Australia China Friendship Society

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (12:07): I move:

That this house—

(a) congratulates the Australia China Friendship Society on celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2016;

(b) acknowledges the significant work and commitment of the Australia China Friendship Society's committee and volunteers, past and present, who continuously work towards building and promoting a friendship between the peoples of Australia and China; and

(c) acknowledges the importance of their establishment and the society's attempts at bringing to the Australian public a greater knowledge and understanding of China's rich cultural heritage.

China is obviously Australia's largest trading partner and Australia is China's sixth largest trading partner. China is obviously an enormous market for our commodities and also for our goods and services, and we are richer as a nation because of the good Chinese people who have come to Australia and call Australia home.

I would like to thank sincerely the Australia China Friendship Society of South Australia for their work in celebrating their 50^th anniversary, which I believe was in February 2016. They held an event for this at the very popular Chinese restaurant Ming's Palace. A variety of people on both sides of the chamber attended the dinner, and they were certainly pleased to do so, to commemorate such an occasion. Various other dignitaries also attended, including the very popular Governor of South Australia, His Excellency Hieu Van Le, and Mrs Van Le.

I would like to especially thank the executive, particularly the executive president, for all its work and for doing such a good job. The 2016 executive president is June Phillips. Vice president, Ann Ferguson OAM, is also the Mayor of Mount Barker. The vice president is Chris Mutton and the secretary is Graham Bennett. Helen Bannock, Shane Strudwick and Daniel Ong are committee members. The tour secretary is Pat O'Riley and past president and life member is Mike Willis. The past national president and life member is Geoffrey Stillwell.

Obviously, we are extremely grateful for the good work the group does creating links between the two nations and sharing common interests, and they do this with an array of activities. They conduct exhibitions and from time to time they conduct lectures, they show films and hold social functions. They also promote and attend linked events between the two countries. They certainly help not only to stimulate but also satisfy South Australian people's interest in China in the past but also in the present and the future.

They also spread knowledge about what is happening, not only in South Australia but also in China, in a range of areas, be it food, tourism, trade, education, language, medicine, music or art and craft. They talk about the very important sister state relations such as Shandong Province, and they have a very important program that helps their members to keep in contact with as many elements of China and South Australian relations as possible. I commend the good work that they do, and I commend this motion to the house and I hope that the government supports it.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:11): I rise to speak to the motion by the member for Hartley:

That this house notes—

(a) congratulates the Australia China Friendship Society on celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2016;

(b) acknowledges the significant work and commitment of the Australia China Friendship Society's committee and volunteers, past and present, who continuously work towards building and promoting a friendship between the peoples of Australia and China; and

(c) acknowledges the importance of their establishment and the society's attempts at bringing to the Australian public a greater knowledge and understanding of China's rich cultural heritage.

I was one of the members who, on 25 February, participated in the 50^th celebration dinner at Ming's restaurant along with His Excellency the Governor, Hieu Van Le, and his wife, Lan Le. It was a great celebration of 50 years of collaboration. I acknowledge longtime friends of China Pat O'Riley and June Phillips, both from Murray Bridge, and certainly Brian O'Riley, who has since passed, who was also a very keen friend of China and did a lot of work in that regard.

I urge people who have the opportunity to go on one of the Confucius trips—as the member for Hartley, the member for Heysen and I did most recently—and I know other members from this place have gone in the past. If you have never been, it is the best way to look at this amazing culture. You are hosted in an excellent manner and go right around Qingdao; whether it is in Shandong Province or Shanghai, Beijing, the Great Wall, it is a fascinating experience and we were made very welcome.

A bit is said at times about the slowdown in China's growth. When you look at it perhaps in percentage terms, it has slowed down, but it is still growing at a remarkable rate. Many of the buildings we saw, which there were probably small cities, had 20 or 30 cranes in one location building multistorey apartment blocks for people to live in. They are certainly taking a focused approach. It is a bit like we are doing in some areas here at Port Augusta with Sundrop Farms, for example, and with the work done around Virginia with horticulture and the giant glasshouses. They are looking at that concentrated production so that they can utilise their land much more efficiently.

There are so many opportunities in China and we need to embrace them. I know that there are many wine companies. Certainly, Beston Foods has recently purchased the milk factories at both Jervois and Murray Bridge, and I commend them for the unique export work they are doing with branded products. With the brand lock system that has been put in place, they can fight back against counterfeiting, and do it really well, and people can download the QR code and track where the product came from or find out if in fact it is genuine. That is something that really needs to be taken into account, that they certainly do great work going into the market.

Golden North Ice Cream has also got into the market. I note and congratulate them for winning an award at the Food Awards the other night here in Adelaide. They have done great work dipping their toes into the China market, and they have really only done so to the ultimate potential, but unless you dip your toes into a market like that you never know quite where the potential could be with the many millions of people who live in that country. They are certainly having a red hot go, and there are many other countries that are doing it, too.

As with any of our trade, we have to support our free trade agreements, and trade is two-way. There is debate at times about Chinese investment here in Australia, but we also have many billions of dollars worth of investment over there. We are a country that has been built on foreign investment and, yes, we do have to monitor it, but I think that especially in agriculture we need capital. That was something we learnt during the select committee into sustainable farming, where people said, 'Yes, we love to farm, but we are starved of capital.' We certainly need that to be stronger into the future.

I certainly commend the work of the Australia China Friendship Society, and it is something we must keep doing because it is a very important two-way trade location. There are so many businesses that are getting on board and getting on with that trade. In fact, at Tailem Bend, with the export hay facility there, they have a Chinese lady who works with their group and helps market their product into the many dairies in China. I think that is an ideal way, that you have someone on the ground to help you navigate and get the deals done, especially with the obvious language barrier at times.

I had the privilege only the other night of going to the opening of the cellar door on Kensington Road of the Schubert Estate winery from Marananga in the Barossa. I was invited because not only are they my constituents but the Chapman family, Andrew Chapman—

An honourable member: Were you invited?

Mr PEDERICK: Absolutely. Tom and Wendy Chapman furnished me with an exclusive invitation to go to that function. It was great to see the collaboration where obvious Chinese co-investment has come into that estate and opened up more doors for more export into China of our fabulous wine. We get plenty of opportunities in this state to drink good wine, and there is no reason that we should not export it interstate and to the world because we have the best state and the best country for growing wine. It was a great event and I wish them all the best. They do not have a cellar door up in the Barossa, and this is their access into the populus of Adelaide and beyond.

I commend the work of the Australia China Friendship Society. I know there is a delegation coming out from China next week, and I will have the opportunity to catch up with some of them. There are also some industry people catching up with them, including Ingham's and Thomas Foods, who are both major players in my electorate. Thomas Foods employs over 2,000 people, and Ingham's is opening up its grow-out facility at Yumali, not very many kilometres from my home at Coomandook. It is supplying a lot of employment right now with the building of those grower sheds for chickens, and will supply many jobs into the future. However, it is not just that: a new feed mill will also go in near Murray Bridge in the future to supply the ever-growing chicken industry.

I commend Pat O'Riley and Regional Development Australia for helping set up that meeting for next week and the displays of our produce that will be shown to our Chinese visitors. This is what we need to do continuously, to market to our food to the world, because we can be the delicatessen to the world. We can grow enough food here to feed about 80 million people, so we do need to export and we do need to foster those relationships, just as the Australia China Friendship Society does. I commend their work.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (12:21): I rise to make a small contribution to support the member for Hartley's excellent motion to congratulate the Australia China Friendship Society for celebrating its 50^th anniversary in 2016. The South Australian branch of the Australia China Friendship Society has played an important role in bringing greater awareness and understanding of China's rich cultural heritage and in promoting the friendship between this state and China. I know that the society hosts and attends many exhibitions, lectures, films and social functions promoting and attending many Chinese-linked events, and I have been part of some of those initiatives, particularly with the Confucius Institute.

The trip over to China was a great awareness-raising and cultural trip to understand the cultural ways and means the Chinese people live by. It was also about having a much greater understanding that, if we are going to be an export partner, if we are going to strengthen our export ties, we need to understand what priorities the Chinese have and we need to understand their people, their businesses, the government, their cultural beliefs and how we need to sit side by side and how we are going to take advantage of that.

The more we understand about them the more respect we gain, and that is very important in this day and age, particularly understanding cultural beliefs, understanding behaviour and what they do and do not like. There is no point trying to convert a nation of people who are, essentially, not receptive to a number of factors, particularly when we are trying to understand culture and the best way to get a foot in the door and be part of a very lucrative, booming economy.

What we need to do here in South Australia is better understand how we can create trust, and trust is the number one issue here, particularly with the friendship society. What China has presented to South Australia, being its largest trading partner—and its significance cannot be understated—is that China makes up almost 20 per cent of the total share of our exports to a value of about $2.1 billion. In dollar terms, that equates to about $1,000 per head of population here in South Australia in benefits to our economy, and I would like to think that over the next five years, under a South Australian Liberal government, we could double that.

We have seen for too long this government making promises, bandying about all sorts of numbers, and they only deliver false hope in many instances, so I think it is important that we set realistic targets. We cannot totally rely on outbound/inbound missions. Businesses need to be able to go over there and create that relationship of trust that the Chinese hold as a priority.

If they are going to put our food in their mouths and foster their children to grow with our food and not have some of the concerns about food safety particularly, what we offer here is exactly what the Chinese are looking for, and that is that they can trust the people they are dealing with. They can trust the people who are growing their food, and I think it is very important that we have those people over here on our shores visiting farms.

It is okay to have government relationships, government bureaucracy, ministers shaking hands and playing gunboat games, but they need to get out there. The motto I used to use when I exported to China, South-East Asia and northern Asia, right across the world, was that the trust to be gathered was about my family growing food for your family. In exchange, that relationship needs to be about trust but it is about showing them the trust, showing them where the food is grown, the blue skies, the clean river, our unpolluted soils and unpolluted waterways. That is what it needs to be, and the friendship society is doing a great job gaining that trust.

The state government has been working towards that. I think they have lost their focus a little on gaining that trust because for most people in society in today's terms, there is some trust with politicians but there is not enough, so we need to go out to farms, the pack houses, manufacturing, value-add industries and show them where it all takes place so that they can have a better understanding. Again, they can work away with that trust.

As I have said, South Australia has a 30-year sister state relationship with Shandong province, and I think that has been an outstanding success. The 10-year average annual growth in the value of South Australian merchandise exports into China has been about 13.3 per cent, and that is outstanding growth, and there is much more growth to be had. Again, we have seen areas of benefit in our trading relationships, and I think we need to be looking at expanding that. We need to be looking at ways we can value-add with what we are doing because we have to trade with high-value products.

We are not competitive when it comes to labour, as you have seen with the car industry and a lot of manufacturing in South Australia. With mainstream manufacturing, we are not able to compete, but we are able to compete with the high-end high-value precision manufacturing that not every country in the world is capable of achieving. Key areas of trade with China are agribusiness, food, wine, resources, energy, health, aged and disability care, services for liveability, tourism, education, arts and culture.

As of July of this year, South Australia had around 7 per cent of all Chinese students studying in Australia. This is an increase since 2013, but South Australia still languishes behind in the national average, so South Australia's footprint when it comes to the Chinese student population is still well behind. As I understand it, we are about 7.1 per cent of the nation, or a little under, but what we are seeing at the moment is that South Australia's overall education footprint is a little over 4 per cent. It is important that we grow, it is important that we put levers in place so that we can show that we are a great place for students to come to visit and for study and to bring their families with them so that they can be great ambassadors for Adelaide when they go home and portray Adelaide and South Australia as a great destination for the Chinese.

China is embracing a new model of economic growth under President Xi Jinping, with attention being placed on structural reforms and environmental protection. China is transitioning from a period of uninhibited investment and expansion to a modern advanced economy, with heavy investment in upgrading the quality of education, innovation, research and development. A stronger focus will be placed on quality urbanisation and environmental initiatives to include the establishment of a green development fund and promotion of our clean production.

As I have said, this relationship needs to be fostered and enhanced. We cannot sit back and just say what a wonderful job we are doing; we need to strive for more. We need to strive to create better relations into China. We need to strive to create better ties and more trust, as that is the way we are going to grow our economy. A number of our businesses have been successful in building a relationship with China, including Food SA. Catherine Sayer has been a great advocate for food, horticulture and agriculture in South Australia, and I commend her for the great work she has done.

South Australian producers are predominantly small to medium enterprises and often family owned. As I said, we need to be nimble and we need to be able to change direction if need be to accommodate the demands in China. Again, I congratulate the partnership, I congratulate the Australia China Friendship Society and I commend this motion to the house.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (12:31): I rise to speak in support of the motion. This year, the South Australian branch of the Australia China Friendship Society celebrates their 50^th anniversary. For five decades, the South Australian branch of the Australia China Friendship Society has been a cornerstone of building and improving the relationship that Australia shares with China. The society was not born off the back of China's promise of trade and China's significant economic growth; in fact, it was created to break barriers and forge relationships.

Fifty years ago, at a time when the White Australia policy was in place and when any relationship with China was misunderstood and opposed by—let's not go into that—the Australia-China Friendship Society had the foresight to lobby—

Mr Pengilly: Who wrote that, Tom?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I was going to add it in, actually, but I decided not to—just remember who opposed it at the time, who criticised the Prime Minister when he went to China, just remember that.

Mr Bell: Don't respond to interjections, please.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon. P. Caica): I will determine who does and doesn't.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: When prime minister Whitlam went to China in 1972, let's remember who opposed it.

Members interjecting:

The ACTING SPEAKER (Hon. P. Caica): I will have a bit of order, please; come on.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: Fifty years ago, at a time when the White Australia Policy was in place and when any relationship with China was misunderstood, the Australia China Friendship Society had the foresight to lobby the commonwealth government for the diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China, which happened in 1972. The founders of the society were visionary, and in 1985 a delegation of the society, led by Mr Jeff Emmel, was invited to the Shandong Province. Upon their return, they brought home the message of partnership, which eventually led to South Australia and Shandong becoming sister states in 1986.

The Australia China Friendship Society plays a key role in non-governmental diplomacy that continues to inform and strengthen our international ties. Friends, members and supporters of the society gathered at Ming's Palace restaurant on Thursday 25 January 2016 to formally recognise the instrumental Achaemenes of this group. The Hon. Zoe Bettison MP, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, attended this celebration and said that it is groups like the Australia China Friendship Society that have been and continue to be at the forefront of understanding the bonds we share and the vital relationship South Australia has with China.

I, too, add my thanks and applaud the work of the society's president, June Phillips, past president Mike Willis, and their secretary and treasurer, Graham Bennett. Activities such as cultural art exhibitions in Murray Bridge and Mount Gambier, specialised tours to China, scholarships to the Shanghai Normal University, annual youth camps in Shanghai and study tours that have resulted in sister school relationships are all evidence of the proactive and important work of the society.

With a history and culture that dates back many centuries, understanding China ultimately helps us understand ourselves. The South Australian community is home to over 15,000 people born in China, and over 16,000 people speak Mandarin at home. Our state is also home to a large number of ethnic Chinese from countries other than China, including more than 5,700 from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. We have seen that there has been some change in the relationship in Hong Kong in the last few years.

The Chinese community has made an enormous contribution to our state, both economically and culturally. The society breaks down barriers between our nations, whether they are real or perceived, to foster a relationship that is beneficial for all. We on this side of the house, and I think all in this house, congratulate the South Australian branch of the Australia China Friendship Society for their 50 years of tireless work in bringing Australia and China closer together. The government therefore supports this motion.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (12:35): I rise to make a small contribution on this motion. I congratulate the member for Hartley on bringing it into the House of Assembly. It is appropriate; the Australia China Friendship Society does a lot of good work and should be encouraged. I note with interest the goings-on that are reported back to this side of the house, and I can only add my congratulations to those who are heavily involved.

Sometimes it seems to me there is a sudden view that we have just established relations with the Chinese people, and it is simply not true: it goes back a long way. I stand to be corrected, but if history serves me correctly the mighty South Australian warship, the HMAS Protector, actually went to China to assist during the Boxer Rebellion. That was when South Australia had its own Navy. I think I am correct in that but, as I said, I stand to be corrected.

Of course, the Chinese were also early goldminers and came to Australia during the gold rush. Chinese people came ashore in the South-East of South Australia and made their way through to the Victorian Goldfields. Whether they were illegal or illegal, it has probably been a bit too long to go back over that. The former lord mayor of Darwin was a Chinese-Australian. I can remember at the time—and I am going back three or four decades—that there was widespread commentary throughout Australia in the papers, including The Advertiser. He was the first Chinese-Australian elected to that sort of position in Australia.

In my own electorate, we are having influences from the ongoing rebuilding of our relationship with China. Chinese investment is growing in all sectors. What some people forget is that we simply do not have enough capital in Australia to do things. We do not have that capital, and we have always grown on overseas investment, whether from the UK, Japan, the US, or wherever, so Chinese investment is part and parcel of that. It will continue to grow. Gordon and Daisy—I am not sure of their proper names—come down to Kangaroo Island for several months a year and have made large investments in the island and continue to do so. I look forward to a continuance of a good relationship and building on that, and I congratulate the member for Hartley.

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (12:38): Once again, I thank the society for all of their good work, and I also thank members for their contributions this morning. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.

Mr BELL: Mr Acting Speaker, I draw your attention to the state of the house.

A quorum having been formed: