PLAN TO CONNECT WITH CANADA
INCREASING foreign investment and trade in North Queensland was on the agenda for Australian High Commissioner to Canada Natasha Smith while she was in Townsville this week.
Ms Smith landed in Townsville on Thursday off the back of the Global Heads of Mission Meeting in Canberra, where the nation’s ambassadors, high commissioners and consul-generals are brought back for directions on Australia’s foreign and trade priorities.
They are then sent across Australia to meet with key business stakeholders.
Ms Smith had a business round table with the Port of Townsville, where non-tariff barriers were discussed along with how the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade could help make connections with Canadian companies interested in investing.
“Townsville’s had its ups and downs … (with) economic downturns but it seems to me there’s a lot of reason for optimism. There’s big visions for what can happen here and not just in Townsville but the broader region,” she said.
It was when visiting Townsville State High School, her old high school, Ms Smith told students to “dream big” and be themselves.
“You don’t have to have a plan the day you leave grade 12 as to where you’re going to go,” she said.
“Some of my best opportunities and the things I have got the most out of from a career perspective, are things that fell into my lap.”
Ms Smith recounts earlier in her career she was initially reluctant to accept a position working in the Solomon Islands, but within the year was designing the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.
“Dream big, but don’t be so rigid, when an opportunity knocks you take it,” she said.
Ms Smith said as one of Australia’s openly gay ambassadors, she believes in the strength of diversity and reflecting the population.
“If you can’t be your whole self, you’re not going to be successful, you’re not going to be happy,” she said.
“I only came out in my 30s. I wouldn’t know what it would have been like to be openly gay in the 80s here (Townsville) frankly.
“There were no gay role models, certainly not in Townsville.”
Ms Smith acknowledged it was easier to be yourself in a country like Canada as opposed to some of the more conservative nations she was posted to.
“I openly introduce my wife in Canada, we got married before we went and frankly at school (for) my daughter, there’s no issues,” she said.
“It’s one of the reasons we chose to apply to Canada was because we were able to live like that, there’s no going back in the cupboard.”