Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Thanks Matthew, Guy, the whole Sohn Hearts & Minds team and everyone in the room for your philanthropy –
And for this opportunity to kick off your 10th birthday by encouraging you all to kick in for medical research.
I know Paul Keating opened the very first conference a decade ago, and along the way we’ve had pitches from the premiers of New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia.
Well, I’m here to pitch the parent company.
I’ve got a few minutes to tell you why I think Australia is the best investment opportunity in the world.
What better group to do it with than all of you – and alongside presenters of Julia Gillard’s calibre.
And what better place to do that than on Gadigal land, in this beautiful Opera House, and in Sydney – the hub for Australia’s thriving financial services sector.
This is where our managed funds industry was born in 1936, when Hugh Walton launched Australian Fixed Trusts in Sydney.
He was a first mover in a $5 trillion industry – one that’s helped make this city an epicentre of investment in Asia.
His First Australian Unit Trust wound up in 1951.
There was only one fee paid on entry: no high watermark, no performance fees, no management fees – I see all of you taking note.
His first trust held positions in what became BHP and what became Westpac, which might still feature in your portfolios.
What I really wanted to draw your attention to was the fund’s motto.
‘For Security’.
Only 2 words, but words that link the origins of your industry with why Australia is the best place on earth to invest.
Our pitch is simple:
Australia is an island of security, stability and reliability in a sea of uncertainty and risk.
Let’s run a screen, based on the following:
Triple‑A credit ratings from the 3 major houses and stable.
Continuous economic growth through the global inflation spike and the monetary policy crunch that came with it.
Annual economic growth in the top 2 compared with the major advanced economies.
Back‑to‑back budget surpluses and a smaller deficit since the pandemic.
Gross debt‑to‑GDP in the bottom half for advanced economies.
Unemployment with a 4 in front of it –
1.2 million jobs created since May 2022.
Employment growth since then with an 8 in front of it –
Around four‑fifths of it in the private sector.
Participation above two‑thirds of the available workforce.
Real wages growing at their strongest rate in 5 years –
Inflation around a third of its peak.
A highly skilled workforce.
Business investment at decade highs but hungry for more.
And secure management – and I can tell you there’s no raider or disruptor of Gary’s quality among our political opponents.
If you run that screen, you only return one country:
Australia.
These are a handy set of economic fundamentals.
Made even more remarkable when you consider the scale of economic upheaval that has defined the past 2 decades.
The GFC, a major pandemic, a global inflation shock, and escalating trade tensions.
This kind of uncertainty and volatility is now the defining feature of the global economy and global markets.
Australia was a major beneficiary of ‘The Great Moderation’ between the end of the Cold War and the start of the GFC.
Our goal is to now be major beneficiaries of all the churn and change we see around the world.
Not just those 4 shocks in less than 2 decades but the big structural shifts changing our economies –
Across AI, the energy transformation, demography and the growth in the services sector, and geopolitical fragmentation.
This is a huge moment for Australia and we want you to be a big part of it.
Think of it this way:
Since Federation, Australia has had 3 economies.
In the early 1900s, agricultural and colonial.
Forty years later, increasingly industrial and protected.
The third, from the 1980s, opened up to the world with financial services becoming a much bigger part of the story.
Now it’s time to build a fourth economy.
Our alpha is at the intersection of energy and technology, against the backdrop of geography, demography and geopolitics.
We have the sun, wind, resources and critical minerals to be a global leader in the net zero transformation.
We have the data centres, workforce, quantum and AI know‑how to be a digital hub in the Indo‑Pacific.
We are a trading nation in the world’s fastest‑growing region.
We excel well beyond our size in so many spheres, including medical research.
These are the essential elements of our fourth economy.
An economy anchored by strong fundamentals, powered by cleaner and cheaper energy, propelled by digital innovation, and positioned at the heart of Asia.
The private sector is playing the defining role creating our next economy, and that means a defining role for capital and investors like you too.
Because in a world short on certainty, Australia is a reliable, secure and stable long position.
We’re blue chip.
Our economy is diversified.
And we’ve been outperforming our peers.
So, Australia is the best opportunity you’ll hear about today.
We encourage you all to continue investing in us –
Just as passionately as we encourage you all to continue donating for life‑saving medical research.