In making a preliminary decision on the sale of S. Kidman & Co to a Chinese consortium, the Treasurer Scott Morrison has shed some light on what the government defines as being in the “national interest”. He describes the Chinese bid as being contrary to Australia’s national interest, because:
Australia’s selection of a replacement for its Collins-Class submarine, termed the SEA1000 program, is entering its final stages. The competitive evaluation process set up by Australian government is nearing completion as the five-person Advisory Expert Panel finishes its consideration of French, German and Japanese bids.
Watch any tourism or branding campaign for an Australian city, and chances are you’ll see plenty of appealing imagery of amenities in and around the CBD – be it restaurants, nightclubs, parks or galleries. It is a common mantra in urban planning that good “amenity” is valuable to the economy both in its own right, particularly to attract tourism, and for attracting a productive workforce that boosts the economy more generally.
As the China boom passes into history and Australians are left to rethink their relationship with that vast country, politicians will seek to craft a new ‘Asia’ in the Australian imagination in response to new circumstances. That has, after all, long been the pattern.
Governments should open up their transport project funding decisions to greater scrutiny, including tabling an independent cost-benefit analysis in Parliament, recommends a new report from think-tank the Grattan Institute.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has an enticing suggestion for Australia. If it wants a solid way to make an 80-fold return on its investment, it needs to invest $1 billion a year on tax breaks for corporate research and development (R&D). This suggestion was part of a study recently conducted by the IMF.
Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper (DWP) directs Australia’s strategic attention towards maritime Southeast Asia. While the 2009 and 2013 Defence White Papers also focused on this region, the 2016 DWP bluntly expresses Australia’s concerns in the South China Sea. In addition, it inaugurates an assertive strategic policy that may have significant consequences for Southeast Asia’s security.
The Hobbesian tones of Australia’s new Defence White Paper of 2016 (DWP16) have been noted already and most have come to see the concepts and capability proposals outlined in DWP16 as being reasonable and relatively balanced. There are those who suggest alternatives, but they involve taking significant political and strategic risks — from which DWP16 has steered.
It has been more than 20 years since former Australia Prime Minister Paul Keating declared that ‘no country is more important to Australia than Indonesia. If we fail to get this relationship right, and nurture and develop it, the whole web of our foreign relations is incomplete’. What has changed since then and what progress has been made?
Australia’s future submarine program is the largest and most complex defence procurement in the nation’s history. While technical issues to establish the ‘best’ submarine remain important, strategic, political and economic factors are key to Australia’s decision. The deal could have a significant impact on Australia’s regional relations and its ability to act independently within the region.
