HE Ms Frances Adamson
Australian Ambassador to China
Speech to China-Australia Chamber of Commerce Westpac Business Awards Hong Kong
27 October 2011
Thank you Alan (MC – Alan Kohler) for your warm welcome.
Let me begin by acknowledging AustCham Hong Kong & Macau Chairman Andrew Steadson, AustCham Greater China inaugural Chair Joanne Wood and AustCham office bearers from near and far. I also acknowledge my diplomatic colleagues, about whom more later.
Members of AustCham, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to be here this evening, almost 25 years to the day since I arrived in Hong Kong as a young diplomat for language training before I started my first posting at the Australian Consulate-General in Hong Kong.
Penny Wensley, now Governor of Queensland, was Consul-General, and David (“Ocker”) Spencer was Senior Trade Commissioner and actively engaged in work to form an Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Australians were becoming more prominent in business in Hong Kong and wanted a distinctive voice. The fact that you will celebrate your 25th anniversary next year shows just how well founded this work was.
I have vivid professional memories of my four years working here:
Meeting with CITIC as it prepared to make its first overseas investment, in the Portland Alumina Smelter in Victoria; the window I had onto mainland China as its economic reforms took hold; the growing role of Hong Kong as a transshipment port for China and as an engine of investment in mainland manufacturing; the work done to implement the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Future of Hong Kong in preparation for 1997; and, of course, memories of a more personal kind attending AustCham’s Bicentennial Ball in 1988- dragon boating, if memory serves me correctly, in an AustCham team and meeting and marrying my husband, Rod.
Against that background, and with some inkling of what it takes to get a single AustCham off the ground, I congratulate you all on the formation of AustCham Greater China as the new peak body representing China-based AustChams, and the 1,750 Australian companies present across Greater China.
I welcome here tonight in Hong Kong the appointment of the inaugural Chair, Joanne Wood, as I was also pleased to do in Beijing last Saturday night at the celebrations to mark AustCham Beijing’s 15th anniversary.
I personally guarantee you, Joanne, that you and your colleagues will have strong allies in Australia’s diplomatic posts in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou as you lead AustCham Greater China in its inaugural year.
In Hong Kong – Consul General Paul Tighe, who is one of DFAT’s leading trade and economic specialists, and played a key role in advising the Government during the course of the GFC;
In Shanghai – Alice Cawte, who has worked closely on Chinese issues since her first posting to Beijing in 1992;
In Guangzhou – Grant Dooley, who has taken a less conventional route, starting with a 16-year stint in the Royal Australian Navy but has nevertheless clocked up 20 years on China, including on the tough China Economic Desk back in Canberra!
And, for those of you doing business across the Straits, in Taipei – Kevin Magee, who has worked on China issues since first starting at DFAT in 1987, including in Beijing, Guangzhou and now as head of the Australian Commerce and Industry Office.
Australia has much at stake in China, it is our largest trading partner, a $100 billion trading partner. Our relationship is broad-based and strong and valued by both countries.
This has been evident in my introductory meetings in Beijing, from President Hu Jintao down.
And both countries see tremendous potential for further engagement – particularly in the services sector, whether it be in education and tourism, clean energy and green tech, waste management, urban design or architectural services. And, when barriers in China are reduced or removed, which we will continue to work at, in financial and legal services as well.
But this evening is mostly not about the billions, much as we might wish it otherwise. (Ian Bauert, our guest speaker from Rio Tinto, may be an honourable exception.)
This evening is an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the excellence, entrepreneurship, innovation and commercial successes of Australian companies across this region, often working in close partnership with local firms and local colleagues.
I should say no more, because I know, having attended the Business Awards in 2004 as Australia’s Representative in Taipei, that the nominees will be impressive, the winners outstanding and that we will all leave this evening with a sense of pride in what Australians are achieving in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China.
I will certainly feel that way as your Ambassador.
Thank you.