JOBS THE CATALYST FOR A BETTER WAY OF LIFE ON COAST
IT’S hard to beat the Gold Coast as a place to call home.
We’ve got the best people, tourism attractions and lifestyle to list just a few reasons.
We can, however, improve life here by growing the economy to create new and better paying jobs.
One of the best ways to do this is through trade.
Trade opens the city to the world, giving the Coast’s businesses billions of customers to sell to, rather than just the immediate population of 600,000 who live here.
To access overseas markets, Australia seeks and secures trade agreements so our businesses can sell what we grow, make and produce to the world.
It’s a formula that’s delivered for decades, creating thousands of jobs and underpinning our economic success.
Trade is a major component of how Australia has achieved 26 years of uninterrupted economic growth.
In the five years to the end of 2017, trade contributed fully a third of Australia’s economic growth.
Over that period, a more competitive Australian economy has delivered more than a million new jobs.
With one in five Australian jobs trade-related, that’s about 200,000 extra jobs thanks to trade.
To create new Gold Coast jobs we need to create new opportunities for our businesses to sell more to the world.
That’s why the Turnbull Government is pursuing the nation’s most ambitious trade agenda.
We just launched negotiations for a trade with the European Union that will open the door to a market of 500 million consumers and worth an estimated US$17.3 trillion.
It builds on the trade agreements the Coalition has delivered with China, Japan, Korea, the US and the TPP-11 countries, including Canada and Mexico.
More than 80 per cent of global GDP is covered by trade agreements either in force, concluded or under negotiation.
This access means businesses can base themselves on the Coast and sell to the world.
The Gold Coast has the lifestyle people crave and the Turnbull Government is creating opportunity through our ambitious trade agenda so businesses can have the best of both worlds – a Gold Coast base and a global market.
It sets up the Gold Coast to be the home for exporters.
Local businesses such as BJP Laboratories, Superior Jetties and Ozkleen are already using the preferential access the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement has delivered to grow their exports.
As Trade Minister I’ll keep working to create more opportunities so Gold Coast business can expand, export more and employ more people.