Friday, November 13, 2015

Indonesian Trade and Cultural Fare in Canberra


Minister for Trade and Investment, The Hon Andrew Robb AO MP
Greetings from the National Convention Centre in Canberra, where the Indonesia Business Summit just opened. This will be followed by an Indonesian trade and cultural fare over the weekend. The major event of the day is the signing of a MoU between Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC) and Port of Townsville (POTL). Andrew Rob, Australian Minister for Trade and Investment is here for the signing.

I was invited along as I am part of an Indonesia-Australia energy research project and have talked on this at UIN Suska University of Riau. Unfortunately education is not on the agenda for today's summit. Co-operation on education would appear an obvious area for expansion between Indonesia and Australia. In his speech Minister Rob pointed out that education was Australia's second largest export to Indonesia. He also pointed out that the first preference of Australian students to study overseas was Indonesia, under the New Colombo Plan. Unfortunately Australia's education exports are at risk. The failure of the Australian government and Australian universities to prepare for the "disruptive" change now taking place due to the Internet will render the current system irrelevant within five years. More immediately the Australian Government's failure to correctly design and administer the VET FEE-HELP system has placed at risk the reputation of all of Australian higher education.

ps: I am not the "Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation", despite it saying that on my delegate badge for the summit.

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