Senator SINODINOS (New South Wales) (23:09): I rise this evening to elaborate on a theme I first raised in my maiden speech last year: the need to have a global mindset. Globalisation is an ongoing process which has delivered a more prosperous and equal world. It has changed the way we live and, crucially, the way we think. It is not a new concept. Scholars for decades have argued over its origins and distinctive phases and how the forces of globalisation have shaped our lives as they did those of our ancestors. Some say that the dawn of civilisation was marked by the sharing of ideas between ancient civilisations, like those of Egypt, Babylonia—modern day Iraq—China and India. Indeed, the origins and wonders of mathematics can be traced back to about 2000 BC in Egypt and Babylonia. Others claim globalisation began in the 1400s, when bold new trade routes cut a swathe through the world's most intimidating oceans—bridging cultures and bringing commerce on a scale not previously contemplated. Whatever its beginnings and metamorphosis, there is little doubt the recent widespread uptake of the internet and emerging technologies is symptomatic of the pace and agility with which we now socialise and trade with others around the world. It is an instant age, at least by historical standards—standards we should be well aware may well become outdated very soon. Our interconnectedness with residents in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa is real. So too are the social and economic spin-offs. In particular, transport and communications changes have dramatically reduced the cost of doing business globally. We are all virtual competitors through the internet—witness the revolution being wrought by online shopping. The explosive growth of the emerging economies, led by China, is spreading the fruits of development to billions of our fellow global citizens. As is often missed by the sometimes extreme discourse about China, its remarkable transformation constitutes the largest poverty reduction scheme in history. Globalisation requires a deep and continuing engagement with other countries through both bilateral and multilateral fora, as well as strong business and people-to-people links. This requires a global mindset to understand what is happening abroad and the capacity to put ourselves in the shoes of others. Our education systems and our workplace culture are a good place to start. Every child should have the opportunity to learn a foreign language. Not only will it aid their overall development; it will help them to understand foreign cultures and customs. We will be better global citizens and better understand our overseas customers. Mandarin is the world's most spoken language followed by English and Spanish. The 2011 Australian Census showed that there are more than 600,000 Chinese speakers in Australia from 866,205 Australians with Chinese ancestry and 318,969 Chinese-born residents. In contrast, the latest Chinese Census shows there are just 13,286 Australians living in China. That is about one per cent of the near 1.2 million Chinese speakers living in Australia. The declining demand for Chinese language courses from those without Chinese ancestry has been notable over the past decade in Australia. That is why Tony Abbott's plan to encourage young Australians to study in the Asia-Pacific region will help nurture a global mindset and, hopefully, reverse this trend. For a similar reason, I welcome the move this week by Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu to pioneer a speaking approach rather than the traditional writing approach to Chinese language lessons in Victorian schools. The Victorian government will also send 1,500 year 9 students to the Chinese province of Jiangsu over a five-year period. Both initiatives will hopefully boost Asian language demand from young Australians and trigger a broader engagement with our most important trading partner. While there must not be a push to focus solely on Chinese culture and language in our schools and universities, the benefits appear to be enormous in the short, medium and longer term as China's rapid urbanisation continues apace and with it opportunities to service a ballooning middle-class as it transforms into a more high-level high technology and service based economy. Another encouraging sign is the release this month of the Asialink report by the ANZ Bank's chief executive and chairman of Asialink, Mike Smith. It is titled, Developing an Asia capable workforce. The report calls for a business-led national centre for Asia capabilities and for Universities Australia to design tertiary Asia capability courses. It urges courses to be focused more on network building, applied research, skills development and advocacy. In essence, it is trying to engender a global mindset so that Australian businesses and graduates can better understand our Asian partners and the complexity and nuances of Asian cultures and commerce. Genuine, deep and rewarding engagement with Asia requires a cultural and psychological shift in the way many of us currently think. We can learn a lot from Australian businesses, big and small, that have flourished in Asia for decades—those that have gone largely unnoticed while their domestic competitors remained focused on domestic markets or traditional European and American export markets. These barriers, perceived and real, need to be broken. Australian businesses must develop an overarching framework that allows for a reciprocal exchange with foreign trading partners. Mutual benefits will follow. The course has already been set: pragmatic measures need to hold sway over rhetoric. That means Australian workers spending valuable time on the ground in Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, New York, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt, Madrid—wherever the best opportunities lie. The deregulatory reforms of the Hawke-Keating era followed by those of the Howard government opened our economy to the forces of world markets. These were vital first and second steps to a more meaningful engagement with the world. As a result, while there has inevitably been some pain, our economy is more robust and standards of living have risen markedly. Rudd-Gillard Labor has reversed some of these hard-won gains with its old-school thinking when it comes to industrial relations, tax regimes and marketplace regulation. Its rhetoric belies a global mindset and seems incapable of creating a more open economy and a society of opportunities where Australian business can foster a global mindset and flourish. Whatever broad messages it may spruik through the imminent release of its white paper on Australia in the Asian century, this government has shown that it is still beholden to unions, overregulation and the old ways of doing business. The government still sees itself, not entrepreneurs and risk takers, at the centre of the economy. This approach is reflected in the fact that when the Labor government took over in 2007, Australia ranked 68th in terms of the burden of government regulation. Now, in 2012-13, we rank 96th in the world—in fact, behind many countries which we would classify as emerging economies. Only the conditions of an open economy will encourage domestic firms to be born global and truly engage and compete successfully with foreign competitors. Our workplaces must adapt to those requirements. Some have already done so and, with the opportunities presented by the digital age, many business structures are getting flatter. There is a shift to a more collaborative approach to problem solving. The rise of crowd sourcing over the past six years has taken many off guard, but has created opportunities and challenges for small business in Australia. For those who may not have heard of the concept, crowd sourcing is when a business uses the internet to outsource work or projects to a large group of entities or people—a crowd. This is work that would normally have been performed by an employee or external contractor. Using the internet, the reach is across national borders; it is global and instant. While caution is required, there have been many success stories to date. Many individual contractors and businesses have performed work for overseas companies and, conversely, have had work completed for them by foreign nationals. Crowd sourcing is just one way in which a global mindset can break down traditional barriers to overseas commerce. We also need our state capitals to become global cities which host activities and decision makers with impact on the international economy. Without the economic and social tools of a global city at our disposal we run the risk of becoming a branch economy, beholden to global cities around the world with lower costs of doing business and less restrictive regulatory frameworks. These cities are not waiting for Australia to sharpen her competitive edge. This will limit our capacity to make the decisions that affect our businesses, our workers and our families and effectively hand control over our destiny to other countries. Nurturing our artistic and creative industries is another way to start building the global cities we need. The capacity of these industries to attract and retain the best and brightest overseas talent is immense and should be encouraged. Vibrant, diverse and creative cities will limit the exodus of our own intellectual capital. Industry clusters around major universities can become engines for local economic growth with global reach. This is a great challenge, but developing those global cities is important if we are to have real influence in the emerging global economy.