Barnett labels White Paper 'underwhelming'

WA Premier Colin Barnett says the federal government's Asian Century White Paper is flawed. Source: AAP

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has labelled the federal government's Asian Century White Paper "underwhelming", describing it as lacking in analysis and objectivity.

Mr Barnett told delegates at the In the Zone conference in Perth that half of the report involved recycled press releases and was heavily flawed.

"Productivity was talked about but the elephant in the room was industrial relations, which was totally ignored," he said.

"Structural change in Australia was largely omitted. WA's increasing dominance was not there.

"The report tends to downplay mining - 'here we go again, boom and bust'.

"Much of what is counted as manufacturing is actually moderate transformations of raw materials."

The premier said the focus on the services sector had also been overstated.

While services growth was important, it was also transferable, Mr Barnett said.

"We should not lose sight of the fact that services trade is still less than 20 per cent of global trade," he said.

Two "big hiccups" in recent years had been the Mining Resources Rent Tax and the cessation of live cattle exports to Asia, which damaged Australia's international reputation, Mr Barnett said.

He said Singapore had the potential to become a professional services hub for the Asian region despite the White Paper pointing to Darwin as the gateway to Asia.

However, Mr Barnett said the White Paper had provided a good snapshot of Asian growth, highlighting the urbanisation of city states like Shanghai, food security, environment and the increasing amount of foreign exchange reserves held by Asian countries.

In the Zone, held at the University of Western Australia, is a meeting of national and international leaders from the business, government and academic sectors.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Barnett labels White Paper 'underwhelming'

Dengan url

http://berisikgaduh.blogspot.com/2012/11/barnett-labels-white-paper-underwhelming.html

Berisik Gaduh