in my view. Of course, with men and rulings sitting there, I don't hesitate to remind everybody that this is a decision for the British people and the outcome, of course, is a matter for Britain. But if you ask what would be in Australia's interests, I think that it would be for a strong Britain to remain. The consequences of Britain leaving are, of course, unknown. I expect it would create considerable economic volatility, as we've already seen, with the reaction in the markets to just the potential of Britain leaving. And, of course, that would impact on Australia. The European Union is a significant trading block for Australia, so any increased instability in the EU would impact on Australia. That's why it's important to vote for a turnable government who has an economic plan to ensure our continued economic prosperity. I would just add, Deborah, for your story, that the Lowe Institute put a poll out last week that showed that 51% of Australians favour Britain remaining in the EU and only, I think, 19% favour Brexit. So I hope you can squeeze that into your story. Never miss an opportunity. No, absolutely. We're in sales here, Minister. The next person I saw was this lady. Jamai McGarrett from ABC News. I was interested in you pointing out your refocusing on the Pacific is one of your highlights. And one of the things that doesn't get spoken about much is the economic role of Australian business in the Pacific. And Australia has almost as much foreign direct investment in Papua New Guinea as it does in China. And it's very important in all the other countries, Fiji, Vanuatu, et cetera. I'm just wondering how you see that developing and is it relevant in any way to the Coalition's jobs and growths plan? Also, what benefit do you see for Australian business from Pace to Plus? And then a second question is... I'm going to keep it to one if I can, just because there's a lot of... Yeah, Pace to Plus. Okay. Okay. Let me start with our approach to the aid program, which, as I said, is very much focused on development outcomes in the Pacific. It's our view that no country has ever lifted large numbers of people out of poverty through foreign aid. Take China, for example, take Korea. Most have done so through economic development. And it's our view that we should be building national capacity in countries in our region. And we do that through focusing on education, on women's economic empowerment, on trade promotion. And I believe that building economic capacity and the ability to grow the recipient country's economy is the best way to improve living standards in developing countries. Now, as I said earlier, I know this is the view of the countries who receive it, but I've not had a leader from these countries ask for more aid. They ask for more economic opportunities. They don't want to be permanently dependent on other nations. So that's what's driven our aid program. And I think what's important is to understand why a country is falling short of their development goals if the amount of aid has been increasing each year. And that's what we've been seeking to do in discussions and consultations with the recipients and nations of Australian aid. Indonesia, for example, considers about half a billion dollars we put into Indonesia as an investment rather than aid. And they want economic outcomes. Likewise, I'll come to PASA Plus. What countries of the Pacific are looking for out of this free trade agreement is labour mobility. They would much rather have the opportunity for their workers to take up employment opportunities in Australia and New Zealand, gain skills, remittances, and then go back to their own country and use those skills to develop economic growth there. The private sector, as far as I'm concerned, is utterly essential to the delivery of our aid program. And that has been another significant change from previous governments. And that is we are partnering with the private sector to deliver aid, getting ideas from the private sector on how we can do it. And there are some magnificent examples, including oil search in P&G, who have probably done as much as many donor countries to lift standards of living in P&G through their investment as part of their presence as an LNG producer in P&G. And likewise, our relationship with Papua New Guinea is focused very much on building capacity and capability. One of the other things of which I'm particularly proud is the School of Governance and the School of Government that we have just established in P&G. It hasn't had much coverage in the media. We are setting up a School of Government with the University of Papua New Guinea and their Institute of Public Administration to train or, if necessary, retrain public servants, the public sector, even private sector individuals in P&G about how to govern, administer, operate more efficiently, effectively and ethically. Thank you. I saw this lady here and then the gentleman behind her. Thank you. Venus Kalesi from the Australian Behind Community. Miss Bishop, earlier this year, you hosted Iran's Foreign Minister in our country. Thank you foremost for continuing to erase Iran's appalling human rights record, whether you're travelling abroad or... I'm going to ask you to keep it to a question. That's in Australia. As with relations with Iran's strengthens, we will see more Australian businesses entering that country for trade. However, given its human rights record, particularly in terms of labour and employment of religious minorities and others on their blacklist who are excluded from economic and civil life, Australian companies may invariably become complicit to such human rights violations. Will the Australian government help equip businesses to navigate the complex human rights issues as doors open for Australian businesses to enter Iran? Thank you. Thank you for the question, and it's an important one. We have re-engaged with Iran to the extent that I visited Tehran, the first Australian minister in at least 12 years, to do so. But I point out we have maintained an embassy in Tehran throughout, unlike other countries, notably the United States, and at one point, I think, Great Britain. We have maintained our embassy and our presence in Tehran. My reason for visiting Tehran actually had more to do with seeking some kind of arrangement, whereby Iran would take back the Iranians who had come to Australia under the weakened border protection laws that gave rise to the people-smuggling trade under the previous Labor government. That included 50,000 people, 9,000 of whom were Iranians, a number of whom are not found to be owing protection under the relevant conventions. So a purpose of my visit was to seek an agreement on the behalf of the Iranian government to take back those who were found not to be genuine refugees. Secondly, it was to discuss the presence of Australian troops in Iraq because we were assisting the Iraqi government in building the capacity of their security and defence forces. And Iran was very present on the ground in Iraq, so I didn't want there to be any misunderstanding as to what the Australian defence personnel were doing there. But a third element did arise, and that is the question of greater trade and economic ties with Iran. Should the P5-plus-1 agreement be concluded? Well, it has been, and so certain sanctions have been lifted on Iran, consistent with the European Union. We still have in place a number of sanctions on Iran, but this has enabled some Australian businesses to see opportunities to trade with Iran as other European nations have done. We have announced the opening of an Aus trade office in Iran for the very purpose of assisting Australian businesses. Work operate, engage in Iran, and the matters to which you refer are the sort of things that our posts and our trading missions do as a matter of course in countries where there are challenging human rights environments. So I also believe that engaging directly with Foreign Minister Zarif and Prime Minister Rouhani is an important way of raising our concerns about human rights, about nuclear programs, about Iran's role in the Middle East. And I do not agree with the view of those who say we should not engage with Iran. We should, we will. We have the opportunity to raise our concerns directly and hopefully make an impact in that regard. But your point about whether we provide support for Australian businesses for doing so, yes, that is the point of having a presence in Iran beyond just the embassy. It will also be an Aus trade post. The gentleman behind, yes. Minister, my name's Ian Lynn. I come from a company called Quo Vardis and we are strategic futurists. As you can see, I am Asian, I'm Chinese. I'm an ABC, which is in Australian-born Chinese. My Australian friends call me a banana because I'm yellow on the outside and white on the inside. I've never heard that. I've never heard that before. I've heard it. That's not approved low-income. Have you got a question, sir? Yes, you have talked about the Colombo Plan after the Second World War about being a major success and you say one of your greatest achievements are the new Colombo Plan, the reverse one. Have you ever thought about a reverse of your reverse? That is, in Australia, we have literally hundreds of thousands of Asian students and we never contact them here about their future as far as Australia is concerned, especially since most of them come with direct contacts through their parents and through their extended families with businesses all over the world, mainly in China. As you know, there's about 50 million Chinese in a diaspora all over the world. The big area where we also have a real advantage is our small businesses. With 24 million people, our future must be in small business. Is there anything that we can do to emulate overseas, all right, by using the diaspora here from many countries around the world, to talk about the future of Australia? They all know it's the best country in the world, but we never say, well, this is what you can do. You'll be bi-cultured when you leave here. We'll talk about small businesses, starting up, what you can do, and I believe that our future will be Australian small businesses exporting the millions of small businesses around the world at the top 5% of each country. Have you thought about reversing your reverse? I certainly agree with you that Australian small business is the backbone of our economy. It's where the jobs are, it's where the creativity comes from and we absolutely back the innovative, creative spirit, the entrepreneurial spirit of Australian small businesses. One of the reasons that I pushed so hard to get the new Colombo plan in place was because I wanted our leaders of the future, our business, political, community leaders of the future, to understand the politics, the economics, the societies in Asia which will have such an important impact on Australia. Not only should they work over there, but for the tourists, the visitors, those who do business here in Australia from Asia, they would have a better understanding of how to work with and take advantage of that kind of engagement. So the whole idea of the new Colombo plan was to give Australian students, the future leaders of our country, a better understanding of our place in the region and it's doing that. I've got some magnificent examples of young Australians who've been overseas on the new Colombo plan, undertook an internship in a firm, not an Australian firm operating there, but actually, say Singapore in business, operating in Singapore, obtained a work experience opportunity under the new Colombo plan and have now been offered a job when they finish their career in Australia, or sorry, when they finish their qualifications in Australia. So this kind of intermingling is precisely what I wanted to see with the new Colombo plan and it also drives more students to come to Australia. As I've been told, we have young Australians living on campus at Fudan University, mixing with other Chinese students who might be looking for somewhere to go to study overseas. Our young Australian ambassadors encourage them to study in Australia. So this is all about a true student exchange. While we currently have many more foreign students in Australia than we send out, that will change over time and I think we'll see true student exchange. As for doing it with small business, well, we've certainly been providing small business with enormous opportunities to engage in the region through the free trade agreements. I mean, these agreements are groundbreaking in the opportunities that they provide for small, medium businesses to sell their goods and services overseas. Now, your idea of putting some sort of framework under that, some kind of alumni of small businesses is certainly one I'll take on board because we have, for the first time, put in place a huge alumni framework for our new Colombo plan students and those coming to Australia. So online, lifetime email addresses, all that sort of thing we're putting in place for our new Colombo plan students and the foreign students coming to Australia. Minister, I'm gonna sneak in one final question. We started a little bit late, so I'm gonna try your patience and ask you one other question about the other election that's happening this year. I know that I'm not gonna have any success in, I know that you're not gonna want to comment on any of the candidates for office in the United States. But let me put the question a different way. The debate in the United States seems to have gone sideways over the last 12 months or so. We have calls for Muslims to be denied access to the United States. We have very sharp criticisms of free trade. Are you somewhat discomforted that the United States, our great strategic ally, seems to be, we seem to be seeing some of the meaner and the smaller sides of the American character rather than the really great qualities that have enabled the United States to have such a benign and positive effect on the world? The reason that we don't delve into the particular qualities of the particular candidates, as others have done, is because the Australian government must form a constructive relationship with whomever the American people choose in their wisdom to be the President of the United States. This has always been the case and should always be the case, because the United States is the largest foreign direct investor in Australia. It is our only ally, apart from New Zealand. It's our strategic ally. It matters to us that we remain engaged with the United States. It's in our national interests that we have the closest of all possible relationships with the United States. Now, the US is deeply engaged in Asia if you just think that US trade with Asia is worth about $1.5 trillion, and the US relies on its alliances in Asia for the maintenance of peace and stability in its interests. So I'm confident that whomever is the American President, they will remain engaged strategically, politically, militarily, economically, culturally in our region. But it will certainly be a responsibility of the Australian government to ensure that its focus is on our part of the world and that our relationships between the United States and its allies in this region are well-appreciated and understood. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't blame a think tank director for trying. I want to begin, first of all, by thanking everybody in the room for coming. We've had a terrific events program in recent months. You've asked wonderful questions. Thank you. I especially acknowledge the Governor of New South Wales, General Hurley, who I neglected to acknowledge before as a former CDF. We're very lucky in New South Wales to have you as the Governor, David, and in particular, the Institute is, we take it as a compliment that you come to our events. So thank you for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in thanking the minister. We at the Institute have been fortunate enough to have really great relations with all of Australia's foreign ministers in the period that the Institute has existed, but I'm confident in saying there's no foreign minister who's come to the Institute more often than Julie. She's come a number of occasions in different capacities as both the shadow foreign minister and then as minister in the old building. We're delighted to welcome you today to our new headquarters for the first time. Thank you for speaking to us in the middle of a very hectic campaign schedule. Thank you for taking our questions. Thank you, Julie. Thank you. Thank you.