As reported in the AFR (https://lnkd.in/d5qpJrEu) CEF director Tim Buckley spoke at the #AFRAsiaSummit today alongside sessions featuring Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong, Australian Ambassador to the US and former PM Kevin Rudd and experts on Asia, including China, discussing Australia's opportunities in the region: "Tim Buckley told the Summit that Australia should embrace the decarbonisation opportunity that would come from a more open stance towards Chinese investment. “It’s critical Australia actually double down and work and enhance and partner with China because if not, they will go elsewhere,” he said. “At the moment, I don’t think that message is coming through loud and clear. We don’t know what the rules, or China doesn’t know what the rules are, for when they do invest here.” Tm Buckley said the biggest opportunity for Australia in decarbonisation would be to convert the iron ore export industry to selling “green iron”, a more processed product that is almost pure iron." https://lnkd.in/dXdMK6dV
Excellent to hear the experience and strength of Foreign Minister Penny Wong at The Australian Financial Review Asia Society Australia Summit today, and to have the opportunity to speak at the Summit, as reported in AFR by Jessica Sier, Angela Macdonald-Smith, Peter Ker and Andrew Tillett https://lnkd.in/gSzpH-jN Our Foreign Minister again focussed on the need to embrace a united front to manage relations with the United States and China, and to elevate Australia's involvement in ASEAN so as to play a collective role to defuse tensions and avert conflict between the two superpowers. Minister Wong highlighted the importance of a longstanding and strong Australia-Indonesia relationship, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Deputy PM Richard Marles welcoming Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto – leader of the third largest democracy in the world – to Australia as recently as August. https://lnkd.in/g_b8CSYp Climate Energy Finance agrees the rise of a multi-polar world with the ongoing growth of India and ASEAN is key to improved global trade and peace. But China is our #1 destination, accounting for 30% of Australian exports. We need to enhance collaboration and partnerships with technology and cleantech world leaders, and that is increasingly China. We need an Asian CBAM to extend and enhance the world-leading EU CBAM and provide a price signal for Australian mining to undertake onshore value-adding of our abundant critical minerals and strategic metals powered by a rapid rollout of large-scale firmed renewables and critical grid infrastructure, enabling us to export 'embodied decarbonisation' to our key trade partners. The iron ore slump heightens the imperative to act at speed and scale to value-add onshore. There is massive potential for Australia to pivot to develop our capacities to produce green iron – our #1 export value opportunity if we act with urgency – and aid rapid decarbonisation progress in the Asian steel sector. I put CEF's position during my panel session at the Summit, as noted in the AFR: "Australia should embrace the decarbonisation opportunity that would come from a more open stance towards Chinese investment. It’s critical Australia actually double down and work and enhance [relations] and partner with China because if not, they will go elsewhere. At the moment, I don’t think that message is coming through loud and clear. We don’t know what the rules are, or China doesn’t know what the rules are, for when they do invest here. The biggest opportunity for Australia in decarbonisation would be to convert the iron ore export industry to selling green iron." #AFRAsiaSummit Australia China Business Council David Olsson AM Patrick Mayoh Madeleine King Jim Chalmers MP Claudia Crawford Chris Bowen MP Cameron Byers Tom Skladzien Sam Hurley Simon Farry Robert Wilson Rod Sims Muyi Yang James Laurenceson John Grimes Wayne Smith Nicole Wyche Monica Richter James Bowen Xuyang Dong https://lnkd.in/gGSV_MPq