AUSTRALIA.DISRUPTED PRESENTATION TO THE GLOBAL RESEARCH-INTENSIVE UNIVERSITIES NETWORK
Australia. Disrupted Is China s rise the biggest disruption Australia has ever faced? And the second is: Is Australia prepared to respond to it whatever this response will be?
Australia. Disrupted: 3 Trends and 3 Counter-Trends 3 Trends Asia s economic ascendancy Changing Australian society Asia s geopolitical rebalance convergence and divergence 3 Counter-trends Shrinking or stagnant Australian business presence and investment in Asia Chronic under-representation of Asian-Australians in the leadership of our institutions Decline in our Asia competencies across the whole education system
Trend # 1: Rise and Rise of Asia
Trend # 2: Changing Australian society Source: THE CHANGING FACE OF AUSTRALIA Completing the shift to a Eurasian nation, by George Megalogenis, The Australian Foreign Affairs, October 2017
Trend # 3:Asia s geopolitical rebalance
Non-Trend # 1: Shrinking business engagement 1,000 Australian business leaders surveyed by PwC on involvement in Asia: Just 9% of businesses are currently operating in Asia and only 12% of Australian companies have any experience of doing business in Asia at all 65% have no intention of changing their stance towards Asia in the next 2-3 years Of Australia s large companies, half are doing business in Asia but only 23% have staff on the ground in-market. PwC Passing us by report (2014)
Non-Trend # 2: Asian-Australian leadership Table 1: Cultural backgrounds of Australia s senior leaders (in percentage terms) Indigenous Anglo-Celtic European Non-European ASX 200 (CEOs) 0 76.62 18.41 4.98 Federal parliament (MPs and Senators) 1.77 78.76 15.93 3.54 Federal ministry (Ministers and Assistant Ministers) Federal and state public service (Secretaries and heads of departments) 2.38 85.71 11.90 0 0.81 82.26 15.32 1.61 Universities (Vice-chancellors) 0 85.00 15.00 0 Australian Human Rights Commission Leading for Change: A blueprint for cultural diversity and inclusive leadership, July 2016
Non-Trend # 3: Asia competency declines The share of Australian students studying languages, including many Asian languages, is small and has fallen in recent times. Between 2000 and 2008, the share of Australian students learning a tertiary-accredited language other than English in Year 12 dropped in a time where overall student numbers increased by almost 9%. In 2008, less than 6% of Australian school students studied Indonesian, Japanese, Korean or Chinese in Year 12 Fewer Year 12 students studied Indonesian in 2009 than in 1972. And, while Japanese remains the most widely taught language in Australian schools, student numbers fell by 16% from 2000 to 2008 Australia in the Asian Century White Paper (2012)
Iceberg: China s impact and influence Economy Our foreign policy directions, specifically in Asia Students China s research and innovation capacity China s globally mobile community: diaspora, tourists, students and scholars, migrants, entrepreneurs and investors, temporary workers
Iceberg: China s impact and influence Political donations Philanthropic investments Dominance of the Chinese language community media Coordinating Chinese international students activism in support of Chinese policies, events, visits Research collaborations in defence and security
For 60 years globally and 20 years in Australia, Asia Society has been building bridges of understanding between leaders and change-makers of Asia, Australia and the United States. Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a non-partisan, non-profit institution with centres in New York, Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Washington, DC and Zurich. Philipp Ivanov Chief Executive Officer Asia Society Australia t +61 2 8199 9402 m +61 401 142 453 e pivanov@asiasociety.org Asia Society Australia Level 5, 115 Pitt Street, Sydney www.asiasociety.org/australia