 Five seconds. Prime Minister Morrison, good evening in Canberra. Great to see you. First of all, I would like to thank you for accepting our invitation to speak to the global business community on this occasion of Davao's agenda week of the World Economic Forum. It's our last day, so very much looking forward and over the years you know that the World Economic Forum also has had the privilege of working with your government on a number of cases and is looking forward to continue engaging Australia on relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives on the trade, investments, the digital transformation that I know you are very much focused on and the fourth industrial revolution. We also look forward to strengthen our collaboration on topics like energy transition. I know it's important for you, climate change action and also towards enhancing competitiveness and I think we also have to build stronger resilience towards risks in the years to come. I'm really honoured to invite you, Mr Prime Minister, to address the international community and to share your vision for Australia and the world. Mr Prime Minister, the floor is yours. Well thank you very much, Burger. It's very good to be joining you and thank you for that very kind introduction. So g'day from Australia. It's a pleasure to join this forum as you continue what has been a half-century conversation about the state of the world. As your 2022 Global Risks report notes, the economic fallout from the pandemic is compounding with labour and market imbalances, protectionism and widening digital education and skills gaps that risk splitting the world into divergent trajectories. Now like the rest of the world, Australia has not been immune to the disruption and devastating impacts of this global pandemic. We all have a responsibility to address these challenges with practical solutions to ensure both within countries and between them we grow together not apart and we are now facing the immediate challenges of Omicron, rapidly evolving variant and the need for vaccinations and boosters as we go around now in Australia for our third round of doses. Omicron underscores this simple fact that there is no guidebook to this pandemic. There's no magic GPS system for avoiding the enormous stresses and strains it continues to place on all nations, be they governments, businesses, communities, families and indeed individuals wherever they are. Yet amidst this fog of radical uncertainty Australia, well we've charted a very clear path and it's been our own unique path through this pandemic what we call the Australian way and in the process we've achieved amongst the lowest death rates in the world the highest vaccination rates and one of the strongest performing advanced economies in the world to come through this pandemic. We've always been prepared to save lives and save livelihoods and we've seen those as important dual tasks through this pandemic. We have been realists in our approach, we've been prepared to take action early, closing our borders, initiating our national pandemic plans, calling the pandemic some fortnight before even the WHO named COVID-19 as a pandemic. We've been highly pragmatic and consultative, we've been prepared to listen to the expert medical advice and act on it the best available medical advice but also the best available economic advice. As I've said many times in Australia a pandemic is no place for ideology you've got to do what works. At the same time we've been principled and very clear eyed in our response. At all times our goal as I said has been to save lives and livelihoods. Our approach has reflected Australia's unique circumstances and our institutional structures, our federation first and foremost such as our mixed also public and private health system which continues to perform well. Our unprecedented economic supports delivered in a form that kept employees attached to their workplaces as businesses went into an unspecified period of hibernation back in 2020. It gave businesses the confidence that they could get through tomorrow each and every day and we were clear that our measures were never designed to be open ended but they were to be temporary and targeted respecting that there were taxpayers money that was being spent and at all times we put out faith and trust in the common sense and public spiritedness of the Australian people and that trust was well founded. No country Australia included we don't pretend that every every response has been perfect no country could claim that no government could claim that but what I am very proud of is Australia has been able to stay focused on these key goals. We have the second lowest death rate from COVID in the OECD we have the eighth highest full vaccination rate in the OECD and fully 93% of Australians aged over 16 are now double dose vaccinated and around a third have had a booster dose and over 60% who are eligible for that booster dose have now had it. Our latest economic growth figures for the third quarter of 2021 showed we were just 0.2% below where we were going into the pandemic whereas most advanced countries economies nations were remained 1 to 2% down on pre-pandemic levels and we finished 2021 very strongly in the fourth quarter. Our unemployment rate fell to 4.2% now that's the lowest rate we've seen since 2008 at the height of the pandemic we had an effective rate of unemployment of almost 15% and that effective rate now is equated with the actual rate of 4.2% and our participation rate remained at near record highs so nothing points to any great resignation by Australians that is not what's been occurring here our economy is becoming through strongly we've retained our triple A credit rating under one of a handful of countries pardon me who've been able to do so and let me make another point to this audience from the outset our government always saw the way through this as backing a business-led recovery we did not see a government-centered recovery sustaining into the future there was certainly a role for government but for the role for the government was to ensure that we would have a sustainable business-led recovery we knew we were dealing with a public health crisis or better one with profound economic and social consequences we never saw it as cover for some sort of funky experiment to transform our economic system we haven't seen this as some long-term invitation for the return of a or the establishment of some state-centered economy and there's good reason for that it's worth remembering that prior to the COVID recession Australia had been recession free for 28 and a half years and by some accounts that is a world record amongst advanced economies now this achievement was based on a track record of strong economic management and market-orientated economic reform over many many decades yet we also knew that our economy was going to face challenges and that's our outlook now COVID is helping accelerate big political economic and technological changes that have been happening for some time and forces that have been shaping a post-pandemic world is what I really want to focus on this evening Australian time these larger forces and the approach that we're taking in Australia to support our economic recovery and our resilience into the next decade and the five I want to touch on tonight are as follows firstly the acceleration of the digital economy the need to align the digital and physical worlds and the centrality of digital to economic growth in a modern economy secondly heightening demand for skills and research talent in our economy the need for world-class skills and training more adaptable workplaces and closer collaboration between business and our research and science community thirdly a sharper geopolitical competition has emerged and this is playing out in multiple realms of regions but with an epicenter being in our region here in the Indo-Pacific as we see it fourthly there are new pressures on global supply chains and open trade and we've seen that coming for some time now with governments and companies having to reassess their rules their assumptions from what some have called the area of hyper globalization and fifthly the drive towards the carbonization in the global economy but the continued does need to access affordable reliable energy to drive our economies with technological innovation and the push for a deep transition in the global energy system alongside the need to maintain as I said that affordable and reliable energy for customers and businesses so we face these challenges in tandem with navigating a strong and sustainable recovery the experience of past recessions suggests it's it's less the depth of the recession that matters as the need and speed of the recovery the world needs a fast recovery reminiscent of those in the 80s in the 90s not the prolonged sluggish recovery that followed the GFC in the 2010s this is vital because we know COVID has accentuated new divides between those bearing the brunt of the pandemic and those able to insulate between countries that have strong health and vaccination infrastructure and those who sadly don't between the sectors that are growing such as logistics and health and IT and the sectors that have truly suffered in tourism and travel and business events and and the like a fast recovery must be our shared economic mission our recovery it's about creating jobs building wealth and prosperity and that that that narrows the divides in our communities because shared prosperity is always the foundation for a strong and stable democracy and global security so let's talk about some of those in turn the acceleration of the digital economy so when COVID hit the digital economy went gangbusters adaptation and innovation was almost immediate Australia jumped five years ahead in digital adoption in almost the blink of an eye around nine and ten Australian firms have adopted new technologies our investments across digital capabilities meant essential government services remained operational and available in 2020-21 there are 1.4 billion online interactions with government an increase of 126 million on the previous financial year and just as we were stepping up as governments the private sector was doing exactly the same thing solving problems unleashing change and understanding that in a pandemic profound change was necessary to be able to push through in Australia we estimate that increased digitalization that had some 90 billion dollars through our economy as well as create some 250,000 jobs in the near future under our digital strategy Australia aims to be a top 10 digital economy by 2030 and we're well on the way to that and the key question is how do we navigate this shift sustainably we do it in a way that serves our economy but also our values as a liberal democratic society we must encourage investment in jobs and opportunities that digital technologies generate and at the same time we need to ensure the digital world and this is very important is safe it is secure and is trusted now as leaders we're walking a type rate trying to get that balance in those settings right some of those settings are about clearing the way for business getting out of the way and in Australia that has meant driving world-leading reforms in open banking the invoicing digital identity which means frankly people get paid more quickly boosting cash flows particularly in the small and medium enterprise sector and unlocking the transformational opportunity of critical technologies most recently with a new quantum commercialization hub to commercialize the world-class quantum research we do here in Australia we've seen significant strides in our local tech sector with global success stories like Atlassian and Canva and Afterpay and we've seen enhanced engagement from international tech giants for example Google recently investing a billion dollars to expand its presence here in Australia including with a new Google research hub right here in Sydney one of only a handful of cities where Google has decided that that's where they need to be to drive that innovation and their investment now as we encourage that investment we're putting an equal amount of effort into assuring the online world has the same rules as the physical world it can't be the wild west where just anything goes because while the online world presents many great opportunities it also presents very drill risks to people's safety particularly women and children and Australia is taking taking world-leading action on this front both at home as well as through international fora like the G20 with the appointment of a dedicated e-safety commissioner we understand the world's first preparing legislation to unmask trolls who defame others by making platforms responsible for what is published on their platforms strengthening online privacy protections working with the social media companies to make sure they combat misinformation and disinformation on their platforms and of course ensuring they take action in relation to terrorist related content secondly it's about heightening demand for skills and talent in our economy and the pandemic has put up and lights the absolute importance of a healthy skilled productive and flexible workforce as the foundation for prosperity and security it is brought to the fore the argument that the world economic forum has been making for some time about human capital put it bluntly a sense that too many businesses have undervalued and underappreciated the people on which the economic value of their firm and their nation rests just how important can be seen in the context of the pandemic suddenly how we work was completely upended this led to the reconfiguring of workforces challenging assumptions about how and where we could work as I mentioned earlier Australia's unemployment is just down to just over four percent now that's one of the lowest since records began here Australia over 40 years ago and with that efficiently matching the skills of our workforce with the needs of a modern and transforming economy that's a challenge and it's incredibly important to meet the challenge so how we anticipate those needs and plug walk first workforce shortages must now happen in real time as a government we actually doubled our investment and skills training through the pandemic and one of the first invention initiatives we took in the economy was to keep our apprentices in jobs through wage subsidies for those businesses to ensure we did not suffer a generation of lost skills those apprentices particularly the younger ones would have been the first off and they would never have got back on and they would have been lost from our economy and the important skills training they would have been and take undertaken during this pandemic period well we kept them in there and today we have more apprentices in trade training in Australia than at any time since we've been collecting records since 1963 and we're also planning ahead on Australia's horizon there are huge opportunities in the new energy economy in the services sector in modern high tech manufacturing as well as in our traditional sense without strengths like resources minerals and and agriculture a few months ago I met with some workers who have transitioned from car manufacturing to portable brain scanner technology down an adelaide they were making cars before now they're making some of the world's most advanced medical equipment in the world and we're going to see much more of that our modern manufacturing initiative is investing in businesses right across the country to see them make that leap and do the transition so more jobs are requiring higher skills levels stem jobs are set to grow twice as fast as non-stem jobs and this national skills commission which is established by our government talks about the four C's areas that capture the pressing skills needs in the coming years they are care computing cognitive and communication skills and that's where we're headed in Australia we're working closely with business to design a better skills system one that's more integrated with industry that promotes lifelong learning and ensures future workforce needs are met to put it another way that people get trained to do the jobs the businesses needed them do and that they need in order to get a job and have a living in this country into the future with confidence our government is enhancing incentives but also trailblazer universities we're challenging business to get closer to our research institutes in and partnering with business as we look to create a new generation of researcher entrepreneurs here in Australia to help fire future growth this is the this is the land that brought wi-fi this is the land that brought the cochlear implant we have also implemented bold initiatives such as the global business and talent attraction task force which has been established to extract exceptional talent and marquee enterprises here to Australia the third deep trend I want to touch on is sharper geopolitical competition now the global strategic environment has changed rapidly even over the last few years and before the pandemic and it has deteriorated many respects in our view we live in what is an increasingly fragmented and contested world particularly here in the Indo-Pacific which has become the world's strategic centre of gravity the challenges we face are many there are tensions over territorial claims there is rapid military modernization there's foreign interference occurring in nations right across the Indo-Pacific and here in Australia there's malicious cyber threats and attacks that are taking place disinformation the economic coercion this is a highly contested space where we're seeing much grace-owned tactics being employed throughout the region intended to seek to coerce and intimidate meeting these challenges demands cooperation and common purpose amongst those who believe in a world order that favours freedom and the rule of law that has been the basis for the world's prosperity since the second world war Australia's interests are inextricably linked to an open inclusive resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific one where the rights of all states are protected along with their aspirations as sovereign nations we're working constructively towards this building and strengthening a well a web of alignment to support these goals that includes our pacific family through the pacific islands forum the nations of the pacific our asian friends who are central to our vision for the region Australia is the first nation to have been able to conclude a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with asian and through the quad with our quad partners india japan and the united states this is not just about strategic and security issues it's about making a positive contribution in our region from everything from energy supply chains and critical minerals and critical technologies through to our response collectively to support countries throughout the region through the pandemic with our growing number of comprehensive strategic partners and our partners with across europe like multi four lateral four including the g20 and apec and the oecd and with our long-standing friends and allies we are forming these alignments that are effective in securing peace and and promoting peace in the india pacific i want to particularly draw attention to our new enhanced trilateral security partnership with the united states and the united kingdom orcus this will also contribute to peace stability and security in the india pacific region benefiting all who live here we want to maintain an open rules based international system that allows all nations to flourish free from coercion rules that foster international trade create wealth bring nations together and enable them to cooperate and collaborate and trade this will be vital not only for our recovery from the pandemic but for nations all around the world but particularly in this region now allied to heightened strategic competition is the new pressures on global supply chains and open trade decades sophisticated and efficient supply chains have been integral to global growth and rising living standards during the early stages of the pandemic our normally well functioning supply chains experienced incredible strain to the credit of governments in partnership with transport freight logistics companies there was no wholesale collapse but still it was quite a shock many critical supply chains are yet to fully recover and we need them to the recovery of global air and sea freight is still too slow we're witnessing increasing costs and inflationary pressures as well as reduced consumer supply we need a greater collective focus on leasing the constraints on international shipping and the recovery of passenger flights the lesson of these times is that supply chain resilience requires a new partnership between countries governments and business we have learned we must build in resilience because in the future there will never be times of turbulence and disruption we've learned that just in time supply chains aren't enough anymore and we can't take access to critical imports for granted Australia we're known as a dependable supplier of goods and services and we're open to to working together to create secure supply chains with trusted partners that make our countries collectively stronger trust is as important if not even more important than cost in modern supply chains more attention needs to be given to driving open international trade which is a fundamental enabler of well functioning functioning supply chains and economic development recent times Australia has experienced the effects of economic protectionism and coercive interests targeted towards Australia as a trading nation we've simply sought to help firm to our values but this has not been without cost I believe it has also come at a significant cost to the countries which implement such measures it's hard to see how anyone wins from those types of tactics the world cannot afford to march in that direction and more than ever there is a need to support the multilateral system and promote trade liberalisation over the last decade Australia has concluded multilateral trade agreements such as the comprehensive and progressive agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement we've also increased the coverage of our free trade agreements to 15 including the most recently and the first with the United Kingdom since they left the European Union these arrangements now cover over $2 billion new 2 billion new consumers which represent 75 percent of our trade 75 percent of our trade covered by formal trade agreements now final let me just touch on what is arguably one of the greatest shared challenges and that is the decarbonisation of the global economy Australia has made a clear commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and we have a credible pathway to get there and it's a very Australian pathway it's a very practical one it's about technology and letting technology lead that approach we want to drive down the cost of technology if you do not get the cost of technology for low emissions zero and subzero emissions down to scaled affordable levels then we will not see their take up in developing countries around the world that we will be responsible for the largest share of the growth in emissions in the world today that is how you change it we must make that technology affordable and scalable and able to be adopted in developing countries if that does not happen then all the talk will end in nothing and emissions will continue to rise and this is why Australia is so focused on wanting to be at the centre of the solutions that actually deliver low cost credible affordable sustainable scalable technologies for a new energy economy so we're providing 21 billion dollars here in Australia working with business to develop the next generation of low emission technologies these investments will in turn unlock more than 84 billion dollars in private and public sector investment and this is technologies like hydrogen and Australia is incredibly well placed to be a hydrogen power trader of the future ultra low cost solar is another area carbon capture and storage then we want to export these technologies working with partners in our region and around the world to support that global energy transition we have now established low emissions technology partnerships in Singapore with Japan with Germany with Korea with United Kingdom and we're close to concluding a partnership with our dear friends in India and we're also positioned to be a world leading producer and exporter of hydrogen investing in clean hydrogen industrial hubs working towards a green economy agreement with Singapore working with partners including Indonesia and Vietnam to put the Indo-Pacific at the forefront of the global energy transition and developing clean hydrogen supply chains and our first focus is with Japan the technologies required to transition to low emissions technologies require imports from all over the world so our clean energy supply chains they must be diverse they must be reliable and they must be competitive and we are very conscious of this in all of our efforts we're hosting the Indo-Pacific clean energy supply chain forum in mid next mid this year and we'll bring together regional and global leaders from a number of sectors and industries science and technology in manufacturing mining finance harnessing their expertise and identifying the practical actions that we need to enable large-scale deployment of secure reliable and affordable clean energy across the Indo-Pacific achieving net zero is now about the how not the if not the when or the why it's about the how and countries companies scientists researchers technologists financiers entrepreneurs are the ones that need to drive this technological change if we can achieve that then we can solve the climate challenge if we don't do that then we will not and on this I particularly want to acknowledge the leadership of my dear friend president with dodo in Indonesia in guiding global efforts on sustainable energy transitions through the G20 and I look forward to those discussions taking place over the course of their presidency so in conclusion friends the world faces many challenges that's not new Australia faces these challenges with our trademark optimism we're a very optimistic people we back ourselves to deal with whatever comes and push through and overcome we're ambitious we've got a gritty determination and I think in a good human way we're a strong stable and reliable partner we're culturally diverse the most successful multicultural and multi-faith nation anywhere on the planet with the most liveable cities trusted institutions world-class education research institutions an economy that is strong and diverse and a workforce that is highly skilled we believe we are very well placed yes like any democracy we have our arguments and as we've seen over these past few years when the chips are down we do back each other in we're not perfect but we're making our way strongly Australia is and will play its part in the world recovery that the world's needs and I look forward now to taking your questions and I thank you for your kind attention thank you so much Mr Prime Minister for that very optimistic and powerful speech we learned a lot about the transition being the green transition but also the digital transition and how that has also impacted your vision for Australia in the post-COVID world we have a huge interest from the business community Australia is an interesting country to invest and do business with so without further ado I would then turn to some of the CO's we're running a little bit over time so if you're okay Prime Minister I'll bundle the questions so we would take two questions and then we'll see how we fare let me then start with the Hananda Al Saleh she's the chair of the board of Agility in the middle of everything that you also address with supply chains but also inclusive growth so Hanadi over to you hello I represent Agility a global supply chain services investment and innovation company the issue of SME empowerment via technology is an issue I feel very passionately about and in Australia small businesses account for around 60 percent of all exporters by absolute numbers but export less than around one percent of all merchandise value we've seen the world over that e-commerce is creating new opportunities for SMEs to trade across borders can you talk about what you see as key opportunities and challenges for Australian SMEs to engage more actively in the global trade and can you please also tell us more broadly about your government's job maker business plan to digitally scale SMEs and increase their economic potential in general sure well thank you for that and I'll touch again on some of the points that I made small and medium-sized enterprises are exactly as you say in Australia they are this they are the backbone of our economy many of our very large companies particularly our resources companies can account for the bulk of buy value and even volume of a lot of trade but one of the areas we know there are great opportunities for SMEs in a digital economy is through digital commerce and that's why we've been seeking working with other countries starting with Singapore to get new digital trade agreements and the standards that need to apply to those to make them very effective and accessible and easy to use for small and medium-sized businesses one of the few upsides of the pandemic has been that by necessity transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises into embracing the digitisation of their business and whether that's from their basic accounting systems and information management and their re-invoicing that's been heavily backed by our approach as a government to increase how people interface with government for government services administration of taxation all of these issues so that means they upskill and change their systems to engage with government and it's more efficient it costs them less and then they can start to see the other advantages of going down that path the most important one is they get paid on time that's the most important one I mean we've got now our 20 perhaps for a number of years our new payments platform one of the one of the most fastest in the world 24 seven instantaneous digital commerce and payment systems which means that businesses can rapidly cut down the times for payments which can transform their cash flow which for small businesses it's all about cash flow cyber security I would argue is one if not the most important thing for seeing at a successful digital economy people have to be confident that they can operate and we are seeing malevolent actors in the cyber world both state-based actors criminal-based actors others for industrial and espionage and all of these sorts of things and that is why cyber safety insecurity and the skills that support that and awareness of that supported by government institutions is a big part of our plan then of course there's the infrastructure and the national broadband network which has been rolled out right across Australia with the ability to further upgrade and improve those speeds and times that's been a massive project here and and our technology telecommunications experts and companies here in Australia have driven that together with the government so getting all of those pieces in place lifting the skills though ultimately both in quite specific technical areas as well as a general awareness level I think is also important so I see the future of small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia tightly linked to their adoption and integration of digital technologies and how they run their businesses and that's what the policies design support thank you so much prime minister we have around 10 more minutes and we have three more questions do you want me to bundle them or are you sure okay so then we take the two questions and and you can then handle all the three of them you're used to question time in parliament so that's that's a tougher thing than this thing so let's then move to Mr. Sunichi Miyanaga he's the chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan being also one of your key collaborators as a country so Mr. Miyanaga-san thank you I thank you very much for your encouraging address your Excellency Prime Minister Morrison I understand that under your leadership Australia is making aggressive efforts toward carbon neutrality and is earnestly promoting production of carbon-free fuels like ammonia and hydrogen by utilizing renewable energy like solar not only for your country but for other countries in the meantime Japan is developing a variety of technologies that will contribute to realize carbon neutrality for example our Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group is developing 100% hydrogen-fired gas turbines by 2025 and also brushing up our carbon dioxide capture technology which we have 70% global market share now I strongly believe that Australia and Japan will help accelerate very much the smooth energy transition of the world through mutual technological and industrial collaboration and also mutual engagement in international rulemaking for such transition I ask your Excellency about your view on this thank you Aragato let's then go to John Holland Kay the CEO of Hitro Airport thank you Mr. Prime Minister and I warmly welcome your comments on the importance of passenger travel but I wanted to ask you about net zero and Qantas and other global airlines have committed to net zero aviation one of the hardest to abate sectors by 2050 but it will take government policy support to get us all there primarily from switching from fossil fuels to sustainable aviation fuels made with things like capture carbon and hydrogen I wanted to ask will Australia join the UK and other governments in supporting a global agreement on net zero aviation at IKO later this year thank you thank you so much we'll have one more question Prime Minister this is from Japan too from Mr. Tushiyaka Higashihara he is the chairman and CEO of the famous Hitachi so Mr. Higashihara-san thank you Brande it's my great honor to meet with Prime Minister I'm Toshaki Higashihara executive chairman and CEO Hitachi and our company Hitachi has had a long history of doing business in Australia over the 55 years and we have always been impressed with the continued stable economic growth and the Australian government you know approaches to infrastructure expansion through various programs and my question then in particular could you please elaborate or explain to us in more detail the asset recycling program and what impact it has had on economic growth in Australia as well as a future going forward please thank you so much I'll add one question from my side Prime Minister before you go ahead you also mentioned in your powerful speech the global the increasing global fractional reality that we're faced with and we have the G2 competition of course but we're also seeing challenges in Europe these days how do you see this going forward are you expecting like a decoupling in the global economy or do you think the big powers are going to find ways also to collaborate moving forward and you have been in the middle of some of these challenges yourself so thank you so much to the CEOs and the chairs and over to you and Kanbara Prime Minister well thank you and look thank you for those those questions I might start with my friends in Japan I very recently had the opportunity to have our dialogue with Prime Minister Koshida and he's doing a terrific job and in picking up the reins of that relationship with Australia and we were able to complete our reciprocal access agreement throughout the defence forces self-defence defence forces and that has been that is the first such reciprocal agreement status of forces agreement that Japan has had with any other country in the world and and really welcome that and the partnership we have with formula with Prime Minister Koshida and looking forward where we to where we can actually meet again in person we had the opportunity to meet when I was in Glasgow for COP26 so picking up those issues you're absolutely right about Australia's commitment on hydrogen and what this is all I mean Australia has natural advantages large large areas lots of sunlight and that obviously makes Australia an obvious place for being a hydrogen producer and that is factoring heavily but it has to be done at the right cost so this is about the cost of electrolysis so what we've done now hydrogen sector is we have invested heavily in in projects in in particular with Japan and one of the first countries we started working with on hydrogen but it's about getting the cost of that production down to two dollars Australian per kilo because we know if we can get it to that then it takes off and all of our research all of our science all of our collaboration working with our partners is about getting those costs into those competitive levels where hydrogen then becomes a real alternative to many of the other fuel options that are out there there is I'm not aware of any country that is more committed to the transfer to hydrogen than Japan and that's why I think the partnership between Australia and Japan when it comes to hydrogen is going to be one of the big change changes for the transition to new energy economy now one of the things which why hydrogen is so important is that many of the other fuel sources solar wind and so on they're intermittent and they impact on the variability particularly of electricity grids and that is not necessarily a good thing and that's why you need firming firming power sources that actually enable the renewable technologies to be effective and that's why we see gas traditional gas as a transition field over many years and we're we're building gas five power stations here in Australia to firm up our intermittent supplies of renewable energy now we are also building the largest pumped hydro project anywhere in the southern hemisphere what's called snowy hydro 2.0 this is one of the world's biggest batteries using our hydropower and the pumped hydro technology in one of our largest hydro systems which is a massive firming system within our own grid so it is all about solving those challenges and getting these these costs and the reliability down to a commercial scale so we're really looking forward to continuing to take that partnership forward with Japan I mentioned snowy 2.0 that's part of our big infrastructure investment we've got about 110 billion dollars federally of projects going on now that includes of course the western sydney airport sydney second airport it's been a long time coming it's about a quarter of the way built now and the government has been directly involved in that there's the inland rail which is connecting Melbourne all the way up to Brisbane through the inland of the east coast and then potentially we are considering how that could be taken all the way up to one of our major industrial ports in the north of Queensland right up the top of Australia in Gladstone which is becoming an absolute hub for so many projects including things like hydrogen and renewable fuels and fuel conversion technologies with university support and great industry involvement so whether it's transport infrastructure and much of that transport infrastructure by our provincial governments particularly in my home state here in New South Wales has been funded by the privatisation of energy assets which is then in turn fueled major investment in roadways in bridges and other key infrastructure our ports are being reinvested in and this is incredibly important to provide the engines of our economy talking moving to our friends in London and the the forthcoming IKO discussion we are one of over a hundred countries is committed to the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation course here