Transcript
Anne Ruston: One of the things I'm very keen to do in this trip to PNG is to talk to the rural sector about opportunities in agriculture. There is a significant reliance on agriculture as a, not just for food production but a fundamental employer in the PNG economy. So this time I'll be moving outside of Port Moresby and spending time in Lae, I'm going to Goroka to talk about, once again, how we might work with PNG to develop greater depth in their economy, particularly in the agriculture sector which is so hugely important for PNG.
Dominic Godfrey: When I've spoken to people involved in the agriculture sector, particularly in Highlands of Papua New Guinea, one of the big challenges they find and comment on all the time is infrastructure and the lack of roading infrastructure in terms of getting their product to market. They can grow and develop these wonderful products but in terms of getting it to market, the roading infrastructure, the freight infrastructure's not there. Also, electrification isn't there in the hinterland. Is this an area that you'll be exploring?
AR:Absolutely and it is the fundamental sort of fifty-billion-dollar question to ask in PNG given the terrain that they have to traverse to be able to get their products, you know. Road construction in PNG is a challenge in itself so we do need to have a look at, and happy to talk to them and that's why I'm going, at ways that we can be innovative about being able to get their products to market with greater ease than we currently are seeing. so there is a lot of opportunities here and a lot of options and [I'm] very keen to talk to the people on the ground about what their priorities are and how they see that we might be able to resolve some of these issues that, they are very real. And building a road in the kind of mountainous regions that we are talking about in the Highlands but also that are subject to the kind of weather conditions that we don't experience here in Australia are really significant engineering challenges.
DG: And of course there's opportunities there for Australian companies to be involved in that development versus China say.
AR: Well look, absolutely and I think that one of the things that we were very keen to do as part of the 'step-up' programme and the additional billion dollars that we've made available for access through the Export Finance Corporation in Australia is to try and give the incentive to Australian businesses who might be thinking about making investments in the Pacific, but just aren't quite sure about whether their economic returns [unclear] by perhaps making available concessional finance or giving the finance they may not be able to get from a commercial lender. That may be the difference in making the decision to invest. So, we're trying to make sure that we put a whole suite of products out there so that there will something that may attract many different people to make that investment decision. And you're absolutely right, we are keen to work with the private sector and make and establish the relationships and the contacts between the private sector and potential opportunities in the Pacific and, as you say, in PNG in this instance because it is the private sector who will determine the commercial viability of these operations and it's very important they are commercially viable if they're going to succeed.
DG: And also for viability in the Pacific, relationships are very important and they like to see that there is some investment in terms of the long-term versus just being in and out.
AR: Look, absolutely and I think, you know, Australia possibly has not been as active in the Pacific over the last number of years as we might have been. And so the government that I'm a member of, in the last couple of years but particularly in the last few months, have made a very strong commitment. The Pacific is our family and like New Zealand we are a big player in this space but as family we have to be there and we have to support each other because the security of our region is only as strong as the weakest link and so I think it's very very important that both Australia and New Zealand spend time in the Pacific building strength and resilience into every economy because unless we do, we do compromise the security of our whole region.
