Submissions to the Inquiry into Diversifying Australia’s Trade and Investment Profile, being conducted by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, close on Friday 31 July. If you haven’t yet made a submission, you have five days to tell the inquiry that the solution to having more diversity in trade and investment is a national bank. Currently investment in Australia is overwhelmingly dominated by the USA and UK, while trade is overwhelmingly dominated by raw materials exports to China. With a national development bank such as Bob Katter intends to introduce in Parliament soon, Australia could harness the $3 trillion in superannuation to invest in our own economic development of infrastructure and industries. The new industries we create, along with the expansion of existing value-adding industries, will lead to new export markets that diversify our trade. There’s no reason not to export iron ore to China, but we should use more of it ourselves and aim to export far more than iron ore, especially of value-added manufactures. For instance Australia is currently the largest exporter of lithium in the world, earning US$750 per tonne, but if we manufactured batteries the lithium would earn us $150,000 per tonne!
The Member for Dawson, George Christensen, is chairing the inquiry and he is keen for as many submissions as possible. Click here for information on the inquiry and making a submission.