Welcome to the Australian Embassy for this year's roundtable.
There's something true that you [Manuel Panagiotopoulos] said in your brief introduction about the vitality and importance of the business partnership.
There are a lot of things that bring Australia and Japan together, but really it's the business communities that drive it.
I want to acknowledge that and thank you right at the beginning.
There are a lot of companies here in diverse sectors and that reflects a lot of positive momentum in the partnership.
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you, Manuel, for the introduction.
Mr Katsuki, you're a very honoured guest at the Embassy.
Your company, Asahi, is a great example of how a Japanese company can transform Australian industry.
You're an example of how a Japanese company can be part of the fabric of Australian life.
And you're an example of a Japanese company that can make good profit in Australia.
So it's a good story all round.
You have a big share of our beer market, our non-alcoholic beverage market.
Some of the products that Australians know and love and grew up with are now your products.
Schweppes Lemonade, Cottee’s Cordial, and things that are not Australian like Asahi Superdry.
So, you know, it's a good story.
You also support our community through sponsorship of rugby, sport and community groups.
We want to acknowledge all of that.
To Ian [Williams] and many others here at the roundtable, I want to acknowledge the work you do here.
And of course next week we also have the joint business conference in Nagoya, which is the formal business connection between our two countries.
There's a lot going on in the business partnership.
In that context, I do want to talk about, just briefly, some things that I think are bringing the two countries closer together.
They're all relevant in different ways for business.
There are four things I want to touch on.
I want to touch on geopolitics.
I want to talk a little bit about digital connectivity and what that means.
Demographics, of course.
You can't escape it.
And energy and climate.
These four things.
Things that the embassy thinks about and works across the Japanese government and with business on.
So, geopolitics.
The world has changed irrevocably.
I think it's true to see.
True to see, true to say, true to understand.
And that shift is actually bringing Australia and Japan closer together.
It brings us closer together in a few ways.
Japan is going through a defence transformation.
So is Australia.
To achieve the scale and the technology edge we need, we're going to have to work more together and integrate defence industries.
There are big opportunities there.
A lot of security capabilities are dual use.
When you're working on dual use technology, you've got to work with a partner you trust.
We trust Japan.
You trust us.
It's an opportunity.
Of course there are risks as the geopolitics change.
But one thing it means is a closer partnership between Australia and Japan.
It's the same on economic security.
Critical minerals supply chains, battery supply chains, supply chain diversification.
All of these things require an alignment between Australia and Japan.
I think it's a big opportunity.
And the Australian government, we've got new policies.
We've got production tax credits for critical minerals, for example.
That's very important.
I also think in an uncertain world, we've got to have a new forward-looking conversation about food security.
This is a sensitive issue.
But in Japan, you will need reliable sources of imports of food like you do of energy.
And again, you want to be able to trust that supplier.
And I would like to think in the long term, that partner is Australia.
Second point I mentioned, digital connectivity.
Of course, there's lots of productivity and economic gains to be had.
But again, with connectivity, you also need trust and you need compatibility between systems.
And I think Australia and Japan are becoming important cyber security partners.
Again, we want to be able to connect, but we want to do it securely.
As our economies evolve through what you call in Japan DX, digital transformation, I think it's bringing us closer together.
Demographics.
In Japan, you can't escape stories about population.
And it's the same in Australia.
Our birth rate has just hit a new low.
But what we do have in Australia through a large-scale immigration program is a growing population overall.
So I think there's opportunity for Japanese companies in a growing Australian market.
And I think there are things that we can learn from Japan about managing and adjusting to an ageing society that will bring us together.
There's your life insurance industry, which is a world leader.
Aged care, mobility systems.
There are things that Australia does that are relevant for Japan.
Medical research, clinical trials, hearing aids.
And then Japan has great technology there as well.
And you have ways of adjusting your real estate market.
There's a lot, actually, that we can do together there.
I think demography, because it's a slow-moving thing, takes a while to come through.
But again, we want to be able to solve each other's national challenges there.
Japanese investment in Australian real estate is one of the new and important stories in our bilateral business partnership.
Some of that's about ageing, some of that's about build to rent.
Some of that's about growing urbanisation and population growth in Australia.
You can't escape energy when you talk about Australia and Japan.
And we know that Australia has been a reliable supplier for a long time.
And that will remain true.
But we've also got to reach net zero.
Japan's committed to it.
Australia's committed to it.
We know you can't be a competitive economy in 20 years’ time if you've got the same energy base you do now.
There's a transition underway.
And here again, I want to say that although this might change parts of the energy partnership, it's going to bring us together.
We know hydrogen's a difficult sector at the moment.
The cost curve is quite high, as some of you around these tables will know.
But we have production tax incentives.
If anybody can make a hydrogen supply chain, it should be our two nations.
We've also put out a future gas strategy in Australia because that anchors our policy, knowing that gas is going to be part of the energy transition.
It's relevant for energy security, but it's also relevant for grid stabilisation.
If we're going to do it, we're going to need gas.
We're going to need to work together on energy.
We're a natural fit.
We have some complementarity there that still stands us in good stead.
Where we need complementarity and difference, we have it and it works.
Food security, energy security.
Where we need alignment, defence, security, space industry, we have it.
So there's big opportunity ahead.
I mentioned a few things.
I just want to conclude with this brief thought, if I may.
The way I see it, what we want to build is a genuine integrated partnership between the two nations.
Economic and security interests converge.
So we've got to build that partnership.
I think we both agree on what the problems and the issues are.
I always say we've got the right assessment.
Now we need to do joint problem solving as two countries, two governments, two societies, private sector partners.
We've done it before in energy where Japanese investment, technology and offtake built an industry that helped transform our country.
And there's some big new areas ahead where we want to do it again with all of your support.
Partnership, that's what this roundtable's about.
And that's what this evening's about.
So I'm going to stop there.
I do want to thank all of you for attending.
You are very honoured guests at the embassy.
Please enjoy the food and wine.
Thank you.