Australia's Asia policy ambiguous: intellectual<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A noted intellectual said that the Australian
\ngovernment's neo-liberal economic policies to integrate itself
\nwith the growing economies in Asian countries have produced
\nambiguous results.<\/p>\n
Richard Robison, the director of the Asia Research Center on
\nSocial, Political and Economic Change at Murdoch University,
\nWestern Australia, said that instead of investing in their
\nneighboring countries Australian businesses were encouraged to
\ninvest in western European countries as well as in the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not fully convinced that the current policy in Australia
\nhas clear goals,\" Robison bluntly said, criticizing the
\nAustralian government's Asia policy.<\/p>\n
Robison, along with dozens of other intellectuals from
\nIndonesia and Australia, like Desmond Ball, Abdurrahman Wahid,
\nMari Pangestu and Jusuf Wanandi, took part in the one-day seminar
\nabout political and economic ties between the two countries. The
\nseminar was held by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies in conjunction with the ambitious
\n\"Australia Today Indonesia 1994\" trade and cultural promotion.<\/p>\n
The ongoing promotion is the largest promotional event ever
\nundertaken by Australia in Indonesia, through which some A$12
\nmillion (US$8.65 million) will be spent. It includes a trade
\nforum and exhibition which was officially opened by Australian
\nPrime Minister Paul Keating.<\/p>\n
Robison said that in 1983 the Canberra government began to
\nderegulate its financial and labor markets as well as to
\nprivatize its state-owned firms and to reduce tariffs.<\/p>\n
He noted that much of the capital raised abroad in the 1980s
\nwas used for speculative investments in local real estate and
\nother non-productive sectors or to fund takeovers of existing
\nbusinesses, making the Australian economy slip into severe
\nrecession during the 1980s.<\/p>\n
He said that during the 1970s and 1980s, while its Asian
\nneighbors worked on tremendous growth, Australia's real annual
\ngrowth rate rose between two and three percent.<\/p>\n
\"The relatively sudden interest by the Australian government
\nand business in the Asian region has been greeted with some
\nskepticism,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Robison also said that three factors have made Australian
\nbusiness people not invest in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian
\ncountries. The first factor was the need to earn profits in the
\ncurrencies in which their foreign loans were denominated, mainly
\nin the U.S. and West European countries. The second factor was
\nthe reluctance of Australian banks to lend money to businesses
\nplanning to expand into Southeast Asia because of the perceived
\nrisk of doing businesses there. The last factor was the perceived
\ndifficulty of competing successfully in a region where domestic
\nbusinesses and government cooperate closely and foreign companies
\nare barred from investing in certain industries. (09)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australias-asia-policy-ambiguous-intellectual-1447893297",
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