tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century-2776/articlesAustralia in the Asian Century – The Conversation2013-10-29T00:29:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196162013-10-29T00:29:38Z2013-10-29T00:29:38ZIs this the end of the ‘Asian century’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33943/original/7t4nj7vf-1382999226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Going, going: the Abbott government appears to have ditched the centrepiece of the Gillard government's foreign policy, the Australia in the Asian Century white paper.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In case you missed the news, the “Asian century” is over. Or it is as far as the Abbott government is concerned. In its continuing revamp of the apparatus and output of government, the Coalition has <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/asian-century-plans-consigned-to-history/story-e6frfkp9-1226747866681">officially dumped</a> the previous government’s white paper, <a href="http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/verve/_resources/australia-in-the-asian-century-white-paper.pdf">Australia in the Asian Century</a>.</p>
<p>After all the ballyhoo that accompanied its production and eventual launch, a year after its release one of the former Labor government’s signature policies has been consigned to the proverbial dustbin of history — or the National Library’s archives, as it is more politely known.</p>
<p>It has rapidly become the conventional wisdom that the ALP was more concerned with form than substance. Poorly conceived, badly executed, big picture initiatives with inadequate follow through were the hallmarks of a party continually at war with itself.</p>
<p>There is something in this criticism, of course, which is why the Asian century white paper represented a potentially significant political narrative around which warring factions might unite. After all, not only was the very idea of “engagement with Asia” one that the Hawke-Keating governments largely created, but the Gillard government might have expected to bask in the afterglow of real earlier achievements.</p>
<p>As we now know, of course, things didn’t quite work out that way. For the Gillard government’s growing army of critics, the white paper was yet another example of <a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-century-white-paper-is-big-on-rhetoric-small-on-ideas-10398">lofty rhetoric</a> with little of substance committed to actually implementing policy. The policies themselves were often <a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-century-white-paper-is-a-foreign-policy-fail-but-not-by-accident-10410">dismissed</a> as statements of the bleeding obvious or contradictory manifestations of potentially incompatible strategic and economic priorities.</p>
<p>The question that emerges at this point is not so much whether the white paper’s proposals were as badly thought through and/or resourced as some would have us believe, but what the production and subsequent very public abandonment of such a high profile initiative tells us about foreign affairs. </p>
<p>In short, should we care? At the risk of cliché, do actions speak louder than words?</p>
<p>Part of the answer to that depends on who is listening. White papers in particular have potentially multiple audiences, a very important part of which is international. These sort of documents are a very public ventilation of government thinking and priorities. Sometimes these make uncomfortable and convoluted reading. Deciding how to describe the relationship with China is the quintessential case in point.</p>
<p>Despite some tortuously ambiguous language and the occasional unforced error — the 2009 defence white paper’s nomination of China as a <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/defence-white-paper-pivots-over-china-threat/story-e6frfkp9-1226635006544">possible strategic threat</a>, for example — these documents have their uses. Letting China know that the policymaking community is a bit conflicted may not be a bad thing. Foreign policymaking is an art not a science, and a politically-charged one at that. If those on the receiving end get a sense of its complex dynamics they may be less surprised by the occasional gaffe.</p>
<p>The contrast with China’s foreign policy process is instructive. No-one fully understands quite why China’s foreign policy as veered from being <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10670564.2012.627664#.Um7f2mQW3B8">“charming” to alarming</a> over the last couple of years, although we can make educated guesses. The fact that China is becoming at least slightly more transparent in this regard, however, is a welcome development and suggests just how useful international norms and peer pressure can be.</p>
<p>This is one reason why we should encourage the continuing production of white papers like Australia in the Asian Century. For all its faults, it is a useful insight into government thinking and a chance to actually invite input and critique from interested parties. How can we expect the Chinese to do this sort of thing if we are not prepared to model best transparent practice ourselves?</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33947/original/y2n3vp83-1383001184.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tony Abbott has already made moves towards Asia early in his term in office, including praising Chinese president Xi Jinping (2R).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Barbara Walton</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Of course, we don’t know that the Abbott government’s decision to junk Labor’s legacy amounts to anything more than putting yet more distance between itself and its political opponents. However, the decision <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-deafening-silence-the-medias-response-to-asylum-secrecy-19322">not to reveal</a> the numbers of asylum seekers reaching our shores, and the rigid discipline being applied to stop policy freelancing suggest that openness and transparency are unlikely to be the watchwords of the Abbott era.</p>
<p>This would be a mistake. The great redeeming feature of Paul Keating’s much-maligned and electorally disastrous “big picture” approach to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/business/former-prime-minister-paul-keating-pushes-engagement-with-asia/story-e6frfm1i-1226516943523">Asian engagement</a> was the impact it had on domestic politics. Who now doubts that Australia’s future is intimately bound-up with that of our immediate neighbourhood? While not many people may remember — much less have read — the Garnaut report of 1989, it made a case for economic integration with the region that has underpinned public policy ever since.</p>
<p>Big ideas can have an impact. They ultimately help to define both policy and more generalised attitudes, for better or worse. There may not be too many debates in public bars across the land about the merits of the Asian century white paper, but there may not be quite so much of the visceral anti-Asianism that propelled Pauline Hanson to unwanted and unmerited prominence either.</p>
<p>Given the Liberal Party’s patchy historical track record in this area, a few more set-piece declarations of foreign policy goals and priorities wouldn’t go amiss. Deciding how to deal with Chinese investment while keeping the National Party onside will be a major statement of the government’s priorities and one about which debate cannot be shut down.</p>
<p>Likewise, thinking about how to address Australia’s two-speed economy is — or ought to be — a major public policy priority. Publicly ventilating these sorts of issues might be one way of both helping to define them and giving legitimacy to the outcome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Beeson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In case you missed the news, the “Asian century” is over. Or it is as far as the Abbott government is concerned. In its continuing revamp of the apparatus and output of government, the Coalition has officially…Mark Beeson, Professor of International Politics, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/151452013-06-17T02:25:34Z2013-06-17T02:25:34ZAn Asian Century education: why students need equal access to overseas study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/25627/original/3tcs54jc-1371424737.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians who study in Asia will be best placed to tackle the challenges of the Asian Century.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">http://www.flickr.com/photos/monashuni</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Asian Century has arrived and Australians with Asian study experience will be best placed to take advantage of it. </p>
<p>But if we are to educate and prepare our graduates for the Asian Century and all the uncertainties it presents, then the best place for at least part of that education is in Asia.</p>
<p>If we want Australian graduates to be able to operate comfortably in an Asian language, with an ability to interact productively with Asian communities, to understand how to adjust to a different culture, then ideally a semester or a year in an Asian country as part of an undergraduate degree should become common place.</p>
<h2>Better support</h2>
<p>To have such a positive educational experience in Asia, students need institutional support and financial means. If this experience is to be available for all, we cannot ignore the issues of financial equity and assistance for students with disabilities.</p>
<p>Both of those hurdles can be managed by a well prepared program for students. While it may be expensive to study in a metropolis like Tokyo, Shanghai or Hong Kong, an Australian student could study in most places in Asia for less than they would pay studying in an Australian capital city.</p>
<p>Students who go to Indonesia, for example, can generally live quite comfortably on a level equivalent to <a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/pages/os-help-loans-and-study-overseas">OS-Help</a> or Centrelink payments. Some even save money or manage extended travel during holidays. </p>
<p>Both the government and coalition are committed to <a href="https://aei.gov.au/international-network/australia/asiabound/pages/asiabound-grants-program.aspx">scholarship programs</a> to support <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/coalition-wants-new-colombo-plan-20120629-218ab.html">in-country study in Asia</a>. Such schemes could be re-calibrated to provide enhanced support for students with limited financial means, and to provide particular funding for students with special needs.</p>
<p>For in-country study in Asia to be accessible to all, provision must be made for students with special needs. Individual universities are often inadequately equipped to support students with disabilities going to Asia.</p>
<p>That’s where institutional support through an organisation such as the <a href="http://www.acicis.murdoch.edu.au">Australian Consortium of In-Country Indonesian Studies</a> (ACICIS) can help.</p>
<p>When ACICIS assisted an Australian student with sight impairment to study in Indonesia, they were the first such disabled student to enrol at the host university. Liaising between the home and host universities, and having ACICIS staff on the ground in Indonesia, the consortium was able to ensure appropriate provisions and support were available for the student. </p>
<p>Challenges that might have proved insurmountable were managed and resolved, with the student completing their semester without any major problems. On the basis of this shared experience, the host university subsequently adopted a much more open admission policy for such disabled local students.</p>
<p>Australian universities gearing up for outbound mobility into Asia need to recognise that it’s not just a matter of dispatching a student to Asia and hoping they will be alright.</p>
<p>That’s the benefit of having the infrastructure in place to support students. Collectively, universities are far better able to provide such an infrastructure than they are as individual, competing institutions.</p>
<p>We cannot assume the same sorts of support services – medical, counselling, academic, disability support – are available in universities in our region that might be provided routinely on Australian campuses.</p>
<p>Locating an English speaking counsellor may be a challenge in many host universities in Asia. It is important to have a good local support structure in place, preferably with an experienced Resident Director on hand to identify students at risk, and to intervene if necessary.</p>
<h2>Living like the locals</h2>
<p>Throughout most of Asia, an Australian student prepared to adjust to living alongside local students and accepting that standard of living would incur no major financial burden. Student dorms are widely available and a reasonable standard of living and access to adequate health care and decent food is available.</p>
<p>Under most agreements, Australian students pay for their enrolment in the host university in Asia through <a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/hecs-help">their HECS</a>, without additional tuition fees. Their university would manage the payment of fees out of the funding that comes to the home universities through HECS and Commonwealth government funding.</p>
<p>Study abroad requires forward planning. Students need to adjust their personal lives and their employment status so they can get a semester or a year away, and that needs thought and preparation. But with the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/asiabound-study-travel-grants-to-start-as-soon-as-next-year/story-e6frgcjx-1226526953512">Asia-bound scholarships to be announced soon</a>, this is a perfect opportunity to spend a semester in Asia, and students will be looking to their universities to support them in that.</p>
<p>So, students, even if you were not successful in getting a scholarships, if you do your homework and look at the cost of living in Asia you should be able to identify a study abroad program that would cost no more than a semester living in Australia. There is no excuse: get out and into Asia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/15145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Hill is Consortium Director of the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), a consortium of 27 Australian and international universities which places foreign students into Indonesian universities where they study for credit back to their home university degrees. ACICIS is hosted by Murdoch University. ACICIS has received various Australian government grants for specific projects in the past, and grants from the Myer Foundation. Prof. Hill has also received grants from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, and Office of Learning and Teaching. He is a Fellow of the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University. He is an Australian Teaching and Learning Fellow, and a Fellow of the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University.</span></em></p>The Asian Century has arrived and Australians with Asian study experience will be best placed to take advantage of it. But if we are to educate and prepare our graduates for the Asian Century and all the…David T. Hill, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/133462013-04-11T20:48:07Z2013-04-11T20:48:07ZGillard’s China visit: a silver platter for Abbott?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/22330/original/h2t4vz54-1365646384.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C79%2C979%2C621&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Julia Gillard has achieved a significant foreign policy coup in China, although progress has stalled on a bilateral free-trade agreement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you believe the opinion polls, Julia Gillard has had a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillard-scores-coup-with-china-agreement-20130409-2hjin.html">very busy week in China</a> setting the China policy direction and institutional framework for a future Coalition government. </p>
<p>Tony Abbott must be delighted that by virtue of Gillard’s heavy lifting in Beijing, within 12 months of snaring the keys to The Lodge, he will be granted a guaranteed audience with some of China’s most powerful leaders. </p>
<p>An Abbott government would join an elite group of Russia, Japan and Britain to enjoy such high-level access to the inner circle of the Chinese Communist Party. </p>
<p>It seems even Dr. No himself has been curiously silent on this one. </p>
<p>Putting the politics to one side, the Prime Minister has presided over one of the most significant foreign policy coups in Australian political history. </p>
<p>The new annual bilateral dialogue with China delivers perhaps the most important and potentially game-changing breakthroughs in Australian foreign policy since the creation of the ANZUS alliance. </p>
<p>The new dialogue evolves around high-level involvement from three of China’s most powerful government posts including the Premier, the Foreign Minister, and significantly, the incumbent chair of Beijing’s all-powerful economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). </p>
<p>All this is coming from a Prime Minister who, on her inaugural overseas visit, publicly declared that she had little interest in foreign policy. </p>
<p>Yet John Howard’s time in office shows that prime ministers shy of the international limelight can make great leaps forward and very much grow into the portfolio. </p>
<p>What makes this week’s announcement even more remarkable is that Julia Gillard inherited a Sino-Australian relationship on the brink of crisis from her Mandarin-speaking former diplomat predecessor. </p>
<p>China observers held such high hopes for our Sinophile PM. </p>
<p>Australia had well and truly come of age when the then Opposition Leader welcomed China’s President to the Sydney APEC summit in Mandarin. </p>
<p>Yet Rudd presided over some of the darkest years in the history of the bilateral relationship. </p>
<p>From <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/fullysic/2010/06/09/rats-from-a-sinking-summit/">famously telling</a> journalists covering the Copenhagen climate negotiations that those “Chinese ratfuckers are trying to rat-fuck us”, to advising Hillary Clinton that it was in Washington’s interests to prepare for armed conflict with China, or criticising China’s human rights record at a public lecture in Beijing, history tells us that Rudd was very much our false messiah. </p>
<p>These self-inflicted wounds were not helped by a freakish combination of external forces along the way. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-03-29/10-years-for-stern-hu/385268">arrest</a> of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, the Uyghur independence activist Rebiya Kadeer’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-08-11/kadeer-to-china-thanks-for-the-publicity/1387168">visit to Australia</a> and the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/chinalco-rio-deal-collapses-20090605-bxdc.html">collapse of Chinalco’s bid</a> for Rio all happened under Rudd’s watch. </p>
<p>That Gillard has been able to bring relations with Beijing back from these historic lows and announce a coup of the magnitude this week is really nothing short of spectacular. </p>
<p>So what can Australian companies expect from this new architecture? </p>
<p>While Gillard can proudly claim to have snared a trifecta encompassing the Chinese premier, foreign minister and NDRC boss, the reality is that the new dialogue will be an optical reconfiguration of existing bilateral meetings, of which some are institutionalised and others have taken place on a more ad hoc basis to date. </p>
<p>Australia has been relatively lucky to enjoy at least one top-level Politburo Standing Committee visit every year in recent history and the Treasury-NDRC dialogue has <a href="http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/wmsDisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2012/062.htm&pageID=003&min=wms&Year=&DocType=0">convened formally on four occasions</a>. </p>
<p>It is unusual that a year goes by without a meeting between the Australian Prime Minister and the Chinese President or Premier either in China or Australia or regularly at bilateral meetings on the sidelines of major international conferences such as the G20. </p>
<p>What’s missing from the Prime Minister’s visit is any substantive progress towards a bilateral free-trade agreement, which has been stuck in negotiations for more than eight years and shows no signs of a conclusion. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see whether there is any room to elevate FTA negotiations as part of the new architecture or if the FTA will remain consigned to tedious negotiations between DFAT and Ministry of Commerce bureaucrats. </p>
<p>Economic modelling demonstrates that an FTA would deliver a <a href="http://www.acbc.com.au/deploycontrol/files/upload/report_fta_modelling.pdf">consistent 0.7% boost</a> to Australia’s domestic GDP over two decades. </p>
<p>The FTA would provide real benefits to both countries and would be a tangible legacy to the relationship to sit alongside our new bilateral architecture. </p>
<p>Julia Gillard has given Tony Abbott the ideal platform to deliver an FTA on a silver platter. Corporate Australia should be waiting for a decisive outcome in the first term of the next government. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/13346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurie Pearcey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you believe the opinion polls, Julia Gillard has had a very busy week in China setting the China policy direction and institutional framework for a future Coalition government. Tony Abbott must be delighted…Laurie Pearcey, Director - China Strategy & Development/Director, Confucius Institute, UNSW, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114372013-04-05T03:11:16Z2013-04-05T03:11:16ZChina’s cities get eco-smart, what can Australia learn?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21308/original/cykzx4hr-1363316147.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">China's fast-track urbanisation doesn't have to be unsustainable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/dcmaster</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>China is urbanising faster than any other country in history. It now has 120 cities with over one million people and 36 cities with over two million. By 2030 there will be one billion people living in China’s cities. Building projects have been fast-tracked on a massive scale to accommodate the change. </p>
<p>Now however China is looking at more sustainable cities. From architects to eco-cities, Australia has something to learn from China’s solutions.</p>
<h2>Smarter cities</h2>
<p>In the last 20 years China’s urbanisation has become synonymous with inequity. Poor farmers left the countryside for jobs, air conditioning, private cars and supermarkets full of goods – only to end up as a new urban underclass. There is a growing awareness of the trauma China’s urban boom created.</p>
<p>Now a younger generation of urban dwellers are asking for better living standards. They want a better quality of life, and the sort of environmental programs they’ve seen in Sydney, Seoul, Singapore or Tokyo.</p>
<p>There are some promising developments attempting to rethink Chia’s cities. Architect <a href="http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2012/biography">Wang Shu</a> highlights the trend. Wang profoundly disagrees with China’s rush to urbanisation, which he criticises through his projects. Instead of demolishing existing buildings, he argues for reuse. By adapting and regenerating buildings Wang saves energy and materials, and maintains the cities’ identities.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/21306/original/2y7ph4td-1363315653.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Prize-winning architect Wang Shu’s design for the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/o d b</span></span>
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<p>The Chinese government has caught on. There are now new benchmarks for environmental standards. Agricultural land is being protected from urban sprawl. Most intriguing are “eco-cities” projects proposed for Qingdao, <a href="http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/bg_masterplan.htm">Tianjin</a> and near <a href="http://static.businessinsider.com/image/50929a1f6bb3f7fd43000020/image.jpg">Chengdu</a> and <a href="http://www.arup.com/Projects/Wanzhuang_Eco-city.aspx">Wanzhuang</a>.</p>
<p>The principal behind eco-cities is living within the means of the environment and resources. Eco-cities strive to cut greenhouse gas emissions by producing energy through renewable sources such as solar, wind and biomass, and using low carbon public transport. Resources are conserved through waste management such as natural bio-filtration of storm water. There are even plans to grow food and <a href="http://qingdao.chinadaily.com.cn/2010-03/12/content_9582858.htm">plant new green areas</a> within the boundaries of the city. The ambitious ultimate goal of these cities is self-sufficiency.</p>
<p>Eco-cities can be new cities, built from the ground up, or redesigns of existing cities like Chengdu. These are government initiatives where private developers are sold parcels of land according to a <a href="http://static.businessinsider.com/image/50929a1f6bb3f7fd43000020/image.jpg">master plan</a>. However more and more communities are being included in discussions. This grass-roots participation in the process is something very new to China.</p>
<h2>From China to Australia</h2>
<p>Australia’s Chief Scientist, <a href="https://theconversation.com/chief-scientist-releases-plan-for-the-future-of-australian-research-11050">Ian Chubb</a> recently noted that “the most pressing concerns for Australian researchers were responding to a changing planet and the challenges of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century">Asian Century</a>,” and stated that “we need to be in there right now seeking solutions to some of these challenges”.</p>
<p>This goes far beyond the conventional thinking of aesthetics and functional city form. It is about long-term sustainability of urban settlements. In this way we can increase the resilience and durability of cities against heatwaves and extreme weather events such as flooding. Some of the thinking around high-density precincts in China could translate to Australia and inform new approaches for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-grass-isnt-greener-in-the-outer-burbs-12532">increasing inner-city density and reducing urban sprawl</a>. </p>
<p>Urbanisation in Asian societies involves hundreds of millions of people, many times that of Australia’s population. The scale and pace of urban growth in China is a defining feature for many countries in the 21st century, with profound implications for people everywhere. China’s ever-growing energy consumption now means that it accounts for over a quarter of global greenhouse emissions.</p>
<p>The upside is that China now has more researchers than any other country. With this shift to a knowledge-based economy and the global centre of gravity shifting to the Asia-Pacific, this is Australia’s chance to learn from sustainability efforts in China.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steffen Lehmann receives funding from various funding bodies, including the CRC for Low Carbon Living, UNESCO and the United Nations ESCAP. He is affiliated with various departments of the South Australian Government and the Federal Government of Australia. </span></em></p>China is urbanising faster than any other country in history. It now has 120 cities with over one million people and 36 cities with over two million. By 2030 there will be one billion people living in…Dr. Steffen Lehmann, Professor of Sustainable Design & Behaviour, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121262013-03-04T00:41:23Z2013-03-04T00:41:23ZGoing local in our relationship with Indonesia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20842/original/c5jbyhhj-1362354828.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indonesia and Australia ace many similar challenges, such as intense flooding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Bagus Indahono</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Queensland Premier Campbell Newman does not often make it into the Indonesian press, but he did in reports on the <a href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/queensland_flood_crisis_state_of_Ag6IpcdF4qAuCJOAl1bDSN">Queensland floods</a>. These reports shared news space with coverage of the even more devastating <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/jakarta-flood-photos-indonesia_n_2534851.html">flooding</a> in Jakarta. Newman and the governor of the province of Jakarta, Joko Widodo – popularly known as Jokowi - have much in common.</p>
<p>They face enormous challenges in trying to manage the recovery of their regions from the flooding, and more importantly, trying to ensure that the impact of future flooding is mitigated, if not entirely eliminated. Newman’s experience as Brisbane Lord Mayor during the <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/weather/hope-anger-and-inquiry-a-week-after-the-disaster-20110121-19zx3.html">2011 floods</a> may give him particular insights into the problems Jokowi faces.</p>
<p>They also face the daunting challenge of electoral success: both were recently elected on platforms of shaking up a tired regional government. Citizens’ expectations of their administrations are high – perhaps unrealistically so. Newman has already had some of the gloss knocked off his administration, while this dubious pleasure still awaits Jokowi.</p>
<p>Consideration of the political relationship between Australia and Indonesia usually focuses on the national level of government. From an Australian perspective, the dominant issue at this level for some time has been asylum seekers. The problem here is what is of major interest to Australia is of relatively minor interest to Indonesia, as I have previously <a href="http://theconversation.com/not-our-problem-the-indonesian-perspective-on-asylum-seekers-8053">suggested</a>.</p>
<p>From an Indonesian perspective – there probably isn’t a dominant issue in terms of Australia. Concern is routinely expressed about Australian <a href="http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/australian-ministers-comments-on-papuan-independence-show-disconnect-down-under/542339">support</a> for the separatist movement in Papua. There is also the occasional mixture of amusement and bewilderment about the degree of inconsistency – not to say downright instability - in the federal government and its policies. But that’s about it. Australia simply doesn’t loom large on the national radar.</p>
<p>Recently two respected Indonesian journalists [urged](<a href="http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/14/ri-australia-ties-it-s-more-important-be-nice.html">http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/11/14/ri-australia-ties-it-s-more-important-be-nice.html</a> their fellow-citizens to “be nice to Australia, not for the sake of being nice, but for the sake of our national interests”. The phrase “whistling in the wind” comes to mind.</p>
<p>This focus on national politics is understandable, and perhaps necessary in terms of the formal relationship. But it is always going to be an imbalanced focus, more significant to Australia than to Indonesia. And the Australian public as a whole has shown a distinct disinterest in national political issues in Indonesia. The government’s <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper">Asian Century White Paper</a> can insist on the diplomatic and strategic importance of Australia to Indonesia all it likes, but Australians simply aren’t listening.</p>
<p>The White Paper is right, and efforts to stimulate such interest in national politics in Indonesia need to continue. But the focus on national politics obscures the fact that - for the majority of citizens of both countries - it is decisions taken at the regional and local levels of government which impact most directly on their lives: issues such as flood mitigation, education, work opportunities, health services. It might, therefore, be more useful to focus efforts more at trying to stimulate Australians’ interests in Indonesia at the local level, rather than the national.</p>
<p>Indonesia is still struggling with the effects of the massive wave of political decentralisation put in place following the downfall of the Suharto government, with its powerful centralising imperative. With a few exceptions - including foreign affairs, defence and religious affairs - regional and local governments now effectively control day-to-day politics in Indonesia.</p>
<p>By contrast, Australia has a long history of decentralisation, as a federation. The word “federal” is the F-word as far as Indonesian politics is concerned. But in many respects, Indonesia is moving towards a quasi-federal system of government. At this level, Australians and Indonesians have a lot they could talk about and experiences they could share - outside the more complex national political issues.</p>
<p>Yet we have seen relatively little activity at this level. Western Australia is perhaps the most advanced state in this regard, maintaining a very active and successful trade office in Jakarta. This is perhaps all the more surprising given that the state Premier, Colin Barnett, seems adamantly opposed to setting foot in the country.</p>
<p>But where is the local government and community involvement, in both countries, in the exchange of ideas and information on fire services, flood rescue, culturally inclusive education, sporting competitions, the management of regional newspapers and television stations?</p>
<p>State and local governments, and local community organisations, should be thinking about their own foreign policies - in the context of the Asian Century, and in particular in the context of relations with their counterparts in Indonesia.</p>
<p>National political issues remain important. Australians and Indonesians alike should remain interested in what happens in the Canberra-Jakarta relationship. But this should not be at the expense of activity at the regional and local levels.</p>
<p>Campbell Newman and Jokowi face many of the same challenges. When are they next scheduled to meet?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12126/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Queensland Premier Campbell Newman does not often make it into the Indonesian press, but he did in reports on the Queensland floods. These reports shared news space with coverage of the even more devastating…Colin Brown, Adjunct Professor, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110892012-12-20T19:44:04Z2012-12-20T19:44:04ZThe productivity conundrum: current thinking and future trends<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18842/original/fvr5sjky-1355802356.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C76%2C4160%2C2688&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We agree Australia's productivity has to improve: plotting the trajectory from the macro to the micro will be big future themes of debate in the coming year.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the emerging decline in Australia’s terms of trade and drop in commodity prices, there is general consensus among most commentators that improving Australia’s productivity is critical.</p>
<p>Looking back over the analysis and opinion offered by academics for The Conversation this year, this is probably the one area of shared agreement. Various themes emerge that plot a trajectory from the macro to the micro which will be instructive for the debate which is only likely to intensify next year. </p>
<p>From a big picture point of view, the understanding of the productivity problem is vague. Some writers relate to the productivity issue as being an end in itself, while others acknowledge that productivity, just as innovation and competitiveness are all means to an end. What is agreed is that the end objective should be an aspiring to sustain higher standards of living, higher GDP per capita and overall prosperity.</p>
<p>To achieve this end goal, the government continues to grapple with market and industrial relations issues, business (de)regulation, achieving a balance between propping up less competitive sectors or creating new ones and fiscal policy - to name a few. </p>
<p>The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper highlights five pillars that will drive future Australian productivity: skills and education, innovation, infrastructure, tax reform and regulatory reform. The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Canada neatly depict these aspects.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18865/original/dzgmhzv6-1355876290.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Innovation and prosperity are closely linked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, A Push for Growth</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Commentators have used the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) data to highlight the magnitude of the country’s productivity problem, with Australia being ranked second last amongst 51 other countries. </p>
<p>The Australian Human Resources Institute’s Global Index of Workplace Performance and Flexibility ranked Australia 34th of 51 countries for economic performance. </p>
<p>Australia’s lower ranking amongst OECD countries in its GDP spend on education and lesser than optimum number of ties between business and research has also featured in showcasing Australia’s productivity paradox. Furthermore, Australia’s public services sector seems to be dragging the productivity chain with annual labour productivity growth at -0.6% in contrast to the private sector which stands at 1.4%.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/ken-henry-why-australias-non-mining-sector-will-continue-to-struggle-8224">Ken Henry</a> points to the misunderstanding pervading the public domain about the resources sector being able to mask the growth issues of the non-resources sector. The resources sector is now set to deliver its productivity dividend following significant capital investment over the past decade. Nevertheless, this is not going to help prop up competitiveness in other sectors of the economy. </p>
<p>Australia’s international competitiveness is as critical a problem, as is productivity. More needs to be done to understand competitiveness of our industry sectors in order to effectively position it within the burgeoning countries in the Asian region. We need to pay attention to strengthening Australia’s position by value adding and creating new jobs at the high end of productivity. As the University Melbourne’s John Freebairn points out, the public sector has to do its fair share too by <a href="https://theconversation.com/reforming-gst-is-the-key-to-productivity-growth-9921">improving accountability and transparency</a>.</p>
<p>In the realm of management, <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-choice-the-high-road-to-productivity-or-a-race-to-the-bottom-10695">Roy Green</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/productivity-growth-provides-a-reality-check-for-the-lucky-country-8693">Rosemary Howard</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-individual-firms-can-solve-the-productivity-paradox-8657">Danny Samson</a> have shed light on organisational aspects like interface mapping of processes to minimise organisational noise; operational excellence through better use of quality improvement frameworks, new business models and systems integration. <a href="https://theconversation.com/changing-work-practices-alone-will-not-boost-productivity-10946">Ray Markey</a> discussed innovation (process and product), absorption of technological change and an embrace of social networking to drive new business paradigms which are avenues that are becoming important to lift productivity and in delivering value to stakeholders. </p>
<p>There’s almost an unspoken but emergent trend that technology development and growth in social networks will soon start to cause a convergence between business and society. With this embrace of new technology and leverage of social networks - what I call ‘technetisation’ - a productivity dividend may almost be certain. Globalisation may soon become a fad of the past; delivering ‘technetised value’ is what we should start to think about.</p>
<p>Finally, drilling down into the most basic unit of the productivity paradox - i.e. the individual - consensus amongst commentators exists to suggest that lifelong learning, higher levels of education, better utilisation of skills and talent at work to innovate, teamwork and the quality of work environment plays an important role in lifting individual productivity. Intertwined in with these elements are leadership and management practices within organisations that are also known to play a significant role in lifting organisational productivity. </p>
<p>The productivity story is important at the individual level because it impacts on our standards of living. At the international level if we produce less valuable material, chances are our competitiveness will decline. This can cause a cascading effect on other aspects of the economy - unemployment levels, per capita income, tax revenues, investment in the economy and the list goes on. </p>
<p>To shed further light along this path of workplace productivity, the Australian Government’s recent announcement establishing the Centre for Workplace Leadership is expected to play a vital role.</p>
<p>So, productivity. Are we there yet? I guess not but I suspect we won’t be able to ever tell. As long as Australia’s GDP and per capita income keeps rising and we have lower levels of unemployment, we can safely say that the country is on the right path. But is this all we should aspire towards? Replacing GDP as a key measure, the UN’s Inclusive Wealth Index will start to gain popularity which takes into account economic indicators but also gauges human and natural resources.</p>
<p>No doubt, in 2013 the federal election cycle will draw a focus on the issue of productivity, innovation, jobs and economic growth. The intersection of all these aspects with the political cycle will continue to keep us alert. What we can expect to see is also a heightened level of debate and discussion about competitiveness in specific industry sectors that better positions Australia in the Asian Century.</p>
<p><strong>Read The Conversation’s coverage on productivity <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/productivity">here</a>.</strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Vas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Amid the emerging decline in Australia’s terms of trade and drop in commodity prices, there is general consensus among most commentators that improving Australia’s productivity is critical. Looking back…Christopher Vas, Academic Director, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112582012-12-12T03:08:09Z2012-12-12T03:08:09ZReflecting on Australia and China, 40 years young<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18581/original/m2dmm6zg-1355269810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This week marks the 40th anniversary of Australia's bilateral relationship with China.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The optics of this week’s official celebration to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China could not be more pertinent.</p>
<p>Culminating in tonight’s banquet hosted by Julia Gillard at the Great Hall of Parliament House, Australia’s first female Prime Minister will be seated alongside the only woman reputedly in contention for a top position at China’s recent 18th Party Congress.</p>
<p>Madam Liu Yandong, Politburo member, State Councillor and protégé of outgoing paramount leader Hu Jintao has supreme state responsibility for China’s vast education, culture and science and technology portfolios.</p>
<p>In a party-state parallel power structure where traditional patriarchal notions of statecraft are still the norm, Liu is China’s most powerful woman in politics and, given China’s increasing importance to global affairs, is one of the most powerful women in the world.</p>
<p>Rewind to 1972 and the world was, in many respects a vastly different place. Whilst the election that swept Gough Whitlam to power spelled the epitaph of 23 years of Coalition rule, the 28th Parliament was home to only two female senators, with none in the lower house.</p>
<p>For China too, it seemed the sum total of women’s representation in politics amounted to the sinister involvement of Mao’s wife Jiang Qing (the B-grade actor-cum-revolutionary) in the Cultural Revolution.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/20120223anniversary.html">Two-way trade amounted to a mere $100 million</a>, there was not a single Chinese student at an Australian university, and the idea that China would one day underwrite 21st century Australia’s prosperity would have verged on the fanciful.</p>
<p>To Australians living in the Asian Century, the China story is fast becoming a fact of life.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/20120223anniversary.html">Annual trade with China is worth more than $100 billion</a>, more than 167,000 Chinese students attend Australian universities, and China has surpassed the UK as our largest source of both inbound tourists and migrants.</p>
<p><a href="http://acbc.com.au/deploycontrol/files/upload/media_nat_hhrep_2012.pdf">Research commissioned by the Australia China Business Council</a> demonstrates this generates $13,400 in income equivalent earnings per Australian household.</p>
<p>For all the political discourse emanating from Canberra about Team KRuddLard navigating Australia through the treacherous waters of the GFC, China’s demand for bulk commodities undoubtedly gave us the wherewithal to weather the storm.</p>
<p>The cynics will tell you that the Lucky Country’s recent terms of trade boom is hardly the product of creative ingenuity and rather our lucrative endowment of natural resources.</p>
<p>Yet this is an all too easy analysis.</p>
<p>Whilst record export earnings were generated on the back of unprecedented demand, too frequently we overlook the Chinese investment that accompanied resources boom mark II.</p>
<p>Canberra has approved more than <a href="http://www.minister.defence.gov.au/2012/06/06/minister-for-defence-australia-and-china-partners-in-the-asia-pacific-century/">$75 billion</a> in Chinese investment since 2007. This is underwriting almost a third of the $268 billion in the current resources pipeline.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18575/original/yxgtzzkn-1355266129.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Politburo Member and State Councillor Madam Liu Yandong in Australia to celebrate the 40 years of Sino-Australian diplomatic relations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UNSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Few appreciate the skills required from deal makers and company boardrooms to actually pull off the high volume transactions and too many underestimate the intense competition for Chinese dollars in the OECD and around the world.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.australiachinaquarterly.com.au/en/business-and-politics/item/450-a-long-march-%E2%80%93-the-australia-china-investment-relationship.html">A recent study</a> by former UBS China president John Larum and former Ministry of Commerce official Qian Jingmin shows that Australia’s traditional status as the top destination for Chinese investment has been slipping in recent years.</p>
<p>It demonstrated that while Australia is falling behind the US and Canada in its ability to attract the high value deals, it is still ranked number one.</p>
<p>This is an impressive feat and is testament to corporate Australia’s deal-making capacity, as well as a solid overall performance from the Foreign Investment Review Board and mostly consistent messages from the federal government.</p>
<p>That said, although Australian investment into China has increased from only 0.7% in 2008 of total FDI output to a little more than 3%, this is a massive imbalance and we should be investing more directly in our largest trading partner.</p>
<p>So what does the Sino-Australian future look like?</p>
<p>While commodity prices have recovered from their earlier 2012 lows, they are below their post-GFC highs. It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that they will remain pegged to the Chinese economy for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>It seems that although China is slowing, there is a school of thought that contends commercial decisions will regain momentum after Party positions in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and relevant agencies are finalised in the months after the Party Congress.</p>
<p>Although another wave of massive top-down infrastructure based stimulus looks unlikely, China’s new wave of SOE bosses and cadres will be keen to make their mark if, as expected, China continues its global investment push.</p>
<p>At least over the short to medium-term, Australia’s political engagement with China is dependent on the electoral fortunes of the Gillard Government and the panda hugging credentials of a potential Abbott premiership.</p>
<p>Whilst the messages accompanying Andrew Forrest’s recent <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/business-building-bridges-to-china-to-repair-ties/story-fn59nm2j-1226443474575">business alliance initiative</a> would have you believe otherwise, government-to-government engagement, as well as bilateral dialogue with industry, has increased dramatically over the life of the ALP administration.</p>
<p>Australia must continually strive for stronger mechanisms to facilitate greater dialogue in areas outside our immediate strengths in energy and resources.</p>
<p>That Beijing sent its top brass in education and research to celebrate the 40th anniversary suggests China is interested in forming a wider strategic engagement. Australia must accept this challenge if it is to thrive in the Asian Century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11258/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurie Pearcey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The optics of this week’s official celebration to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China could not be more pertinent. Culminating in tonight’s banquet hosted by Julia Gillard at the…Laurie Pearcey, Director - China Strategy & Development/Director, Confucius Institute, UNSW, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106802012-11-30T03:29:24Z2012-11-30T03:29:24ZTo engage with Asia, we must be multicultural in more than name<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18004/original/78bf7prw-1353902992.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=106%2C58%2C866%2C543&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">White, monolingual, male: the make up of many of Australia's ASX companies fail to reflect our cultural and gender diversity.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="http://www.ethnicbusinessawards.com/">Ethnic Business Awards</a> were a celebration of entrepreneurship, pioneering and determination and above all the immense contribution that our migrant population has made to a better Australia. </p>
<p>But they also emphasise the dissonance between the rhetoric of diversity and the reality. While Australia has been changed inexorably by the migrant experience, leadership of some of our key institutions remain mono-cultural, representing Australia from an Anglo Saxon perspective only.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this more palpable than in Australian corporations. Australia’s leadership profile in the ASX, in particular, remains homogenous unable to open up its ranks to create a more heterogeneous leadership presence that reflects Australia’s cultural and gender diversity. </p>
<p>Monolingual, masculine and white - this culture reproduces itself through arrogance, fear and an inherent but deeply flawed belief system that the world of tomorrow is the world of yesterday.</p>
<p>Asia’s prominence as an economic force is yet to sink in as business adapts to a post–American era that has seen power become more distributed, particularly in the direction of Asia and Brazil.</p>
<p>The Asian agenda is not a recent phenomenon. The recognition that Australia’s destiny is linked to that of Asia’s has been a perennial agenda item. As far back as 1995, David Karpin highlighted the rise of Asia in his report, <a href="http://www.aim.com.au/research/EN_ReportonSkills.pdf">Enterprise Nation</a>. </p>
<p>The report recognised Australia was in the unique trade position of being a stable, English-speaking neighbour. It also pointed to barriers in tapping this potential due to a lack of diversity and poor skills in languages other than English, limitations in understanding foreign business cultures and the management of ethical dilemmas in other cultural contexts.</p>
<p>The Karpin report made a number of wide-ranging recommendations that included addressing the lack of diversity and developing leadership capability particularly in the area of soft skills and capacity for cultural engagement.</p>
<p>Now many of the concerns raised by Karpin are being echoed in the federal Government’s Asian Century White Paper. Australian business is yet to develop the appropriate cultural understandings to deal with the Asian region and it lacks the language skills to negotiate and develop personal relationships. The learning of Asian languages in universities is on the decline.</p>
<p>Business has had more than enough time to become conversant with the rules of engagement and the cultures of it’s trading partners. Its failure in this regard speaks to a combination of short sightedness and parochialism. An example is the tacit collusion of some businesses willing to advertise with media outlets that regularly resort to regressive race politics to serve narrow short-term agendas. These companies are likely to extol the virtues of diversity and integrity to equal opportunity in their policies and procedures. Yet they remain wilfully blind to the message they are sending to customers in Australia and internationally.</p>
<p>Australia is a diverse nation with an equally diverse talent pool. It has an abundance of the very capacities required to engage with the opportunities that globalisation and the Asian Century afford. It is unfortunate that Asia-literate graduates are underutilised; It is unfortunate that leadership at the highest level remains white and male; and it is unfortunate that the much needed soft skills and capacity to wield soft power (often held by women) are relegated as secondary to the muscularity of tough negotiation and the arrogance of a transactional view of relationships that speaks to the privileging of the short term over the longer term.</p>
<p>Professor Fons Trompenaars, consultant to Fortune 500 companies and author of “21 Leaders for the 21st Century”, regards the capacity to reconcile differences created by cultures of diversity as the stand out leadership competency for the future, above all others.</p>
<p>To be Asia-ready and Asia-literate, Australian business needs to transcend rhetoric to embrace the diversity in its midst. This requires some soul searching to acknowledge deeply entrenched systemic bias combined with a stultifying inertia that sees the status quo maintained- patently evident in a narrow leadership presence that does not reflect the cultural and gender diversity present in Australian society.</p>
<p>Modern capitalism is geared to an era of close engagements and requires the skill of rapport. Business leaders need to expand their repertoire of skills and recruit and develop for a new and diverse leadership presence adept at the exercise of soft power and gentle persuasion. It requires a capacity to traverse both Western cultures with its emphasis on individualism and Asian cultures in which communitarianism and family are defining metaphors for business.</p>
<p>Developing Asian literacy is a journey that involves new levels of engagement and understanding. It requires the honing of skills of rapport, cross cultural understanding, language skills and curiosity to learn about our neighbours and invite them to learn about us.</p>
<p>It takes a new prism of engagement with our diversity here at home to tap into the incredible cultural and business opportunities further afield in our region. Only then will we become the multicultural, gender-diverse, dynamic and globally interconnected diverse society we aspire to be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Hannah Piterman is a consultant and advisor to business in the area of board performance, leadership and diversity. She is director of HPCG, cofounder of Gender Worx and an adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University.</span></em></p>The recent Ethnic Business Awards were a celebration of entrepreneurship, pioneering and determination and above all the immense contribution that our migrant population has made to a better Australia…Hannah Piterman, Adjunct Associate professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108122012-11-21T03:16:03Z2012-11-21T03:16:03ZFencing Australia in the Asian Century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17782/original/mzvd22rh-1353298882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Chinese province of Xinjiang, bordering Kazakhstan, is planning fibre optic security dubbed the "Great Fence of China"; the technology was pioneered by an Australian firm, but China's rapid technological adaption signifies another chapter in its evolution as a world power.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>As Borat tends to his pigs on his comely estate situated on the border of Kazakhstan and China, one of them flies across in a desperate attempt to look for better opportunities in the Fabled Land of Exploding Wealth.</em></p>
<p><em>Unbeknown to it, the little pig has created an international diplomatic stand-off almost immediately by tripping a state-of-the-art optical fibre network spanning the border for more than a thousand kilometres. Cameras record its image and convey it to an ever-ready crack team of Australian-trained border security specialists designed to take down any intruder…</em></p>
<p>This scenario might seem ridiculous to the casual reader, but the “Great Fence of China” is <a href="http://www.fiberinstrumentsales.com/fiber-optic-resources/fiber-optic-white-papers/Fiber_Optic_Technology_In_Security_Applications.aspx">being built</a> as this article is being read.</p>
<p>Optical fibre security fences are standard fare nowadays, and it is an Australian company, <a href="http://www.fftsecurity.com/">Future Fibre Technologies</a> (FFT), that arguably leads the way for the time being, having spanned and netted sensitive places such as the White House.</p>
<p>But the exercise in China is of unprecedented significance and scale: using novel, home-grown random amplifier/laser technology, <a href="http://www.cdofs.com/en">Chengdian Optical Fiber Sensing</a> has been contracted to implement “The Great Fence of China”, more than a 1000 kilometres of optical fibre security along the border with Kazakhstan. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether it will focus on stopping livestock as claimed, or be used to stop porous arms supply to Muslim insurgents, this is an innovative development signifying yet another chapter in China’s evolution. New technology is becoming key to growth and wealth in the region - without engagement, Australia will fall behind just as the Europeans gain traction.</p>
<p>It was some time ago now that the 1989 Garnaut report <a href="http://www.rossgarnaut.com.au/Papers.html">Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendancy</a> first articulated the opportunities and warnings available to Australia as regional neighbours. It was largely ignored, with tokenistic ideas of Australia as part of Asia its greatest legacy. (At a recent conference in China, local organisers reminded International Steering Committee (ISC) delegates that Australia was not part of Asia, nor indeed of the Asian Century, reiterating Singapore’s stance on occasion.) </p>
<p>In 2011 the Garnaut vision was <a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/china-20-kevin-rudd-3567">resurrected and adapted</a> by then-Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd in <a href="http://acpet.edu.au/article/1806/ministers-for-trade-and-foreign-affairs-to-lead-australia-china-20-trade-mission/">China 2.0</a>, and recently repeated in the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century White paper</a>.</p>
<p>Yet even as these prescient opportunities are now being recognised, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-14/interview-with-former-prime-minister-paul-keating/4372568">Paul Keating</a> has reminded us Australia is increasingly aligning itself with the United States in unnecessary ways that undermine these very opportunities.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most alarming, and conspicuously quiet, development was the signing of the <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011B00231">Defence Trade Controls Bill</a> that has the power to control all interactions and collaboration that involve technology – civil, commercial and defence - in the region. </p>
<p>The most potent danger is creating a culture that removes the incentive for regional collaboration. The Liberals reversed their support for amendments giving <a href="http://wa.greens.org.au/content/coalition-votes-against-its-own-amendment-and-sells-out-australian-universities">Australia identical US standards</a>, ensuring this Bill is significantly more restrictive than their own, which has anecdotally had a deleterious long-term impact on the US ability to engage in the region.</p>
<p>It is simply demeaning to the Australian public not to recognise the broader China containment approach and the implications for the type of inevitable conflict that <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au/vision/videos/6161/">Hugh White</a> and others have warned of.</p>
<p>The reader may argue: “but Australian technology is so superior to the rest of the world, so doesn’t it make sense to close shop?” Delusions aside, even if Australia had the funds to carry on in isolation, it has struggled establishing major domestically supported commercial opportunities. In any case, Australia needs to access the growing Asian markets.</p>
<p>Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has recently <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/australia-blind-to-the-innovation-boom--beattie-20121109-2936i.html">lamented</a> our lost opportunities in terms of innovation and, since any technology has defence parallels, this new legislation runs the risk of putting future opportunities further out of reach. </p>
<p>The scale of funding and change in China and the reach of the Diasporas, many of whom hold parallel positions in China, means in practice the new legislation also creates formidable compliance issues - and therefore disincentives.</p>
<p>Consider the current problems faced by universities under the <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011A00038">Autonomous Sanctions Act</a> to <a href="http://www.iarc.asn.au/_blog/Immigration_News/post/The_New_Autonomous_Sanctions_Regime_and_its_Implications/">control Iranian students</a> as an indicator of the potential grand scale of the problem in the education sector alone. </p>
<p>Australian researchers have generally been utterly dependent on international interactions with the world’s best institutions. Some of these are inevitably going to be in China just by virtue of funding and the region’s rising attraction to many overseas born scientists.</p>
<p>More notably, for the first time <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/wrong-chinese-patent-problem_b_1850887.html">Chinese domestic IP is outstripping international IP</a> in China and the reverse is happening in the United States – international IP is outstripping domestic IP. </p>
<p>Irrespective of current quality, growing domestic IP in a Chinese market will lead to IP infringement cases driven by domestic interests, a parallel evolution to that which had occurred in the United States for many decades after the second world war.</p>
<p>Just as Prime Minster Menzies gave away Australia’s inventions to the United States, preferring sheep to participation in Silicon Valley, Australia’s present leaders risk giving away Australia’s future innovations, preferring dirt to innovation and participation. </p>
<p>The centre of the world is no longer Europe or the United States. The largely United States-built metaphysical “Great Fence of Australia”, a land of dirt-based energy, could deny Australia access to key markets, key education and key technological growth, potentially making this nation the New Middle East of the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This piece reflects Professor Canning’s views and not The University of Sydney.</span></em></p>As Borat tends to his pigs on his comely estate situated on the border of Kazakhstan and China, one of them flies across in a desperate attempt to look for better opportunities in the Fabled Land of Exploding…John Canning, Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106512012-11-15T03:29:32Z2012-11-15T03:29:32ZCharting a sustainable future will be fraught with challenges in the Asian Century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17576/original/fx6k28qw-1352849338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia must resolve numerous social, economic and environmental obstacles if it wants to reap the benefits of the Asian Century. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Governments are forever immersed in the daily challenge of responding to what the former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once knowingly described as “events.” It was he who coined the resounding phrase the “winds of change”. Governments become so embroiled in the details of policy, and the political in-fighting to secure their survival, they rarely have the opportunity to look over the horizon to see what may be heading our way.</p>
<p>Closely constrained as a minority government, employing the sterling services of Ken Henry, the Gillard government has had the courage and vision to focus — just for once — on what lies ahead for Australia. The global and economic shifts we face outlined in the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">White Paper</a> are truly astounding:</p>
<p>The Asian century is an Australian opportunity. As the global centre of gravity shifts to our region, the tyranny of distance is being replaced by the prospects of proximity.</p>
<p>The share of world output within 10,000 kilometres of Australia has more than doubled over the past 50 years to more than a third of global output today, and this share will rise to around half of global output in 2025.</p>
<p>If Asia’s development proceeds, the number of middle class consumers in the region will grow from around 500 million today to 3.2 billion by 2030. Nine out of ten new middle class consumers worldwide will be in the region.</p>
<p>While we may hope that successive governments will have the capacity to resource some of the immense initiatives that will be required to respond to this great opportunity, the key message of Julia Gillard in launching the report was that an effective response must be multi-dimensional and collective: “This is not just about the role of government but also about challenging business, unions, universities, civil society and the media to engage in the region… a coordinated effort from the entire community.”</p>
<p><strong>Economic growth</strong></p>
<p>The continued rapid economic growth of Asia is projected in the White Paper, with huge gains in productivity anticipated. (Presently, per capita productivity in China is only 20% that of the United States.) Effectively the Australian economy will be carried along in the slipstream of the advancing Asian economy, continuing Australia’s record of economic growth. This places Australia in the happy position of being an advanced industrial country with a consistent 20-year growth rate comfortably between the low rates of growth of the West, and the high growth rates of Asia.</p>
<p>However, the emphasis upon Australia’s economic contribution to Asia’s growth is forecasted in the White Paper to be dependent upon commodity exports. Mining exports are forecast to increase to 65% of the total by 2025; manufacturing will reduce from 30% of exports in 2015 to 15% by 2025; while services that compose 80% of the Australian economy will only rise from 8% of exports in 2015 to 10% in 2025.</p>
<p>While Australia’s career as the lucky country seems destined to continue, there are two deeply worrying aspects to this export profile. Firstly, why is Australia apparently trapped at the low value-added end of the international value chain? Secondly, what on earth is going to happen to global emissions and other pollution when another 3.2 billion people begin to consume like the middle classes of the West?</p>
<p>Fortunately the answer to both these dilemmas is the same: Australia must strive to use all of its skills, knowledge and ingenuity to make the Asian Century a sustainable century. Government, business, professions, and universities must endeavour to transform production processes, materials, technologies, products and consumption to achieve sustainability. This expertise in sustainability could be a key success factor in Australia’s engagement with the Asian century.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C2819%2C3501&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C2819%2C3501&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/17538/original/8w5m6mz4-1352766840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exporting sustainable technology: Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and Trina Solar vice president Dr Qiang Huang</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>The sustainability imperative</strong></p>
<p>In 1996, while teaching at the CEIBS Business School in Shanghai, I encountered a senior executive of General Motors. He told me that when he first arrived in China, looking out of his apartment window in Beijing in the morning, he saw thousands of cyclists briskly making their way to work. Now he looked out of his window and all he could see was traffic gridlock of cars and trucks barely moving at all. I asked him what he was presently working on, and he replied: “We are building the biggest car plant in China in Shanghai.”</p>
<p>China is now the world’s largest vehicle market with in excess of 30% annual growth. Despite this record growth in China’s automobile industry, as of 2010 average car ownership in China was just 38 cars per 1000 people, compared to 815 cars per 1000 people in the United States. If China reached the level of car ownership of the United States, there would be more cars in China than currently exist in the whole world.</p>
<p><strong>The future of urban transport in Asia?</strong></p>
<p>Highlighting the White Paper’s whitewash on sustainability, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/paper-a-whitewash-of-the-environment-20121104-28s3p.html#ixzz2BUZXCQeR">Ross Gittins focused on the significance of the figures buried in the report</a>: in the 19 years to 2009, Asia’s energy consumption more than doubled and its share of world energy consumption jumped from 25 to 38%. In 2009, fossil fuels accounted for about 82% of Asia’s energy mix. As a consequence Asia accounts for about 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions - up from 31 per cent in 2001. China recently overtook the US as the world’s largest emitter. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/31/world-carbon-dioxideemissions-country-data-co2">China now emits 7,711 million tons of carbon, with the United States following with 5,425 million tons</a>. The US is still number one in terms of per capita emissions among the big economies - with 18 tonnes emitted per person, while China, by contrast, emits under six tonnes per person, and India only 1.38 tonnes per person.</p>
<p>However, if the middle class of Asia grows at the rate projected in the White Paper, and consumes products made out of the same materials by the same technologies in the same way as the West, the planet’s environment will be in desperate trouble.</p>
<p>None of this is inevitable. China plans to extend the rail network by 24,900 miles to a total of 74,600 miles by 2020, offering a viable transport alternative. China has set targets for limiting greenhouse gas pollution and other dangerous emissions. China’s 12th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) calls for a 17% reduction in carbon intensity and a 10 % reduction in total NOx emissions. <a href="http://www.vermontlaw.edu/Documents/Final%20Draft%20Marshall%20Dong.pdf">Restructuring and reforming China’s transportation system</a> will make a significant contribution to these goals.</p>
<p>China once had the view that the primarily objective was to pursue Deng Xiaoping’s injunction to get rich, and they could clean up afterwards. With their water, air and environment facing serious threat, China now realises this is not a viable strategy. As Ross Garnaut argued in The Conversation last week serious improvements in energy efficiency are being made, along with transfer from fossil fuels to hydro, wind, nuclear, biomass and solar. A similar trajectory in the use of steel is awaited.</p>
<p><strong>Australia’s role in Asia’s sustainability</strong></p>
<p>Australia’s contribution to making Asia’s value chains sustainable, designing new sustainable products and services, and developing new business models could be critical. In infrastructure and property development Australian companies have world-class expertise in designing and building to the highest environmental standards. As the CSIRO’s <a href="http://www.csiro.au/news/newsletters/manufacturing_future/201006_ManFuture/htm/SustainableManufacturing.htm">Future of Manufacturing</a> initiative shows, we are becoming versed in flexible manufacturing with advanced materials. Australia’s advances in clean energy technologies and energy management systems will prove invaluable to Asia.</p>
<p>Australia’s lengthy experience in producing wholesome food will be appreciated throughout Asia. The expertise of the Australian finance sector in providing sustainable financial products and solutions in Asia will be valued. The educational role of Australia in providing world class opportunities for Asia will continue to grow. Finally there is the potential for a growing market for legal, professional and technical services as Asia strives to enhance the performance of its markets and institutions.</p>
<p>In helping to transform Asia, Australia can transform itself into an agile, flexible, knowledge-based economy in the coming century. But first, it requires a coherent and strategic policy framework that makes sense of the political, economic and social challenges ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Clarke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governments are forever immersed in the daily challenge of responding to what the former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once knowingly described as “events.” It was he who coined the resounding…Thomas Clarke, Professor, Centre for Corporate Governance , University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/105872012-11-14T04:16:06Z2012-11-14T04:16:06ZWhere is regional Australia in our Asian Century future?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17398/original/hhm4rtnc-1352348726.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mining is a major regional activity - yet as we ready ourselves for the Asian century, very little research has been undertaken on other growth opportunities in these areas.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>A stocktake of research conducted into regional development in Australia shows that we are failing to do sufficient research on opportunities for sustainable growth and prosperity in regional Australia.</p>
<p>Anyone even remotely engaged in the public discussion of regional issues will know that we often get bogged down in the challenges faced by areas outside of our major cities. It is surprising then to learn this pre-occupation with regional problems in the media also extends deeply into the research that we do in Australia.</p>
<p>As one of its first initiatives, the <a href="http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au">Regional Australia Institute</a> has conducted a comprehensive stocktake of research on regional development since 2000 which was launched last week in Wagga Wagga. The <a href="http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/index.php/regional-knowledge-base">online database of regional research and data</a> we compiled and the associated <a href="http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/index.php/rai-research-and-policy/research/stocktake-of-regional-research">analysis</a> of this work shows at best 10% of the research undertaken since 2000 is focused on opportunities for growth and development. There is also comparatively little work done to understand the inherent future potential of regions.</p>
<p>This research profile is in stark contrast to the projections for the future of the economy outlined in the recent Asian Century White Paper and the fact that it has been mining (an almost exclusively regional industry) that has driven our national economy in recent years. It also ignores the strong international <a href="http://www.oecd.org/site/govrdpc/50138839.pdf">evidence from the OECD</a> that demonstrates the role that a diversity of regions have played in the growth story of the developed world for the last 15 years.</p>
<p>Importantly, this approach does not reflect policy makers and regional leaders interest and thirst for knowledge about potential and future opportunities which was expressed to us during consultation for the project.</p>
<p>So how do we fix this?</p>
<p>Firstly, we need to rebalance the diverse research already underway on regional issues to ensure we are recognising and exploring the upsides of change.</p>
<p>The stocktake suggested some high level priorities for structuring new research on regional opportunity:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The resource sector and regional areas - what are the best ways for policy-makers to help extend and maximise the benefits (and minimise costs and disruption) for localised and sustainable community advantage?</p></li>
<li><p>The Asian Century and Australia’s regional areas - what does regional Australia need to do to position itself to be benefit from the expansion of the Asian economic size and increasing demand?</p></li>
<li><p>The major transformative opportunities for regional Australia - what are the lessons and ideas that the current generation of policy-makers need to understand and consider to help enhance confidence to plan future major transformative initiatives?</p></li>
<li><p>The National Broadband Network and regional Australia - What are the specific ways of best leveraging off the NBN to maximise its economic and social value in regional Australia?</p></li>
<li><p>Enhancing the productivity of regional areas - what are the specific opportunities for regional Australia to pursue productivity-enhancing initiatives? Does the answer lie in “soft” or “hard” investments?</p></li>
<li><p>Learning from Australia’s history of achieved potential - what is the recent history of realised potential in regional Australia? What tools will best assist policymakers to replicate these successes in their own localities?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>At the RAI we are thinking about work in each of these areas and how we can better define and understand ‘regional potential’ so that regions and governments can explore these issues in planning and policy making. We would encourage others establishing their research plans to also consider how their work can contribute to these priorities.</p>
<p>The key driver of change however will be the attitude and perspective we choose to adopt when thinking about regional Australia.</p>
<p>In looking to the future we can be confident that there will droughts, fires and floods; that exposure of regions to the vagaries of international markets will continue to drive rapid economic change; that our populations will age; and that our natural environments will remain at risk of decline and destruction.</p>
<p>But there will also be massive opportunities for regional Australia in the Asian Century – in resources, in agriculture and in services. These will be driven by the innate strength and innovation of regional businesses and communities. Associated with this will be new investment, new residents, new businesses and a better quality of life for people prepared to have a go in regional areas.</p>
<p>We certainly need to understand the challenges we face and how to respond to them, but we also need research that helps us to recognise and grasp these opportunities. We are by no means doing enough work on this at the moment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Regional Australia Institute (RAI) is an independent policy think tank and research organisation
for regional Australia. It was established in 2011 with the support of the Australian Government.
RAI is governed by Board of eminent Australians including distinguished academics Professor Sandra Harding (Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University) and Professor Ngiare Brown (University of Sydney). All of our research is overseen by a Research Advisory Committee comprised of leading national and international academics with expertise in regional development.
</span></em></p>A stocktake of research conducted into regional development in Australia shows that we are failing to do sufficient research on opportunities for sustainable growth and prosperity in regional Australia…Jack Archer, General Manager - Research and Policy, Regional Australia InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98822012-11-04T19:34:11Z2012-11-04T19:34:11ZWhy the US election matters for Australian higher education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17162/original/n95f5ht9-1351740605.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C24%2C4071%2C2005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Barack Obama addressing a large crowd at University of Wisconsin – could he or his competitor Mitt Romney change higher education in Australia?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Tannen Maury</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>US presidential elections generally have little direct impact on Australia. And broadly speaking, this campaign is shaping up to be no different. </p>
<p>Despite their ideological differences, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have adopted similar positions on major foreign policy questions especially in relation to our Asian region. And our two countries will remain close allies regardless of whoever wins the presidency.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there’s something under the surface of this campaign that could have major ramifications for higher education, one of our most important sectors, and just as our universities were hoping to get back on their feet.</p>
<h2>Fierce competition</h2>
<p>Since 2009, Australian universities have been battered by the “perfect storm” — an intractably high Australian dollar, bad foreign press about the education experience in Australia, and tighter visa restrictions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.immi.gov.au/students/_pdf/2011-knight-review.pdf">Knight Review released last year</a> held out much promise for the sector to regain some lost competitive advantage in the international student market, in large part through enhanced work options for foreign graduates. </p>
<p>These reforms seem to be working. Several universities have reported that the new policy settings have caused a small uptick in student enrolments from Asia.</p>
<p>But a new challenge is emerging. Obama and Romney each have plans to attract more highly skilled immigrants with the lure of American residency.</p>
<h2>Attractive offers</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.mittromney.com/issues/immigration">Romney campaign website</a>: “every foreign student who obtains an advanced degree in math, science, or engineering at a US university should be granted permanent residency”. These changes, a Romney campaign <a href="http://www.mittromney.com/sites/default/files/shared/HumanCapital.pdf">report</a> explains, would offer graduates “the certainty required to start businesses and drive American innovation”.</p>
<p>While Obama has made no similar policy pronouncements during this campaign, his intentions are clear. In January this year, the president favoured “stapling greencards to the diplomas of certain foreign-born graduates in science, technology, engineering and math fields”, as per a US federal government <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/news/2012/01/31/dhs-reforms-attract-and-retain-highly-skilled-immigrants">report</a>.</p>
<p>Whatever the outcome of the election, it seems likely that comprehensive immigration reform is on the agenda in the US.</p>
<p>This would be a smart win-win for America. The US would attract talented foreign students to its universities and encourage those already in the country to remain after graduation. These changes could be especially beneficial in helping create the advanced manufacturing jobs both candidates have talked so much about on the hustings. </p>
<p>Bringing in talented science and math graduates is a key foundational step in spurring the innovation that leads to job growth and wealth creation.</p>
<p>But America’s gain could come at Australia’s expense.</p>
<h2>Real implications</h2>
<p>Asian students are attracted by what US colleges offer; an outstanding education, safe residential communities, an extraordinary network of influential alumni and a degree from a university with a global brand. It’s the total package, and it’s seen as a higher quality education than that offered by Australian universities. Or indeed anywhere else.</p>
<p>And cash-strapped US universities know it. Last year, there was a 43% increase in new Chinese undergraduates on US campuses alone. The added drawcard of US residency for science, maths and engineering graduates could supercharge recruiting efforts of US universities in Asia.</p>
<p>The US also has tremendous capacity for growth. The American education sector is 15 times the size of Australia’s but less than 5% of students on campus currently come from overseas. This untapped potential could signal trouble on the horizon for Australia.</p>
<h2>A precious resource</h2>
<p>The recently released Asian Century <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/about">White Paper</a> makes clear just how critical international students are to Australia’s universities. </p>
<p>Roughly one in four students on Australian campuses come from Asia, making it the main revenue source of this $15 billion industry. And Australian residency is a leading reason why students come here for their education.</p>
<p>Of course, immigration and education is not a zero-sum game. But if these new policies in the US come into effect, it could result in many more quality foreign students choosing to enrol in American universities instead of coming to Australia.</p>
<p>However, there are even bigger 21st century shifts underway. The momentum of global job opportunities is decidedly moving towards Asia. As such, new residency pathways are likely to be less attractive to Asian students over the next decade or so if their future jobs are going to be back home. And the continued rise in quality of Asia’s universities means they, too, are a growing threat to Australian universities. </p>
<p>Indeed, the Asian Century white paper correctly recommends all Australian universities should have a greater “in-Asia” presence.</p>
<h2>Times of change</h2>
<p>The global financial crisis heralded the arrival of a new era for international higher education. It is an era defined as much by the rapid emergence of educational innovations — like multinational universities and Massive Open Online Courses “MOOCs” — as by the rapid and unpredictable dynamics of the global marketplace.</p>
<p>Australia still has significant leverage with Asian students. It remains a premium destination and was first-to-market in recruiting Asian students and developing excellent relationships across the region. Residency policy levers, therefore, have their place.</p>
<p>But the competitive advantage challenge now facing Australian universities is to build an educational experience that will continue to draw foreign students to Australia. This means ensuring our universities best prepare Asian students to succeed in the 21st century global job market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Gallagher receives funding from NSW Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Freedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US presidential elections generally have little direct impact on Australia. And broadly speaking, this campaign is shaping up to be no different. Despite their ideological differences, Barack Obama and…Sean Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer, United States Studies Centre, University of SydneyLuke Freedman, US Election Analyst, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104742012-11-01T06:47:05Z2012-11-01T06:47:05ZRoss Garnaut: will the Asian Century reboot our debate on growth?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17176/original/vprdwg76-1351745333.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We've been told our incomes should grow in the Asian century; but first we need a "soft" landing from the heights of our resources boom and more sustainable ways of growing our economy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dmitri Ometsinsky/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper is the first large-scale official look in the 21st Century at economic change in Asia and how it affects Australian opportunities and challenges. It is ambitious as well as comprehensive.</p>
<p>Maybe it will reboot the Australian conversation about our country’s future. Many Australians — maybe all who are thoughtful about our country’s future - have been troubled by the raucous, ignorant noise that has crowded out the national policy discourse in recent years. The White Paper provides us with an opportunity to talk differently.</p>
<p>The White Paper’s story of past and future growth and structural change in Asia is brief. This is because the paper is mostly about Australia, rather than Asia. It happens that Australian opportunity will be shaped by developments in Asia.</p>
<p>But it does enough to set the scene. The growth projections seem about right for the region as a whole. I won’t quibble about the growth outlook for China, Japan and Korea. The projections might be slightly underdone for the countries that have been on a slower trajectory of economic growth and fertility decline, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. More could have been said about some other large countries which may contribute considerably to expansion of Asian output to 2025, notably Vietnam and Bangladesh.</p>
<h2>Asian growth ascendancy - and the Australian experience</h2>
<p>It is worth reminding ourselves in some additional ways of how sharply the fortunes of developing Asia have diverged from those of the developed world over the first 11 years of the century. The real international value of output per person (current output converted into United States dollars and deflated by the United States Consumer Price Index) fell in Japan (minus 6%). It rose a little in the United States (plus 6%). In the major European States, real output per person grew, but by less than in similarly extended periods over the postwar period (France 49%, Germany 46%, the United Kingdom 18%).</p>
<p>By contrast, the international value of output per person increased over the first 11 years of the Century by 339% in China, 246% in Indonesia and 153% in India. The high-income developing countries of Asia fell into the range of the large European economies: Singapore 36% and Korea 51%.</p>
<p>In this League table, Australia looks nothing like other high-income countries: international value of output per person increased by 113%. </p>
<p>By 2011, the international value of output per person in Australia stands one quarter above the United States, one third above Japan, and almost one half above the large Europeans.</p>
<p>Only small countries with exceptional endowments had higher per capita international value of output per person than Australia: Luxembourg, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Switzerland and Macao.</p>
<p>The general story of divergence between developed country and both Asian developing country and Australian experience survives refocusing on national income rather than domestic product. The increase in Australian per capita income in real international value was a little lower, at 108% between 2000 and 2011. The fall in Japan’s was smaller (minus 1%). The differences reflect incomes paid abroad from Australia and from abroad to Japan.</p>
<h2>Japanese story</h2>
<p>Japan’s income per work-age person actually rose a little (7%) over the first 11 years of the century, a little more than United States income per work-age person (6%). The difference reflects the ageing of the Japanese population. The proportion of the population in the 15-64 years age group that is usually considered to cover the working ages fell from 68.2% in 2000 to 63.3% in 2011. </p>
<p>The United States ratio of people aged 15 to 64 to total population remained fairly steady. The United States and Japanese economies performed similarly in output and income per work-age person, and less strongly than other high-income countries.</p>
<p>Some observers see Japan’s economic stagnation as a failure of the Japanese economy and polity. Many Japanese do not feel that their country is in crisis. Unemployment is low. Income is more equitably distributed than in the United States, although some Japanese are disturbed by increasing disparities. Health services are excellent by global standards and longevity incomparably high. Japanese enjoy high and subtle literacy and good education, and a rich cultural life. There is high degree private financial and personal security and incomparable public security — natural disasters aside. </p>
<p>To be sure, the ageing of the population slows national economic growth and reduces national strategic weight, and a more dynamic polity would remove some longstanding imperfections. But if Japan exemplifies the end point of modern economic growth, then modern economic growth is no bad thing.</p>
<p>Since the White Paper emphasises mean output, I should draw attention to a weakness in that measure of an average before we leave the comparative statistics. The mean can be held up by increases in incomes to a small number of high income people, so that it may say little about the circumstances of most people. While mean real incomes rose in the United States by about 7% between 2000 and 2011, the median income fell by 9%. The difference between changes in the mean and the median income do not seem to have been as large in other developed countries.</p>
<h2>Missed risks around the impact of climate change</h2>
<p>The White Paper mentions a couple of risks to growth in the large Asian developing countries, including the impact of climate change, but doesn’t say much about them. My list of risks includes increasing costs of adapting to the inevitable climate change which would accompany even successful global mitigation in pursuit of the international community’s <a href="http://www.pbl.nl/en/publications/2009/Meeting-the-2-degree-target.-From-climate-objective-to-emission-reduction-measures">2 degree target</a> objective. It includes the possibility of irruptions of military activity. It includes policy paralysis as a result of political tensions over policies that are necessary to sustain growth.</p>
<p>We see manifestations of each of these risks now in Asia. The costs of adapting to climate change are already emerging but, if the mainstream science is broadly right the consequences of substantial failure of global mitigation would be much greater later in the Asian century than in the period to 2025 that is the main focus of the White Paper.</p>
<p>The security risks are greatest in South Asia, where Australia has limited influence on these matters. The Paper contributes positively by declining the opportunity to repeat the naive and non-strategic talk about military conflict with China that have emanated from official sources in recent years. We have seen political tensions having negative effects on growth policy in each of the three large Asian countries this year, and they could increase in any of them, but the odds favour the avoidance of major fractures in the political fabric.</p>
<h2>Structural change and the rise of the Asian middle class</h2>
<p>The Paper doesn’t say much at all about the large structural changes that are now taking place in Northeast Asia in particular: the demographic change that accompanies continuing low fertility; (it discusses the “demographic dividend” of early Asian development but not the structural implications of the demographic implosion that is now apparent in the more advanced economies including China); the reorientation of policy towards meeting domestic demand including consumer requirements; and the higher priority that is now being given to environmental amenity, local and global, and more generally to the accompaniments of secure and prosperous human civilisation.</p>
<p>The Paper correctly draws the most important implication for Australia from the structural change in Asia: the increase in importance of goods and services demanded in much larger volumes by a rapidly expanding “middle class” in the high-income emerging economies of Asia. Less is said about the other side of this coin to this helpful structural change: the decline in the rate of expansion of opportunity for increased exports at high prices of the staples of the resources boom of the early 21st century, iron ore, thermal coal and metallurgical coal.</p>
<p>There has been much recent Australian talk of a slowing of Asian growth. Slowing Asian growth has been much less important to Australia’s immediate prospects than change in the structure of China’s growth. I have discussed the structural change elsewhere. It involves increased focus of demand on consumption and less on investment and exports, a higher priority for services including public health and education, and the elevation of the priority of local and global environmental amenity.</p>
<p>It happens that the structural change has its most severe effect on the three commodities which have been at the centre of the Australian resources boom of the early twenty first century: iron ore, metallurgical coal and thermal coal.</p>
<p>I drew attention in my <a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/events/event_view.php?event_id=8706">Colin Clark lecture</a> at the University of Queensland last month to the awful reality that parts of corporate Australia had wasted shareholders’ funds by underestimating the seriousness of Chinese commitments to reduce the emissions intensity of economic growth. This had led to wasteful over-investment in thermal coal mining and exporting capacity. Investment decisions had been based on the premise that the extraordinarily rapid growth in Chinese thermal coal use and imports of the immediately preceding years would continue.</p>
<p>New data releases have confirmed the perspective presented in the Clark Lecture. Reductions in energy use per unit of output and reductions in the emissions intensity of Chinese electricity generation have been exceeding the ambitious targets of the twelfth five year plan 2011-15. Coal-fired electricity production in August was more than 7% lower than the corresponding month of 2011. </p>
<p>Increased energy efficiency has been accompanied by rapid expansion of generation from all the low-emissions alternatives to coal: especially hydro, but also, wind, nuclear, biomass and solar. Coal’s share of energy production was down from 85% in February to 73% in August. Naturally the impact on demand is greatest for coal imports.</p>
<p>The change in the trajectory of opportunity is not quite as fundamental for steel-making raw materials. For iron ore, however, we have to contend with huge expansion of supply capacity around the world, some of it encouraged by misguided Australian restriction of Chinese direct investment in this country. The optimists of the early 21st century resources boom have been and are likely to be disappointed by volume and price. Of course, price and volume interact with each other: price will have to remain sufficiently low to discourage enough production to equilibrate supply with constrained demand.</p>
<p>The White Paper saves its credibility on projections of demand for coal and iron ore by providing medium, high and low projections of export volumes drawn from the Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics. The credibility is protected by the presence of the low projections.</p>
<p>The paper correctly draws attention to expanding markets for high value agricultural produce. Here the renewed emphasis on multilateral trade liberalisation is appropriate. Australian agriculture has been damaged by the proliferation of discriminatory arrangements for agricultural trade in Asia in the early 21st century, after the breaching of the earlier Asian commitment to non-discriminatory multilateral trade.</p>
<p>The White Paper correctly observes that some major Australian commodity exports will benefit exceptionally from rising Asian prosperity, gold amongst them. It notes that rare earths and some other minerals in which Australia is well-endowed with resources will benefit from expansion of renewable energy and electrification of transport within an effective global climate change mitigation effort.</p>
<h2>Which natural resources will benefit?</h2>
<p>The White Paper could usefully have drawn a stronger distinction between minerals and energy resources that will be negatively affected by structural change in Asia in the period ahead, and those that will not, or which may benefit from the change. Uranium will benefit from Chinese and Indian expansion of low-emissions nuclear energy generation.</p>
<p>Natural gas will for a time be the largest beneficiary of Asian intentions to change the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth. The uncertainty about Australia’s terms of trade in the 2020s has less to do with the diminished prospects for the staples of the early twenty first century boom–thermal and metallurgical coal and iron ore—than with the extent to which sources of lower-emissions energy will be boosted by structural change in Asia.</p>
<h2>Raising incomes sustainably</h2>
<p>So the White Paper scene is set for discussion of how Australia makes the most of a rapidly expanding Asian economy, whose import demand is focused increasingly on high-value goods and services. The points are well made about the more demanding requirements of opportunities for export of high-skill services and manufactured goods. There is no doubting the extent of the opportunities. Our success will depend on the skills of our people, and our capacity for innovation and continuing structural change. This will require a reformed education system, much better transport and communications and energy infrastructure, a better tax system.</p>
<p>This is where the White Paper should be grabbing our attention.</p>
<p>It sets challenging goals — perhaps the most challenging that an Australian Government has ever set - of raising per capita real incomes from $62,000 now to $73,000 by 2025. The Paper says that this would place us in the top 10 countries in output per person in purchasing parity terms.</p>
<p>It is noted that Australia’s terms of trade will fall somewhat by 2025 (and I expect them to fall further than the paper anticipates) and that ageing will slow growth in economic output. It notes that this increases the challenge of meeting the target.</p>
<p>Before we reject these goals as unattainable, let us consider what would be necessary to attain them, and whether their attainment would be worth the necessary disruption of temporary contemporary comforts. </p>
<p>Increasing average real incomes by 17% or 18% over 13 years may not sound that much. After all, we have seen that mean Australian real incomes rose by 108% from 2000 to 2011—through the tech-wreck recession in the United States and then the Great Crash of 2008 and its recessionary aftermath in the North Atlantic. What’s the big deal?</p>
<p>The hard bit is our starting point. Our growth in average incomes over the past 11 years has been driven by two exceptional and unsustainable economic expansions, following each other with a neatness of fit that goes well beyond ordinary good fortune. By the early years of the 21st century the strong productivity growth of the 1990s had run its course. </p>
<p>Strong growth in economic output and incomes was sustained by the largest consumption and housing boom that we have ever known, funded overwhelmingly by overseas wholesale borrowing by our banks. We enjoyed much of the pattern and extent of growth that is now recognised as having taken Spain and Ireland and the United Kingdom and the United States into a new era of slow growth, high unemployment and social tension. </p>
<p>We did some things better than Spain and our fellows of the Anglosphere. We did not go so far in the removal of official regulation of the financial sector. Our authorities began to impose tighter prudential constraints before the boomconditions had reached their natural apogee.</p>
<p>There is no doubting the contribution that economic reform over a quarter century. But for all that, the early pulling back from the consumption and housing boom was possible without recessionary consequences only because of the scale and timing of the China resources boom, with rising demand for thermal coal and steel-making raw materials at its centre.</p>
<p>The high incomes and expenditure after two successive booms of historic proportions define the starting point proposed for the goals on increases in output and incomes.</p>
<h2>An economic “soft landing”</h2>
<p>The first challenge is to come down from our hump in incomes and expenditure without precipitating recession and unemployment that will make every long-term goal more difficult to reach.</p>
<p>An Australian “soft landing” will require effective action on many fronts — all of them canvassed as being necessary from Australia doing well in the Asian Century. And all of these things are worth doing: maintenance of the disciplined fiscal framework within which we have been working since the stimulus in response to the Great Crash of 2008; radical lifting of education performance at schools and universities—in general and in relation to understanding Asia; providing transport and communications infrastructure in radically different ways; reforming the tax system for greater efficiency while maintaining and probably increasing the revenue yield; and more generally building a high-skill economy that responds quickly and flexibly to myriad new opportunities in Asia.</p>
<p>Following an Australian “soft landing” with a sustainable return to incomes growth is possible only if we remove many barriers to economic efficiency that have previously been too hard to confront. It requires us to face up to reform of Commonwealth-State fiscal relations, because the education and infrastructure problems will not be overcome unless we do. It means many hard things.</p>
<p>The best thing about the White Paper is that it could provide us with a framework for breaking away from the <a href="http://www.rossgarnaut.com.au/Documents/Breaking%20the%20Australian%20Complacency%20of%20the%2021st%20Century%202005.pdf">Great Australian Complacency of the Early Twenty First Century</a>. It may make it possible for mean Australian incomes to be 17% or 18% higher in 2025 than they are today.</p>
<p>But in the meantime and for quite a while, we have to hold our expenditures within the diminished constraints imposed by the end of the two great booms, and the structural change in Chinese economic growth. That doesn’t mean not doing any new things; it does mean not doing new things without cutting out old ones of lower priority. That won’t be easy after the doubling of average real incomes over the past 11 years. Our history informs us that it won’t be possible except in a context of shared sacrifice.</p>
<p>But it will be worth the effort. This is the next step towards making the most of the immense opportunities for Australia in the Asian century.</p>
<p>It will be time to think about spending increased incomes from successful reform to hitch a ride on the Asian century after we have earned them and they are in the bank.</p>
<p><em>Ross Garnaut is the author of the 1989 report, <a href="http://www.rossgarnaut.com.au/Papers.html">Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendancy</a>. He delivered this speech at the <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.com/miaesr/events/conferences/Outlook_2012/conference_outlook_2012_default.html">Securing the Future 2012 Economic and Social Outlook Conference</a>, held at the University of Melbourne.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I chair the Board of mining company that is owned by a charitable trust, Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Limited, but I do not see any conflict between that role and the authorship of this article. My superannuation fund owns shares in a number of countries that export goods and services to Asia, but I do not see how this creates a conflict of interest with authorship of this article. </span></em></p>The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper is the first large-scale official look in the 21st Century at economic change in Asia and how it affects Australian opportunities and challenges. It is ambitious…Ross Garnaut, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104552012-11-01T05:10:32Z2012-11-01T05:10:32ZAsian century goal relies on unjust rankings for universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17129/original/wg5wb2dm-1351659183.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4368%2C2641&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Older universities are at a clear advantage in certain rankings – Monash University's Vice-Chancellor Ed Byrne explains why.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Asian century white paper – <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/about">released this week</a> – presents a clear vision for the role of Australian universities in building links with Asia. </p>
<p>To underscore this, the government announced a new target to have ten Australian universities among the top 100 in the world by 2025. But instead of using a composite or average of all the university ranking measures, the paper suggests just one – the Shanghai Jiao Tong rankings.</p>
<p>But the Jiao Tong, also known as the <a href="http://www.arwu.org/">Academic Ranking of World Universities</a> (ARWU), has flaws and should not be relied upon as the sole measure for Australian universities.</p>
<h2>Reliable rankings?</h2>
<p>Ranking universities is notoriously difficult and many use different criteria to assess research output and quality. Around 70% of the evaluation in the ARWU rankings is robust, but the remaining 30% is based solely on the number of Fields and Nobel Prize winners. </p>
<p>On this criteria, younger universities can’t compete – they tend to have fewer prize-winners and are put at a real disadvantage. They are effectively judged on only .7 of the total score. </p>
<p>With so many young institutions in Australia, the government’s target for Australian universities using just ARWU is almost impossible.</p>
<h2>Why younger universities miss out</h2>
<p>There are several reasons why younger universities are less likely to have Nobel Prize winners. </p>
<p>First, the work that leads to these awards is often done decades before the prize is received. This is because it usually takes that long for the significance of the work to become clear. For example, one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine, John Gurdon, was recognised for a discovery he made in 1962.</p>
<p>Second, credence is only given to the graduating institution and the current institution. The connection between the site of one’s original graduation and the work that earns a Nobel Prize is often tenuous – the work is usually done quite some time afterwards, typically after much post-doctoral experience and a series of academic positions in a range of institutions.</p>
<p>Third, a maximum of three scientists can receive the awards, but often many more than three people are involved in the discovery. In great discoveries one typically stands on the shoulders of other people - some giants and some not. An <em>ad hoc</em> committee’s determination of who the three most significant contributors were may be somewhat arbitrary.</p>
<p>Ultimately the committee’s decision is also subjective. When a committee distinguishes one achievement as standing head and shoulders above others, it necessarily calls upon personal opinion as much as scientific data. This is obviously true for the literature prize but just as true in the sciences. </p>
<p>It’s also true that the Nobel Laureate may have a relatively weak link with the university to which they are attributed. Often the work is done in an affiliated institution, such as a medical research institution. The scientist may have little contact across the university or with teaching or students.</p>
<p>Finally, the inclusion of Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals is to some extent double dipping. Scientists’ output is already recognised in rankings scales through high-impact, high-citation papers and that indeed is how they should be judged.</p>
<h2>Research favouritism</h2>
<p>The use of measures such as a Nobel Prize favours older, better-established institutions that go back decades. It is very hard for younger institutions, even those that are breaking through very rapidly to great excellence, to have the same opportunities for Nobels.</p>
<p>The ARWU rankings put far too much emphasis on this single award. There are a large number of awards in academia and science, some of which have great prestige in themselves.</p>
<p>Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals are lagging indicators. At a time of such rapid change in
human knowledge and science it is a major flaw to use a university ranking system that
places such weight from measures from the past.</p>
<p>Of course, those who get Nobel Prizes fully deserve them but there are often many other candidates who could have been considered with equal validity.</p>
<p>We are a young country with young institutions – getting ten Australian Universities into the top 100 in the ARWU will be difficult. The government needs to consider a broader based assessment of university excellence, not just one problematic measure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ed Byrne is Vice Chancellor of Monash University. He has received a wide range of funding over his career.</span></em></p>The Asian century white paper – released this week – presents a clear vision for the role of Australian universities in building links with Asia. To underscore this, the government announced a new target…Ed Byrne, Vice Chancellor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104272012-10-31T23:20:57Z2012-10-31T23:20:57ZAcross the curriculum: access to Asian languages isn’t everything<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17109/original/sxrtf494-1351646056.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4288%2C2708&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asian languages are important, but they should be one part of a greater focus on Asia in the curriculum.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Asian image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite the breadth of issues in the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/about">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a> released this week, so far the debate has focused largely on language learning in schools. With fewer and fewer students taking up Asian languages at all levels of education this is an important issue. </p>
<p>But there are big questions around whether this focus on access to Asian languages is all that’s needed. And how, in the first place, we can convince young Australians to learn an Asian language. After all, just because school children have access to Asian languages (<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/online-no-substitute-for-teachers/story-fng5k1ek-1226505648897">via the NBN</a>) doesn’t mean they will sign up for them. </p>
<p>The key is to think broadly about teaching both Asian studies and Asian languages at the same time.</p>
<h2>Wider focus</h2>
<p>First, let’s look at why the focus can’t all be about access to Asian languages. The new, national curriculum has a cross-curriculum priority called “Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia”. </p>
<p>This important statement means teachers should prioritise Asian case studies and examples when developing classroom content. But how this translates into the practical application in schools is important. </p>
<p>There is a concern that principals may guide teachers to think that given the Asian language priority, there’s no need to worry about teaching Asian studies in the rest of the curriculum. But this undermines the aim of the new national curriculum and could work against language learning in the long-term.</p>
<p>If we have good Asian studies examples, students will see the benefit of learning Asian languages as part of their education.
Placing Asian case studies in history, geography, even maths, will encourage students to see the importance of Asia and could help increase demand for Asian language learning later on.</p>
<p>This cross-curriculum priority cannot just be words on a page. It will need to fund good programs to encourage teachers to study the dynamic and evolving nature of Asian society, culture and politics.</p>
<h2>Asian literacy</h2>
<p>So we need a dual focus here, to encourage an understanding of Asia as well as its languages. But that doesn’t mean, like some have suggested that Asian languages aren’t crucial, or that they <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/lost-in-translation--why-gillards-plan-wont-work-20121030-28hs3.html">should remain in the too hard basket</a>. </p>
<p>It can be hard to explain the importance of being able to communicate in another language. More intelligent, eloquent and worldly people than me have tried and failed, but here’s my attempt.</p>
<p>It is a bit like explaining to someone who can’t swim, why they should learn to. The prospect is a bit daunting, particularly if they haven’t learnt as a child. And barring an emergency, if you try hard enough, you can get by on this earth without ever needing to jump in the ocean or swim in a lake. Swimming is also taught at school, despite the fact we are not all going to be the next Ian Thorpe or Stephanie Rice.</p>
<p>Similarly, most of us aren’t going to end up as expert Indonesian linguists or completely fluent in Mandarin. You can avoid travelling overseas to non-English speaking countries, or rely on everyone speaking English when you get there, or even on translation programs when you need. But this seems to me like relying on state-of-the-art life jackets, instead of learning to breaststroke.</p>
<p>Learning a language, like swimming, can be a life-changing experience. And just as most people don’t regret learning to swim, most who have learnt another language and have used that language at some point in their lives don’t regret that either. </p>
<p>As more people learn an Asian language in the Asian Century, they’ll come to see the benefit of this skill, just as we eventually come to see the benefit of attending all those swimming classes.</p>
<h2>The challenge ahead</h2>
<p>At the front line in this battle is the decline of Indonesian languages and studies in Australia. The white paper singles out Indonesian as one of the four key Asian languages to which students should have access, but how do we encourage Australian schools to sign up for Indonesian? </p>
<p>In NSW public schools, more than 44,000 students were studying Indonesian in 1996. In 2011, that number has been reduced to only 6,000, with only 82 students studying Indonesian language in year 12 last year. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/indonesian-knowledge-is-dying-just-when-we-need-it-most-5630">Professor David Hill’s report</a> has found, at the present drop-off rate, most Indonesian departments at Australian universities will die out by 2020. </p>
<p>It is partly why, when the live cattle dispute erupted last year, we didn’t have many experts on the ground in Indonesia with sound knowledge of the cattle industry. It’s essential that the government implements the recommendations in Hill’s report.</p>
<h2>Study support</h2>
<p>Long-term support for both Asian studies and languages will be key, as schools and universities won’t bother with difficult change if they think this is a flash-in-the-pan initiative. </p>
<p>As the white paper clearly explains, if we are going to negotiate future challenges, and make the most of any opportunities that might come our way in the Asian Century, we want to give our children the best education to do so. </p>
<p>Implementing long-term programs which support both Asian studies and languages concurrently will give us the best chance of success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ross Tapsell is a lecturer in Asian studies at the Australian National University. He is co-ordinating the ANU's EngageAsia program.</span></em></p>Despite the breadth of issues in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper released this week, so far the debate has focused largely on language learning in schools. With fewer and fewer students…Ross Tapsell, Lecturer in Asian Studies, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103712012-10-30T22:57:45Z2012-10-30T22:57:45ZAustralia has to fund the Asian century, whether we like it or not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17014/original/jnptk64d-1351494132.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia is all for engaging with India. But are we willing to pay?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Anindito Mukherjee</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It will take some time for the full detail of the Asian Century White Paper to be digested by the public and elaborated by the government, especially by Craig Emerson as the designated Asian century minister.</p>
<p>However, at this very early point there are apparent continuities between what we saw the Prime Minister do in her recent trip to India, and what appears in the report. Put perhaps too crassly, in India we saw a lot of reference to what is already going on, and an absence of a clear forward funding direction and commitment. The same might be said of the White Paper.</p>
<h2>All talk, no cash</h2>
<p>For example, during the prime minister’s stay in India, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations announced it would [fund five professorial chairs](http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/joint-statement-prime-minister-australia-and-prime-minister-india](http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/joint-statement-prime-minister-australia-and-prime-minister-india ) in Australian universities. While full details are not yet available, if those chairs were to be fully funded (including Australian salaries plus on-costs), that would mean India was supporting at least $1 million per year. In return, Prime Minister Gillard announced that the already established Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne would be funded at $500,000 per year over the next three years.</p>
<p>There are two notable things about this. First, there was no reciprocal move to fund, say, Australian Studies chairs in India, where some small but excellent institutional efforts are helping deepen understanding about Australia. Second, “investment” in the Australia India Institute must be seen as puny, at best. </p>
<p>Beyond even that minimal investment, there was little else in New Delhi but a repetition of past initiatives. The Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, the Australia-India Fellowship Scheme and the Australia-India Education Council are all under way, the first having done good work, but there was really nothing new, substantive or ground-breaking. The new Water Technology Partnership will be helpful, but is unlikely to take the overall relationship to the new levels being talked about.</p>
<h2>Asian literacy</h2>
<p>Chapter six in the report concerns “<a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper/chapter-6">Building Capabilities</a>)”, and covers educational issues. This is an important section. Whatever else might be argued, the educational platform on which we build our Asian capability will determine the ultimate success of future regional engagement, and the report essentially acknowledges this.</p>
<p>While there is an essence of truth in suggestions that Australia’s expertise in, say, India, has shifted away from a traditional base in the humanities that is no argument against the need to increase broad Asia literacy. It might well be, for example, that medical scientists and engineers are now venturing into India from Australia, but without a cultural understanding base those ventures will prove problematic. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102944731">Green Revolution in India</a>, initially a more technocratic development, ended up with a lot of unforseen social consequences simply because of the absence of a cultural basis of understanding. The white paper does argue for such an understanding being developed – there will be more Asia expertise on company boards, for example – but there is no real explanation of or practical mechanism for creating that understanding.</p>
<h2>Fighting the funding freeze</h2>
<p>As far as universities go, one main “objective” is to have ten Australian institutions in the world’s top 100 by 2025 (there is no mention of which ranking system might be the arbiter). The school system will be in the top five globally. The logic is that the current tertiary sector reforms will keep assisting Australia to better engage with Asia over the coming period. Australia will provide a “world-class education” as a result of those ongoing reforms and as part of that will produce “Asia-relevant capabilities”. Indeed, the universities are seen as the site for the production of top-level expertise and specialised knowledge/skills on Asia.</p>
<p>It should be noted here that these aims are set against an awkward backdrop. There is a war of words between the government and the higher education sector about <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-funding-falls-victim-to-short-term-politics-10215">research funding</a> “increases” or “decreases”. This is funding that has a significant bearing on universities’ ability to investigate then enlighten about Asian subjects and issues. </p>
<p>The government sees uncapped university places as an addition to capacity, in that more students get trained, but the sector sees a challenge to the “quality” that government also sees as one of the products of its reforms to date. All that is subsumed with the broader funding debate, with the government effectively sitting on the Base Funding Review report that has investigated the efficacy of current funding systems and levels. This is hardly an indicator of commitment to funding Asian century initiatives, especially in view of the current scramble to create a budget surplus.</p>
<p>That major caveat aside, the objectives in chapter six are sound but unremarkable: a larger number of Australian students will study overseas and take a part of their degrees in Asia, while all universities will have formalised links in Asia. Many in the system will be unmoved by this.</p>
<p>Australia was a leader in the University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) program that encouraged and supported student study exchange that began back in the 1990s – an Asian educational leader recently told me he wished Australia would come back into that program strongly, because we left it. And there must surely be no university in Australia without a formal exchange program in Asia? Most will have had several for years.</p>
<h2>Friends or opportunists?</h2>
<p>India appears in chapter six, mainly in reference to the massive upgrade program there that intends to improve the skills of up to 500 million people. The idea is that Australia will be a major provider of services to that program, an idea that has been working away for some time.</p>
<p>It is a variation on the theme earlier in the Asian Century report that targets the “rising middle class” in Asia as a source for the consumption of Australian goods and services, including the lucrative if now challenging international student industry. The ever-present danger here is that Australia gets read as an opportunist rather than as a partner, despite all the rhetoric that <a href="http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-press-conference-new-delhi-india-0">stresses the partnership approach</a>. The Asian century paper does not dispatch that view entirely: there are lofty aims, not much hard cash commitment, but several “opportunities” cited.</p>
<p>The Asian Century White Paper is welcome, then, and will be much pondered upon. However, if the India case is anything to go by, the gap between desire and action might take some time and effort to narrow, and time is not all that readily available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Stoddart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It will take some time for the full detail of the Asian Century White Paper to be digested by the public and elaborated by the government, especially by Craig Emerson as the designated Asian century minister…Brian Stoddart, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104102012-10-30T02:59:31Z2012-10-30T02:59:31ZAsian Century White Paper is a foreign policy fail, but not by accident<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17030/original/4yvjy8hf-1351557781.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Paucity of detail on foreign policy indicates the Federal Government's approach to the Asian Century is more about using Asia as a foil to promote domestic reforms.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>For a policy document purporting to map out future directions for Australia in the so-called “Asian Century”, the recently released White Paper pays remarkably scant regard to foreign policy.</p>
<p>Several chapters discuss in great detail the economic and regulatory reforms required to help Australia thrive in the rapidly changing global economic climate. Changes to school curricula and higher education also get considerable attention. But foreign policy appears to have been left almost as an afterthought.</p>
<p>The only chapter in which traditional foreign policy concerns, such as security and overseas development assistance, are explicitly canvassed is Chapter 8. And in a report in which many recommendations are essentially aspirational and currently unfunded, this chapter’s recommendations are the most aspirational and the least specific of all.</p>
<p>Indeed, the only measures currently funded for immediate implementation by the Foreign Ministry are the deployment of a Jakarta-based ambassador to ASEAN and 12,000 Australia Award (Asian Century) scholarships. To be sure, the latter is a substantial and welcome commitment but reflects an extension of Australia’s current scholarship program and not a new initiative.</p>
<p>The thinness of the White Paper’s foreign policy analysis and recommendations is revealing. It reflects not so much an oversight by the authors, but two important and related factors, which are crucial to understand in order to make sense of the White Paper’s origins and prospects.</p>
<p>First, increasing economic interdependence over the past few decades has blurred the boundaries between domestic and foreign policy to a considerable extent, leading in some cases to the latter’s extinction as a distinct policy realm. This blurring of previously well-demarcated policy realms is not unique to Australia.</p>
<p>Consider the issue of trade – traditionally seen as a foreign policy matter. Australia was a leader in the promotion of trade liberalisation in the Asia Pacific in the 1980s and 1990s, through the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum, and globally through its support for the Uruguay Round and the World Trade Organization.</p>
<p>But as the White Paper mentions in passing, the traditional trade liberalisation agenda is currently stuck. Instead, emphasis has shifted over the past decade from eliminating barriers and tariffs to harmonising regulation of issues such as intellectual property rights, or in some cases labour and environmental standards. These of course are all domestic policy issues and are treated as such by the White Paper.</p>
<p>The second factor is more Australia-specific. It relates to the long-term role played by “Asia” – or Australian imaginings of Asia to be precise – in the constitution of Australian national identity. Right from Federation, Australian governments have sought to justify their domestic political agendas with reference to the supposed implications of proximity to Asia.</p>
<p>As Prime Minister Gillard noted when launching the White Paper, Asia was viewed in the early days of Australian Federation as a threat to Australians, with the “working man’s paradise” seen to be dependent on keeping Asia – and Asians – out.</p>
<p>More recently, during the reform days of the Hawke and Keating governments, the rise of an increasingly affluent and competitive Asia at Australia’s doorstep was the “stick” with which the government sought to beat both unions and business into accepting its economic liberalisation agenda.</p>
<p>Australia, it was often argued then, had no choice but to open up its economy, at a considerable cost to sectors such as manufacturing, or be left behind and become poorer and increasingly irrelevant.</p>
<p>The clothing of deeply political domestic agendas in the technocratic language of economic and regulatory reform borne out of necessity links the current White Paper with its predecessors, notably the 1989 Garnaut Report.</p>
<p>There is, of course, no denying the massive economic and social transformations that have occurred in Asia over the past few decades. But the drivers of these transformations and their implications for Australia are contested.</p>
<p>Critics of the 1980s and 1990s economic liberalisation agenda argued, for example, that the so-called “Asian miracle” was the result of massive state intervention in markets and not wholesale economic liberalisation as the Garnaut Report and the government argued at the time.</p>
<p>Similarly, the governments of China, Japan and Korea are currently busy negotiating free trade agreements with resource-rich countries to secure not freer markets but preferential access to key resources.</p>
<p>This contest of ideas was never reflected in the Garnaut Report and is likewise missing in the recent White Paper. Once again, notwithstanding the White Paper’s promise of inclusive growth, we hear that further economic liberalisation is the only path to future prosperity for Australia. Once again, the reality of painful political battles, of “winners” and “losers” in the Asian Century, is masked by the technocratic tone of the White Paper.</p>
<p>And here is the rub: this White Paper is not really about Asia. It is about using Asia to promote domestic reforms within Australia. The relative insignificance of foreign policy within the White Paper is therefore not a coincidence. But whether this government is capable of harnessing Asia’s rise to win the domestic political battles ahead remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shahar Hameiri receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>For a policy document purporting to map out future directions for Australia in the so-called “Asian Century”, the recently released White Paper pays remarkably scant regard to foreign policy. Several chapters…Shahar Hameiri, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103942012-10-29T19:46:39Z2012-10-29T19:46:39ZGet ready to learn Hindi: education in the Asian century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16990/original/7ngmt66x-1351479491.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting Hindi into schools will be a challenged, but it's worth the effort.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">romana klee</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rapid rise of Asia means that Australia and the world find themselves in new strategic circumstances in this century. And that has immense implications for our young people. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a> sets out an ambitious roadmap to make sure we achieve an Asia capable skill set by 2025. And that’s not a moment too soon. Five-year-olds who start school in Australia today enter the workforce in 2025 just as China and India become the world’s top economies.</p>
<p>Complacent for too long, we have needed a major change, and the white paper should give us that. This is not a government report – it is government policy.</p>
<h2>A win for language</h2>
<p>The white paper positions learning about Asia as business as usual in all schools. All children from the start of primary school will have the chance to learn about Asia including its languages, histories, geographies and cultures through the new Australian curriculum.</p>
<p>Importantly, their progress will be tracked. We haven’t had commitment to do that before - to know how our children are progressing is a vital to ensure that schools take this curriculum priority seriously.</p>
<p>All Australian schools are to be linked to a school in Asia to support language studies and to forge friendships with young people in China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand and across the region.</p>
<p>All Australian students will have the opportunity to undertake a continuous course of Asian language study from Year 1 to Year 12 with priority on Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and now Hindi.</p>
<p>The inclusion of Hindi as a priority Asian language is new. Currently only a handful of Australian schools teach Hindi and scaling this up will be a challenge. But the decision to include Hindi is welcome and consistent with the growing importance of India globally and to Australia. The fact that only 12% of Indians speak English has been too little understood and we have been complacent about the need to know India better.</p>
<h2>Improving schools</h2>
<p>Most importantly, the white paper’s school education objectives will be written into the upcoming <a href="http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/better-schools-national-plan-school-improvement">National Plan for School Improvement</a>. This plan is the federal government’s response to the Gonski review on school funding. It means that literacy objectives set out in the white paper are not an isolated education program. They are integrated into our national plan for improving all schools – required by all schools and all education systems. Asia capability is core, essential and necessary and the plan has funding attached to it to achieve this.</p>
<p>The white paper requires all education authorities at all levels, state and federal, to develop detailed strategies for the study of Asia and Asian languages to become a core part of Australian school education.</p>
<p>The education objectives must surely have bipartisan support taking into account that opposition leader Tony Abbott has been calling for a <a href="http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/better-schools-national-plan-school-improvement">massive scale-up</a> of young Australians studying an Asian language.</p>
<p>Bipartisan support is vital. Recent experience demonstrates that there is no short-term fix for Australian schooling. It will require substantial investment from both federal and state governments and we need a long term plan in place to guide progress.</p>
<p>If we lose this white paper’s momentum to equip our young people to navigate the Asian century, we do so at Australia’s peril.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathe Kirby works for Asialink at The University of Melbourne. Asialink's education arm, the Asia Education Foundation receives core funding from the Federal Government to promote and support Asia literacy in Australian schools.</span></em></p>The rapid rise of Asia means that Australia and the world find themselves in new strategic circumstances in this century. And that has immense implications for our young people. The Australia in the Asian…Kathe Kirby, Executive Director, Asialink and Asia Education Foundation, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103982012-10-29T19:11:19Z2012-10-29T19:11:19ZAsian Century White Paper is big on rhetoric, small on ideas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17006/original/nrzhd4c7-1351485294.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Asian Century White Paper offers a lot of grand rhetoric, but little in the way of serious policy ideas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australia in the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Asian Century White Paper</a> has vaulting ambitions equally matched by a limited set of policy ideas for institutional reform.</p>
<p>Unlike Ross Garnaut’s 1989 report, <a href="http://www.rossgarnaut.com.au/Papers.html">Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendancy</a>, which served a menu of economic reform, the white paper is constituted as a “road map” directed at changing the institutional culture of social, economic, and educational institutions for the Asian century. </p>
<p>But it neglects the real and thorny political choices needed to create the “fair and prosperous society” proposed within its pages. Such a society is a laudable objective and the report is a timely recognition that it is not economic growth alone, but <em>inclusive</em> economic growth that matters. Indeed, the report sets out what you could call a social-democratic model for Australia’s post-industrial economy in the Asian century. But how do we get there? </p>
<p>On this issue, the report is disappointing. Institutional reform is the key to the Asian century, but this boils down to technocratic engineering: making institutions more capable or literate. According to the report, the crucial problem is one of cultural adaptation, and only echoes the old slogan of “Asian literacy”, under the garb of “Asia capability”.</p>
<p>Taking the high road to prosperity in Asia requires the right structural incentives, the capacity to discipline institutions and — above all — an investment in public goods. For example, the report’s authors claim that ANZ is an “Asia-capable institution”, but is this enough to drive ANZ to invest in higher levels of training for their staff, or to contribute to feeding and funding innovation? </p>
<p>Similarly, speaking Mandarin or <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-gains-its-rightful-place-in-the-asian-century-white-paper-10331">Hindi</a> is not going to make us an innovative nation, or even understand the region better. In this regard, the report also ignores the cultural capabilities and resources that already exist within our pluralistic society. Let me take the area of education. There is much in the report about internationalisation, and giving students greater exposure to Asian languages based on the naïve assumption that communication skills will lead to cultural competence. But none of this will lead to the “globalisation” of educational institutions, or promote research collaboration with Asian institutions. </p>
<p>The white paper seems to neglect the growing shift of knowledge to Asia, the <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-12/world-ranking/region/asia">growth of research universities in the region</a> – in China, Korea and India – and the need to build strategic alliances and collaboration with these research institutions. Despite all its exhortations to be “Asia capable”, the white paper appears to have a simplistic view of Asia as a manufacturing platform. And here is the rub: public goods are needed to create, facilitate, and develop collaboration with Asia.</p>
<p>One elephant in the room – though there seems to be a veritable elephant park in the white paper – is fiscal austerity. Over the next decade, fiscal constraints will mean that driving innovation and knowledge for the Asian century will be limited. This means that if we are serious about creating a knowledge economy, we need to face issues of tax reform as well as novel solutions such as the use of super funds to invest in innovation. </p>
<p>One gets the feeling that the <a href="http://www.taxreview.treasury.gov.au/Content/Content.aspx?doc=html/home.htm">Henry tax review</a> probably had more relevance for the Asian Century. But all of this requires serious, hard political choices that the report ducks.</p>
<p>The related point here is that the “cultural adaptation” argument invariably refers to a region “out there”, rather than seeing Australia as a part of the region. For example, one of the great benefits of research and strategic collaboration with the region is that we can partner with Asia to confront the societal and scientific challenges confronting all of us in the region. If we do really want to take the high road to Asia, we need to see the region as part of us — and not a canvas on which to etch out our particular vision of prosperity.</p>
<p>Just as we make political choices, the direction and patterns of growth in Asia will also be shaped by political choices in places like China. We need to be conscious of the fact that the growth model in China is tied to the US. With low growth for the foreseeable future in the US, this places lot of pressure on the export model upon which Chinese growth is pinned. What are the political pressures involved in China shifting to a new growth model, and what are its implications for Australia? A report with a different intellectual frame is needed to comprehend and confront the institutional reforms here and in the region.</p>
<p>The Asian Century white paper sets out the major question for the next decade: How do we get to the high road of innovation and productivity in the Asian Century? This is a laudable objective, but we need more work on the policies to get us on that road in the first place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10398/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kanishka Jayasuriya University of Adelaide. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper has vaulting ambitions equally matched by a limited set of policy ideas for institutional reform. Unlike Ross Garnaut’s 1989 report, Australia and the Northeast…Kanishka Jayasuriya, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Indo-Pacific Governance Research Centre, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103672012-10-29T02:56:53Z2012-10-29T02:56:53ZIn the Asian Century, there’s no such thing as success without sacrifice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16989/original/nh7b669z-1351477900.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Asian Century will present Australia with economic opportunities, as well as significant challenges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>By 2025, Asia will account for nearly half of world output. Even under conservative growth scenarios, three out of the world’s five largest economies will be in Asia.</p>
<p>By the same year, income per person in Australia will be in the world’s top 10, up 18% from its current level.</p>
<p>It will be Asia’s economic rise that will underpin Australia’s prosperity.</p>
<p>Such are the bright economic possibilities painted by the federal government’s white paper on <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century</a>.</p>
<p>The white paper is the natural successor to Ross Garnaut’s <a href="http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2864496">Australia and the North East Asian Ascendancy</a>, a report commissioned by the Federal Government in the late 1980s. Both are couched in the same terms: Asia’s economic rise is a great opportunity for Australia, but there is no inevitability about Australian success.</p>
<p>This time around, the white paper emphasises that Asia should no longer be viewed primarily as a source of cheap labour. Rather, what should capture our economic imagination is that it will be home to most of the world’s urban middle class. This group will not only demand our natural resources, but also high value-added manufactured goods, and services such as education and tourism to name but a few.</p>
<p>There is much to like about the white paper.</p>
<p>It focuses on the right part of the world over the right time horizon. Rather than agonising over whether Greece will default, or what China’s growth rate next quarter will be, it focuses on long-term trends about which we can be more confident, and which ultimately are far more important for our national well-being.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, after having perused the document, I had three nagging concerns.</p>
<p>First, in introducing the white paper, the Prime Minister made much of the fact that Australia was embarking on the Asian Century from a position of strength. Unfortunately, such optimism sometimes borders on delusion; we would be better served by a greater sense of urgency.</p>
<p>Our trade links with Asia were trumpeted. Indeed, the white paper undertook to further strengthen these links to account for at least one-third of GDP by 2025, up from the present level of one-quarter. But what about our investment linkages, which are so vibrant with respect to the US and Europe, but which lag so badly with respect to Asia? There was nothing close to even an aspirational numerical target for investment.</p>
<p>The white paper merely observed that “investment links between Australia and the region are low relative to our trade relationship” and contended that “two-way investment links with our region should continue to grow over time”. Can we really simply assume that one day they will catch up?</p>
<p>Asia’s economic rise is not a new phenomenon. Yet according to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5352.0">ABS data</a>, over the past decade the five key countries identified in the white paper – China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Korea – only accounted for 9.6% of the increase in the foreign capital stock in Australia. If Japan is taken out of the calculation, then the number falls to just 3.3%. These figures are alarming and certainly do not constitute starting from a position of strength.</p>
<p>Second, in my view, the white paper tended to understate the challenges that many Australian businesses will face in the Asian Century. It was emphasised that businesses must adapt to the demands of Asia’s emerging middle class and position themselves in the global value chain at the high end. Productivity growth would be fundamental.</p>
<p>This is good generic advice. But even the most productive of Australian manufacturing businesses will struggle to achieve export success in a high exchange rate environment caused by the demand for our natural resources. Remember, unlike minerals production, Australia does not have a near-monopoly on high value-added manufacturing, nor education or tourism — far from it. Yet since 2009, the real effective exchange rate in the US has fallen by 10%, while in Australia it has strengthened by 23%. That businesses outside the mining sector are struggling is plainly evident. In 2008-09, Australia’s exports of <a href="http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/stats-pubs/mtd/australia_trade_1006.pdf">elaboratively transformed manufactures</a> — that is, manufactured goods that have a high value added component — totalled $29.5 billion. By 2011-2012, this number had actually fallen to $28.1 billion. During this period, the structure of Australia’s economy and exports became more skewed towards mining, an industry whose output comes with a use-by date attached.</p>
<p>Third, in articulating the types of policies that will be needed to succeed in the Asian Century, the white paper was mostly silent on what will need to be sacrificed. Nowhere was this more clearly seen than in the case of higher education. If higher value added production is to be the name of the game, then clearly that begins with investing in human capital. Consistent with this, several relevant numerical targets were set: by 2025 the proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds holding a qualification at the bachelor level or above will rise by 5 percentage points, the proportion of higher education enrolments from low socioeconomic backgrounds will rise by 3 percentage points, 10 of Australia’s universities will be in the world’s top 100, and so on. In other words, Australian universities will need to produce more teaching and research, and of a higher quality. Yet at the same time, the fiscal target is to achieve budget surpluses, on average, over the medium term. Something has to give.</p>
<p>The economic rise of Asia provides a worthy focus of government policy. Noting the opportunities it provides is the easy part. What comes now — seizing these opportunities and reaping the rewards — is much harder.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Laurenceson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By 2025, Asia will account for nearly half of world output. Even under conservative growth scenarios, three out of the world’s five largest economies will be in Asia. By the same year, income per person…James Laurenceson, Senior Lecturer, School of Economics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103312012-10-29T00:37:29Z2012-10-29T00:37:29ZIndia gains its rightful place in the Asian century white paper<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16970/original/w6mcc4cn-1351467808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3344%2C2186&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">India faces many challenges as it rises to prominence in the Asian century.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jagadeesh NV</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a> places India in a position of much greater significance than it has previously achieved in our national consciousness. After decades of neglect and even a history of suspicion about India’s strategic designs, Australia now clearly attaches serious importance to India across the board – from trade and investment to cultural, sporting education and migration links.</p>
<p>The timing of the launch could not have been better, coming just two weeks after a <a href="https://theconversation.com/gillards-delhi-challenge-win-over-india-and-get-the-pm-down-under-10117">state visit</a> by prime minister Julia Gillard to New Delhi. There, Gillard underlined the increasing importance of India for Australia, announcing plans to remove some lingering irritants in the relationship, by starting negotiations for a safeguards treaty so Australia can proceed with uranium sales to India. The white paper further signals Australia’s new thinking about more comprehensive engagement with India.</p>
<h2>The India of the future</h2>
<p>India is identified as one of five key regional nations that are most important to Australia, along with China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. This is not surprising. India has emerged as increasingly attractive to Australia for exports of commodities, as a supplier of large numbers of full-fee paying international students and for two-way investment.</p>
<p>Indeed, the paper projects India as the world’s number three economy by 2025, and with its youthful demographic profile India may become the most economically vibrant destination for Australia’s energy exports, education and other services. The economic imperatives are well understood. </p>
<p>The report is informed and clear-sighted about both the opportunities and risks that face India. India’s middle class will grow in number. The report does not present figures for the <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-02-06/news/28424975_1_middle-class-households-applied-economic-research">size of India’s middle class</a> but other estimates for recent years range from 14 to 200 (or even 500) million; clearly, much depends on which consuming groups are included in the definition.</p>
<p>Their disposable income will also rise. In the future Indians will come to Australia in significant numbers as tourists, students, businesspeople and migrants. Indians will continue to move from the countryside to cities. The growing requirement for food and infrastructure will generate continuing demand for resources from Australia.</p>
<h2>Challenges ahead</h2>
<p>But the path ahead is not a smooth one. India will face many challenges. It will have to secure sources of energy for its huge and still growing population. Global warming will pose difficult challenges for agriculture and coastal populations. India’s large cohort of young people will require huge investments in education and training institutions on a scale beyond anything the country has yet tackled. Regional disparities, caste and religious discrimination and the low status of too many of India’s women are also recognised as significant impediments which India will have to overcome.</p>
<p>The report also recognises that India’s unique development model, which is driven by services rather than manufacturing, as was the case in East Asia, also has significant risks. If India is to employ its huge number of semi-skilled young people in manufacturing, it will need to cut government red tape, make land acquisition less cumbersome and free up restrictions on the hiring and firing of workers.</p>
<h2>Switching the hyphens</h2>
<p>Also well understood is India’s rising strategic importance in the Indo-Pacific region, including, of course, a key role in the Indian Ocean where Australia and India can cooperate on a range of issues. More implicit is the broadening of Australia’s strategic thinking beyond the previous approach to India that was narrowly constructed in the context of South Asia. For the past half century this meant “India–Pakistan”, a hyphen signalling that in Australia’s strategic perspective, India and Pakistan were inextricably linked and deserving of equal treatment, despite differences in their population size, political governance and economic and legal structures. </p>
<p>The white paper signals that the hyphen with Pakistan is gone. But now a different type of hyphenation appears to be in place – with China. For example, the paper emphasises that China and India will remain Asia’s two economic growth centres; visitor numbers to Australia from China and India will continue to increase; and importantly, Australia’s relationship with China and India will be the immediate priority for future development. More on this linkage is likely to come in Australia’s defence white paper due early next year.</p>
<h2>Teaching Hindi</h2>
<p>One of the paper’s major surprises is the proposal to make Hindi – India’s main language – one of four priority languages, with Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian. </p>
<p>Hindi has barely figured in foreign language teaching in Australia, although the Asian Studies Association of Australia has always argued for its importance. While this is a welcome move, the real challenge is effective implementation. </p>
<p>Student demand has been weak, and Australian universities have never paid serious attention to teaching Hindi, so there is a serious lack of professionally trained Hindi language teachers. Simply recruiting Hindi-speaking residents in Australia to fill teaching positions as a cost-saving measure will set the program off to a flawed start.</p>
<p>Only a well planned, long-term strategy and significant investment in training skillful teachers can produce the pool of Hindi-speaking businessmen, public servants, educators and citizens that Australia needs to pursue the close linkages with India envisaged in the Asian century white paper.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Purnendra Jain receives funding from the Australain Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Mayer has received funding in the past decade from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The Australia in the Asian Century White Paper places India in a position of much greater significance than it has previously achieved in our national consciousness. After decades of neglect and even a…Purnendra Jain, Professor, Asian Studies, University of AdelaidePeter Mayer, Associate Professor, School of History and Politics, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103652012-10-28T13:11:23Z2012-10-28T13:11:23ZAsian century white paper sets tricky targets for universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16953/original/xfk2zc8g-1351420224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The white paper sets high standards for Australian universities in the Asian Century. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the slip-stream of the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a>, released by Julia Gillard yesterday, there is a one-off opportunity to evolve new programs, open up and engage in Asia at scale. Many of the new programs are likely to evolve in education and research.</p>
<p>The report is short on specific ideas because it wants them to bubble up from below. For a year or two, government will support program initiatives with unusual generosity. Asian Century Taskforce leader Ken Henry has created a window for Asianists with ideas.</p>
<h2>Asia for the mainstream</h2>
<p>The paper works as a strategy because it is utterly mainstream in tone. It does not rail at middle Anglo-Australia’s lack of Asian awareness from outside, though it could have. It does not dwell on the highly varied specifics of the sub-regions and nations under the heading “Asia”. Nor is it drenched in the rich excitement of 3000 years of Sinic, Indian and Southeast Asian cultures.</p>
<p>Instead it positions itself squarely in the Anglo-Australian mind. It wants to be Tony Abbott as much as it wants to be Julia Gillard. A laconic local drawl lurks behind the spare factual prose and in places you can almost hear it.</p>
<p>The white paper sets out to capture the mainstream, to change its thinking, naturalising regional engagement. Time will tell whether this works but the shift is essential. We must embed ourselves autonomously in the region. Or Australia, that odd nation at the end of Southeast Asia with a union jack on its flag, will be trapped in its history, in denial of its geography. It will become obsolete.</p>
<h2>Sending students to Asia</h2>
<p>The white paper sets few targets for higher education and science, again fostering an atmosphere where government and non-government initiatives and benchmarks will evolve. It emphasises people-to-people links, local demography and alumni. And it makes all the right noises. Asian languages in schools, compulsory Asia-related curricula (there will be rearguard resistance to this), more language learning in higher education, stronger research links in the region, and many more Australian students going to Asia during their degrees.</p>
<p>The last area on the above list — Australian study abroad — looks the most promising. Only about 4% of first-degree students study in Asia during their degrees. Even growth in two or three week stays will make a difference, starting the social and linguistic immersion which encourages longer stays and provides incentives for more protracted language learning at home.</p>
<p>The number of American students in China is trending sharply upwards, encouraging a behavioural change in Australia. The report goes in hard here. “We will provide more financial support and information for students who study in Asia,” it states. We have yet to see what this means but study abroad is receiving more attention in many universities. They should be talking to government as soon as possible.</p>
<h2>Climbing the rankings</h2>
<p>The white paper sets one new target: “By 2025, 10 of Australia’s universities will be in the world’s top 100”. The global ranking it cites, rightly, is the <a href="http://www.arwu.org">Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities</a> (ARWU). This is an objective ranking that excludes reputation surveys and cannot be easily tricked up by universities.</p>
<p>It is also a research-only ranking. The target commits the federal government to a large increase in government research budgets over time. There is a close correlation between the position of universities in the ARWU and the level of public research funding.</p>
<p>Australia currently has five universities in the 2012 top 100: Melbourne (57), ANU (64), Queensland (90), Sydney (93) and Western Australia (98). The UK, which has the second strongest research system after the US, has nine. Canada, Australia’s closest comparator as a nation, has Toronto at 27. So the new target is a stretch. While Monash and UNSW are close to the top 100, the next in line, Adelaide and Macquarie, are in the 200-300 bracket.</p>
<p>It would be better to aim for six or eight in the top 100 and some in the top 40. Very strong research universities build local strength and draw global attention, especially in East Asia. </p>
<p>The National University of Singapore (NUS) has yet to crack the ARWU 100 — it lacks Nobels — but it is ahead of Australia on most research measures. In the <a href="http://www.leidenranking.com/">Leiden ranking</a>, which measures the scientific performance of universities, 13.9% of NUS research papers were in the top 10% of their field on citation rate between 2005-2009. The highest Australian university was ANU at 12.9%. Hong Kong University, Nankai, the University of Science and Technology in China and Postech in Korea were also ahead of ANU.</p>
<p>These rankings are encouraging, but we will need to build top-flight research capacity if we are to hold our own in Asia as the Asian Century White Paper suggests.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Marginson received funding from the Australian Research Council (2008-2011) to study globalization in East and Southeast Asian higher education. </span></em></p>In the slip-stream of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, released by Julia Gillard yesterday, there is a one-off opportunity to evolve new programs, open up and engage in Asia at scale. Many…Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99022012-10-28T13:11:19Z2012-10-28T13:11:19ZAsian century white paper talks the talk, can Australia walk the walk?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16952/original/rd35q8tg-1351418915.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Gillard government has a long road ahead of it to enact the recommendations of the Asian Century White Paper.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ken Henry’s team has provided a detailed and useful blueprint for future action in the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a>. But the government will need to ramp up its domestic efforts to improve scientific and cultural literacy, as well as its engagement with China and Indonesia if Australia is to maximise its competitiveness in Asia.</p>
<p>The white paper sets five tasks: maintaining a productive and resilient Australian economy; building capabilities; operating in growing Asian markets; building sustainable security; and achieving deeper and broader relationships in Asia.</p>
<p>In all these areas, big asks are made of business, NGOs and the Australian people while pledging strong government action and support. This is reasonable. The Australian people as well as their government must commit the resources needed for Australia to fully embrace the benefits of its Asian neighbourhood.</p>
<p>But the government needs to improve its own performance in some domestic and international areas to grasp the opportunities highlighted and provide a model of leadership in the Asian Century.</p>
<h2>Educational challenges</h2>
<p>On the domestic front, the white paper’s authors lament the recent decline in Australian high schoolers’ reading and mathematics performance relative to Asian countries, and the decades-long erosion of Asian language studies. They call for Australia to be ranked as a top-five country in the world for reading, science and mathematics literacy by 2025, and for all Australian students to be encouraged study an Asian language throughout their schooling. </p>
<p>All well and good. </p>
<p>But mapped against what the Chief Scientist has warned is a growing <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/anti-science-culture-endangers-our-economy/story-e6frg8y6-1226364952404">“anti-science culture</a> and the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/maths-physics-fail-to-get-the-numbers-at-school-20120121-1qbjd.html">avoidance of science and maths courses</a> by Year 11 and 12 students, it is clear that government and educational leaders have their work cut out for them.</p>
<p>It is not encouraging that the new secondary school physics curriculum being considered earlier in the year was <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/experimentation-on-the-science-syllabus-puts-feelings-before-facts/story-fn59nlz9-1226422078412">criticised</a> for containing too much "sociology of physics” and not enough equations. The government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-real-agenda-behind-gillards-gonski-response-9305">lukewarm response</a> to the educational funding recommendations of the Gonski Review are of further concern.</p>
<p>The commitment to use new school funding arrangements to ensure access to Asian languages is sensible. As is the call for schools, universities, business and the community to encourage Asian language study. But, as with science study, spruiking demand is a vexed issue, and achieving the needed mindset change among young Australians may prove a challenge to the imagination and persuasive ability of the private and public sector alike.</p>
<h2>Talking to Asia</h2>
<p>On the foreign front, the white paper sets an initial priority for developing strategies with China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea as well as maintaining strong alliance ties with the United States. It envisages official and non-official dialogue with partner countries, and specifically supports “China’s participation in the region’s strategic, political and economic development”.</p>
<p>All this is sensible, and Australia has good ties with its neighbours, but these ties need to be energised. Given the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/defence-agreements-with-us-harm-australias-reputation-in-asia-6298">controversies</a> over policies towards Beijing and Washington, it would useful for Canberra to take up the recommendation by Linda Jakobson of the Lowy Institute and pursue an annual strategic and economic dialogue with Beijing. Such a dialogue would be a valuable forum to convey Australia’s perspectives on its US alliance and other strategic intents, while better discerning China’s own concerns and intentions.</p>
<p>The government also needs to take the initiative in its relations with Indonesia. President Yudhoyono terms Australia a “close friend”, and tensions arising from the abrupt cut-off of cattle exports early this year have eased. But Yudhoyono departs office in 2014, and Indonesia’s commendable decentralisation and economic growth have been accompanied by the decentralisation of corruption and a trend toward economic nationalism. Before too much longer, Indonesia’s economy will be larger than Australia’s – and future leaders in Jakarta may be less amenable to Australian interests if no initiative is taken in the near term.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth government should jump-start is engagement with private sector organisations with knowledge of Indonesian trade and governance issues, stimulate “second-track” dialogue with Indonesian counterparts on these issues, and organise a long overdue state visit by the prime minister to Jakarta. This should be done well in advance of Youdhoyono’s retirement.</p>
<p>The white paper is a valuable and timely document that will stimulate debate about the dynamic, growing, and crucial region to our north. But to keep faith with its intention to make the most of the Asian Century, the government needs to commit the financial, intellectual, and human resources needed to take a leading role.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/9902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth Chern does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ken Henry’s team has provided a detailed and useful blueprint for future action in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper. But the government will need to ramp up its domestic efforts to improve…Kenneth Chern, Professor of Asian Policy, Swinburne University; Executive Director, Swinburne Leadership Institute, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/103702012-10-28T08:29:44Z2012-10-28T08:29:44ZAsian Century White Paper: experts respond<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16951/original/j3svdyr4-1351412724.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime minister Julia Gillard has set out Australia's priorities in the Asian Century.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Paul Miller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime minister Julia Gillard released the <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/">Australia in the Asian Century White Paper</a> in an address to the Lowy Institute on Sunday.</p>
<p>The paper sets out 25 “national objectives” to prepare Australia for the rise of Asia in the 21st Century. These include boosting productivity, encouraging Asian language teaching in schools, strengthening the credentials of Australia’s universities and increasing diplomatic presence in the region.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, The Conversation assembled a <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century">panel of experts</a> from Australia’s academic community to provide their advice to the Asian Century taskforce. Members of the panel met with taskforce leader Ken Henry at an event in Canberra to discuss their proposals.</p>
<p>Representatives of this team provide their view on the paper below.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Northeast Asia - Associate Professor Craig Mark, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan</strong></p>
<p>Regarding the democracies of Northeast Asia, there are no major surprises in the Government’s White Paper. </p>
<p>The white paper encourages Japan’s continuing involvement in regional and international institutions, such as APEC and the East Asia Summit. It refers to the previous cooperation between Australia and Japan on the International Committee on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament. So there are no real policy changes regarding Japan.</p>
<p>Deeper defence cooperation and joint military exercises are also set to continue with South Korea, including a regular “2+2” defence and foreign ministers’ meeting, as well as increasing cooperation on climate change and non-proliferation. The white paper mentions that negotiations towards bilateral Free Trade Agreements are ongoing with Japan and South Korea, but there is no acknowledgement that both these rounds also face considerable domestic political resistance.</p>
<p>Beyond a commitment to expanding the recently opened consulate in Ulaan Bataar to a full embassy, there is practically no other mention of Mongolia. This is a disappointing omission, given the high level of Australian investment in its mining industry.</p>
<p>The white paper does refer to the tensions over maritime disputes in the South China Sea and North Asia, without explicitly specifying the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, or any other disputed territories. It maintains that Australia takes no position on these disputed claims, urging their peaceful settlement via international law. This is an implicit criticism of China, which refuses to recognise the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.</p>
<p><strong>Culture - Dr John Lenarcic, RMIT</strong></p>
<p>A melange of bland rhetoric and generic management-speak, leavened with policy points as mantra. That pretty much sums up the Asia Century White Paper on the whole. Where are the grand initiatives of a specific nature that display radical novelty under this banner heading? “Culture” as a term is bandied about in the paper without offering any head-turning ideas worth debating. </p>
<p>For example, how about dedicated schemes to address the diversity in philosophical outlooks that may exist in Asian communities as opposed to Australian norms? Learning the mechanics of languages is one thing but learning to think in another culture is another matter entirely. </p>
<p>The refrain of the National Broadband Network as a universal high-tech fix was also evident in the report. Apparently, the NBN will facilitate closer ties with Asia. Closer in comparison to what? Systems analysis 101 will tell you that one has to understand the real world in a deep sense before developing and applying a technological solution. </p>
<p>Points for pop culture inclusion must be awarded, though, to the mention of the Fruit Ninja game-app (on page 270) which is highlighted as a sterling example of the crossover potential of culture, technology and design in Australian-Asian business ventures. If only there was more emphasis on the fun aspects that could be afforded by the Asian Century. I guess it would have been too much to ask to have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-needs-an-asian-century-institute-6217">K-pop reference</a> in the document, though.</p>
<p><strong>Asian languages – Yuko Kinoshita, University of Canberra</strong></p>
<p>The White paper identifies education in Asian language and culture as a key part of capacity building for Australia’s future. It proposes some clear strategies: all Australian students to have continuous access to high quality language studies in Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, or Japanese; all schools to collaborate with a school from one of the priority countries; and utilising multilingual people to enhance education. </p>
<p>At the tertiary level, it proposes to support increases in the numbers of Australian students studying in Asia, and the growth of Asian studies. The paper also proposes a target of one third of the nation’s leadership roles in business and government to be carried by individuals with Asian expertise. This would encourage students to study an Asian language and parents to encourage their children to do so.</p>
<p>The White paper recognises the importance of “people-to-people” relationships with Asia for our future prosperity, and identifies our current shortfalls in the language and cultural skills needed for this. </p>
<p>If funding, bipartisan support, and long-term commitment to achievable actions follow, we are looking at a bright future on the edge of Asia. Otherwise this inspiring vision will remain mere aspiration, and others will take our place.</p>
<p><strong>Food security - Professor Peter Batt, Curtin University</strong></p>
<p>Competitive advantage comes from having a strong domestic industry and constant innovation. This approach seems central to the government’s recent position statement on Australia’s role as a supplier of food to Asia. </p>
<p>Innovation is required at all stages of the value chain to meet consumers’ changing demands for more healthy and nutritious food that has been produced in a way that minimises the adverse impact on the environment. Supporting more sustainable production is both a public and a private good, yet most of the responsibility seems to fall only on the producer. Policies to support co-investment in new technology and more efficient use of natural resources are desperately required. Over many years, government investment in agricultural research and development has progressively declined. </p>
<p>Consumers, too, must recognise that role that they have to play in supporting a more sustainable food industry. With as much as 40% of the food that we produce being wasted, the costs are enormous. If reducing waste and maximising value is to become the central tenet, the key argument here is whether Australia can and should support an internationally competitive food processing industry. I fear Australia is likely to remain a net exporter of agricultural commodities and minimally processed food. </p>
<p><strong>Science and research - Sally Gras, University of Melbourne</strong></p>
<p>More research occurs in Asia now than ever before. Today, the prime minister’s launch of the Asian Century White Paper highlighted
the increasing number of <a href="http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper/chapter-9/the-work-of-communities">research links</a> between Australia and Asia.</p>
<p>Opportunities for collaboration will increase in the Asian century but
so too will the competition to work with the region’s best in the
areas of basic, applied or commercial research. Research and
technology partnerships will therefore be crucial to access ideas and
build our national competitiveness.</p>
<p>Scientific collaboration will benefit from four new Asian
embassies that will assist in the negotiation of science and
technology agreements. Research collaborators will also find it
easier to obtain Australia visas. The importance of diplomatic
networks between universities, dialogues between young leaders and
the flow of people and ideas between academic and research
organisations have been identified as essential to Australia’s
strategic position.</p>
<p>The report provides a commitment to science and innovation but leaves policy details such as links with industry and strategic
priorities to the upcoming Industry and Innovation Statement and the
National Research Investment Plan.
While much needs to be done to better position Australia’s
researchers, this report provides an important first step. These
ideas will require commitment both in the short and long term to make
a significant regional impact.</p>
<p><strong>Climate change – Tim Stephens, University of Sydney</strong> </p>
<p>The White Paper does a good job of highlighting the challenge that climate change poses to food, water, infrastructure and energy. It notes that “projected sea-level rise, more intense tropical storms and higher wind speeds could inundate low-lying port cities, threaten coastal areas, exacerbate flooding and increase the salinity of rivers and bays across the region.” </p>
<p>The authors argue that “not only is action on climate change in the region’s interests … it is critical to a global climate change solution,” noting that Asia is already a major contributor to global emissions.</p>
<p>But despite this, overall the White Paper’s authors assume that business as usual can and will continue into the Asian Century. However, it is a blithe assumption that climate change will only add to, rather than fundamentally change, the character and severity of the challenges faced by many Asian states and, as a consequence, by Australia. </p>
<p>The reality is that climate change will threaten Asia’s food and water security, and have transformative effects on security and stability in the region.</p>
<p><em>More to come</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Gras receives funding from The Australian Research Council, The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd. She is affiliated with The University of Melbourne.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Stephens has received ARC funding for a project researching deforestation in Indonesia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yuko Kinoshita works for University of Canberra, teaching the Japanese Language.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Mark, John Lenarcic, and Peter J. Batt do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prime minister Julia Gillard released the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper in an address to the Lowy Institute on Sunday. The paper sets out 25 “national objectives” to prepare Australia for…Craig Mark, Associate Professor of International Studies, Kwansei Gakuin UniversityJohn Lenarcic, Lecturer in Business IT & Logistics, RMIT UniversityPeter J. Batt, Professor, School of Management, Curtin UniversitySally Gras, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, The University of MelbourneTim Stephens, Associate Professor and Co-Director, Sydney Centre for International Law, University of SydneyYuko Kinoshita, Senior Lecturer, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/71512012-05-21T06:36:40Z2012-05-21T06:36:40ZAustralia in the Asian Century: Ken Henry talks to the experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/10878/original/9tp4wqtp-1337580701.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asia is on the rise, but what is Australia doing about it?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexander Baumgartner</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century">Australia in the Asian Century</a>, culminated this month in a roundtable hosted by Ken Henry, chair of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s taskforce on Asia.</p>
<p>For an hour, five Conversation authors talked language, science, finance, climate change and health with one of the government’s most trusted advisors. </p>
<p>We’ve put together a short video of Ken’s fascinating discussion with our experts on Asia. </p>
<p>We hope you enjoy it.</p>
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<p>You can catch up on the articles from the Australia in the Asian Century series <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/australia-in-the-asian-century">here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/7151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Conversation’s series, Australia in the Asian Century, culminated this month in a roundtable hosted by Ken Henry, chair of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s taskforce on Asia. For an hour…Megan Clement, Deputy Editor, Politics + SocietyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.