PM to cover trade, investment in meeting with China's President
While the Government is selling it as a trade and investment tour, there are also prickly issues to deal with - from human rights, to the controversial lease of Darwin Port.
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Laura Tingle on tricky diplomacy in China
Sam Hawley: Will Australia join a US war against China if it invades Taiwan? That's the stark question Anthony Albanese faced during his delicate visit to Beijing. He's trying to strengthen trade and business ties. So with the prime minister meeting the Chinese president, can he drum up more business while managing tensions in the relationship? Today, the ABC's newly appointed global affairs editor, Laura Tingle, joins us from Beijing. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Sam Hawley: Laura, Anthony Albanese and President Xi, they're two leaders that have a lot to talk about, to say the least, aren't they? Laura Tingle: They do have a lot to talk about, Sam. News report: Prime Minister is sitting down with China's president in Beijing in a high profile meeting being closely watched in Canberra and Washington. Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: Australia values our relationship with China and will continue to approach it in a calm and consistent manner. It's important we have these direct discussions on issues that matter to us and to the stability and prosperity of our region. Xi Jinping, Chinese President: With joint efforts from both sides, the China-Australia relationship has rose from the setback and turned around. Laura Tingle: There are all the sort of cliches about relationships and all those sorts of things, but it's interesting to me to come back to China on a prime ministerial trip after a bit of a break, because it does feel very much like the trips of the 80s and 90s, where it was all love and kisses and opportunities, which, given that there are points of significant difference between the two sides, is interesting. Sam Hawley: Well, Laura, the prime minister did speak after the meeting. He says he raised the detention of the Australian writer Yang Hengjun with the Chinese president. But overall, he was really positive about the economic relationship that Australia has with China right now. Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: We had a very constructive meeting with President Xi in which we spoke about the range of issues facing our relationship with China. My government's approach to our relationship with China is patient, is calibrated and is deliberate. Sam Hawley: Not to mention, of course, Donald Trump. He's ever present, isn't he? And his tariffs. Laura Tingle: Absolutely. He's ever present. And just in the last 24 hours, we've had yet another announcement from Donald Trump, of course, about the possibility of really tough tariffs on Russia, over Ukraine, if Vladimir Putin doesn't do as he should, according to Donald Trump. And he's threatening secondary sanctions on China, or he hasn't named China, but on countries that have strong trading relationships with Russia, which would hit China as its biggest trading partner. So it affects everything that's going on here in Beijing at the moment. The world is being rewired before our eyes, I think, Sam. Sam Hawley: Well, we know, of course, that trade and business are crucial items for Anthony Albanese during this trip. Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: And given that China is overwhelmingly, by far, the largest trading partner that Australia has, it is very much in the interest of Australian jobs and the Australian economy to have a positive and constructive relationship with China. Sam Hawley: But the thing is, Laura, we've seen before that this relationship with China is so delicate that it can fall apart in a nanosecond. We saw that, didn't we, with Scott Morrison when he called for an inquiry into COVID, trade was just cut by Beijing. So why are we trying to build it up when we know that it can fall apart so easily? Laura Tingle: Well, it can fall apart around the edges, but realistically, we still have this massive trade relationship with China. That's the reality of it. They've cut us off on some particular markets in the past few years, but still 25% of our exports go to China. So that relationship is really solid. China, for the time being, certainly, or for the next little while, is reliant on our iron ore. So while you have these disruptions and things, it's still a fundamental relationship. Now, it is extraordinary to just think about how bad things did get a few years ago, where basically no minister could get a phone call from anybody in China. They were throwing Australian journalists out of the country and jailing others. It was, you know, it was pretty ugly. News report: An Australian journalist working in China has been detained by the Chinese government in a highly sensitive case, posing a fresh challenge to those already fraught Australia-China relations. News report: First, it was barley. Now it's beef. Our largest trading partner suspending imports from four abattoirs. News report: Beyond meat, China is now refusing to accept timber from four states. Lobsters are shut out. Wine exporters face up to 200% tariff. Laura Tingle: I think there's been a bit of a change at the Chinese end. I think the whole culture of the so-called wolf warrior diplomacy was something that they ultimately decided wasn't really working in their interests. And I think once again, to mention Donald Trump, you can see, I think, that not just in their relationship with Australia, but in their relationship with countries like Vietnam. China is really pushing this message that, you know, we're the safe and steady, you know, people who make very sensible, rational, calm decisions about our trade relationships. China's playing the sort of adult in the room role, if you like. Sam Hawley: Well, Laura, of course, trade is one thing. But then there is the flip side to this relationship, and that is security, of course, and the elephant, if you like, in the room, which is Taiwan. And that is when things get really complicated, don't they, for Anthony Albanese? Laura Tingle: Well, they do and they don't get complicated in some way, Sam. If you think about sort of the domestic way this issue has to play out at some point and also then how it plays out on the international stage. Now, a story was leaked over the weekend, just as the prime minister was arriving in Shanghai, about how the Under Secretary of Defense, Elbridge Colby, was pushing Australia and Japan to say exactly what their position would be in the case of a war with Taiwan. On one level, that's sort of a bit embarrassing for the prime minister, but he's made it clear that, you know, we make our own decisions about these things. Reporter: Do you think it's important, from the point of view of deterrence, of China, that you say, yes, we're involved or no, we're not involved? Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: I think it's important that we have a consistent position, which Australia has had for a long period of time. We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don't support any unilateral action. Laura Tingle: And it was being linked to the AUKUS submarines, the Virginia class submarines that we're supposed to be getting from the Americans. Now, it's quite clear, talking to Australian officials, that they don't regard the AUKUS deal is in any way, gives the Americans any right to tell us what we would do with the US submarines once we got them, because they'd be ours, you know, we would buy them. Now, there seems to be a fair degree of confidence that despite these stories, you know, that will all sort of settle down. And I sort of also think you've got to back engineer this a little bit. I mean, if you took Elbridge Colby's comments seriously and said, he's saying that we can't get the submarines unless we're prepared to go to war with Taiwan. Well, wait a minute. The Americans haven't said that they would go to war with China over Taiwan. It sort of doesn't all quite stack up. Sam Hawley: There was some confusion, wasn't there, when Joe Biden was president over some questioning on this, whether the US would support Taiwan militarily. Laura Tingle: Yes. Sam Hawley: That was never really cleared up, but he came pretty close to saying they would. Laura Tingle: He certainly did come close to saying that they would. Donald Trump certainly hasn't. Sam Hawley: What do you think, though, Laura, is the Trump administration justified in asking this question, asking nations if they would support the US if China did invade Taiwan? You know, China has continually been flexing its muscles, hasn't it? Military exercises around the Pacific, including almost all the way around Australia. So there's reason for concern. There's reason for discussions like this. Laura Tingle: Absolutely. There's a really legitimate reason for discussions. And I think it's really important that Australia has that discussion internally, because I don't think we've been having it until now. And it affects those decisions about whether we have a forward strategic stance in the South China Sea or not. But I think the crucial question is it's fine for the Americans to ask that question if their own position is clarified. And I think this is the dodgy bit of it, to use the technical phrase. I mean, I think the Americans don't want to say what their position is. And it's not clear that they would go to war over Taiwan with China. Reporter: Would it be reasonable for the United States to demand any sort of assurances from Australia on a Taiwan contingency, given the United States itself maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity, at least in theory, on Taiwan? Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: Well, you've just answered the question yourself, I think, through the comments that you've made. Sam Hawley: Well, Laura, just sum this up for me. How successful do you think the prime minister's approach to China will be? Because it is remarkably different, isn't it, to the way that Scott Morrison, for instance, dealt with Beijing or Donald Trump, for that matter? Laura Tingle: Well, you'd have to say at this stage, it's certainly more successful, Sam, just because we have restored those trade links. He's here. This is another visit. You know, as you say, it's always volatile. But for now, it's quite a good relationship. And it serves both countries well in the context of this global trade war that Donald Trump has started. So I think, you know, it's a it's a good basis to be operating in this very uncertain world. Sam Hawley: But Laura, what about tensions in the relationship? What do you think? Will Anthony Albanese actually tackle those head on? Or is he going to bring some sort of softer approach for fear of backlash from China? Laura Tingle: Look, well, I suppose there are two observations on that. One of them is Penny Wong has in the last week gone out very hard on these issues, both in a speech and also in her meetings with her counterpart when she was at the ASEAN meeting. Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: China continues to assert its strategic influence and project its military power further into our region. And we have seen the worrying pace of China's nuclear and conventional military build up without the transparency that the region expects. We are realistic about China's objectives in changing the regional balance of power. Laura Tingle: So she's laid down Australia's protests on all these issues in a very forthright way. And the prime minister has said that, you know, these issues will not be avoided in his conversations with the president and premier while he's here in Beijing. But, you know, it's always the case that those leader to leader meetings, they're a little bit more diplomatic about what they might say publicly. But Anthony Albanese says that, one, he's on the case and two, that it's been successful in the interests of Australia since he's been prime minister. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Laura, it's a true balancing act. That's for sure. The PM's trying to work with China, but he also wants to keep the US happy too. So this, I think, is one of the most complicated relationships he has to deal with as the leader of Australia, right? Laura Tingle: Absolutely. Absolutely. But I can't help but feeling that the way that the Trump administration has been behaving, if you like, in that broader description of its sort of erraticness and everything, has created both political space at home and abroad for the prime minister to establish a more assertive position with both major powers and sort of establish that more independent voice of our own. I think it's been quite useful because I think people at home are sort of, they look at what Donald Trump's been doing with a bit of confusion and concern, and it's just given him some space. And of course, also, you know, three years ago, there was this sense that the Labor Party couldn't say anything negative about the United States at all or about the alliance because they'd get absolutely pummelled by the coalition. It's harder to do that now because of the way the US has been going. But also, of course, the coalition is weakened politically and its both its capacity and its taste for, you know, fighting every last fight as a sign of, you know, being disloyal to the Americans has really subsided. So I think there's a lot of tectonic plate shifting, which give government of the day room to manoeuvre with both major powers. Sam Hawley: Laura Tingle is the ABC's Global Affairs Editor. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead and Kara Jensen-Mackinnon. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Gives us justification': Angry bunch of taxi drivers win payout in Uber legal row
Cabbies and hire-car drivers and owners who lost out in the introduction of Uber to Australia will share a colossal $271.8 million compensation package. The massive victory for 8700 drivers and owners nationwide who registered to be involved in the class action has been confirmed after the appeal period in a world-first action expired last week. Assessment will now begin to determine how much individual members of the action will receive. Law firm Maurice Blackburn has been running the legal fight. Former taxi driver and ex-Victorian member of parliament Rod Barton said the seven-year fight against Uber had been justified by the massive settlement. 'We've just got past the last hurdle and we will work towards distribution,' he said. 'But it doesn't get close to the cost and harm that was done to this industry. 'No one is going to get Tattslotto amounts out of this but it gives us justification. 'The government failed the whole industry, they failed to protect us. 'And it's really cool that an angry bunch of taxi drivers were able to drag a unicorn company into court and get this payout.' Mr Barton said other class actions were being explored by taxi drivers in other jurisdictions. 'We set the wheels in motion,' he said. Kim Adey, the manager of Maurice Blackburn's settlement claims assessment team, said last week's passage of the appeal period marked a significant step forward. 'There are thousands of claims to process, so the work will take some time and we will need some help from class members to finalise things along the way,' Ms Adey said. 'We're really looking forward to the claims assessed and payments made as soon as possible.'
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Environmental reform could slash government spending, lift productivity: expert
Urgent reform of Australia's 'broken' environmental laws would dramatically cut government costs and lift productivity growth, a leading environment expert claims. The Albanese government has faced continued pressure over Australia's sluggish productivity growth, which is among the worst in the developed world. Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation chair Ken Henry said sweeping environmental reform could be the solution. The former Treasury secretary will tell the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday there is 'no chance' the Labor government will meet its net-zero target while also delivering upon housing and infrastructure commitments without reform to state and federal environmental protection laws. 'The Australian government has an ambition to massively increase critical minerals exports and downstream processing here in Australia,' Dr Henry is expected to state. 'This means more mines, new industrial facilities, and more pressure being loaded onto broken EPBC project assessment and approval processes.' The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, or EPBC, is Australia's main national environmental legislation. Dr Henry said the government's pledge to erect 1.2 million homes by 2030 would require more land and transport, meaning more interaction with EPBC assessments. 'These projects, be they wind farms, solar farms, transmission lines, new housing developments, land-based carbon sequestration projects, new and enhanced transport corridors or critical minerals extraction and processing plants, must be delivered quickly and efficiently,' Dr Henry will tell the NPC. 'All these projects will be critical to enhancing economic resilience and lifting flagging productivity growth. 'Boosting productivity and resilience relies upon environmental law reform. 'But the biggest threat to future productivity growth comes from nature itself; more particularly, from its destruction.' Dr Henry will urge for a breaking of the 'deadlock' to deliver sweeping reforms in a single package. They would include protecting Matters of National Environmental Significance guidelines by shifting the focus to regional planning, urgent finalisation of the effective national environmental standards, and formation of a national environmental protection agency. He will also urge for 'genuine co-operation and a shared purpose' between business and environmental groups as well as between the states and federal government. 'Environmental law reform provides an opportunity to reconstruct the co-operative federal reform capability we developed in the 1990s but have since lost,' Dr Henry will state. 'A strong federal reform capability will be required to deliver other, even more challenging economic reforms. Environmental law reform can provide the template.' Dr Henry said there was 'no point in building a faster highway to hell', and while approvals needed to be granted faster, the environment needed to be protected. 'In reforming the EPBC Act, we can get this right. We have had all the reviews we need,' he will say. 'All of us have had our say. It is now up to parliament. Let's just get this done.' The Labor government is contending with a raft of proposals to fix productivity, from superannuation reform to artificial intelligence and disability inclusion. At the same time, Environment Minister Murray Watt said in May that legislating a federal environment protection agency was a 'very high and immediate' priority.
