Insight into the Australian experience

Published March 30, 2015
The Pakistani delegation is seeking an extension 
of Australian programmes, including one for increasing mango production.
The Pakistani delegation is seeking an extension of Australian programmes, including one for increasing mango production.

WITH average economic growth of around 3.4pc per annum over the last two decades, Australia’s growth has largely been driven by its vibrant position within the Asia-Pacific region and strong foundations in agribusiness, mining, education, wealth management, high-end service industry and tourism.

However, Australia is diversifying its economic and political ties to the Indo-Pacific region from the growth centres of the Asia-Pacific region to strengthen its resilience while developed economies pass through a tough phase.

Agribusiness and high-end services are among the few areas where Australia has developed its niche expertise. The country is now trying to showcase its services industry, which generates almost 80pc of its economic output even though the nation of 23m people is known for its mining and resources. And Pakistan can explore how it can benefit from the Australian experience.

Despite being among the top 20 most developed countries (sixth-largest by area), its total merchandise trade with Pakistan stood at a paltry $600m in 2013-14, with exports from Pakistan almost half the imports from Australia. The flow of Australian products has fallen 36pc over the previous year mainly because of lower canola seed demand.

In recent days, the Australian government and the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has engaged with Pakistani ministers, parliamentarians and the media to market their services industry — including education, mining, wool production and energy etc.


A couple of Pakistani companies should look for stakes in LNG production in Australia to ensure secured supplies directly or through swaps as the country plans to increase its use of LNG for power supply, according to Matthew Paull, Policy Director of the APPEA


It has also hosted the minister for food security Sikandar Hayat Bosan and Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik. The two leaders were informed how Australia was able to run a successful federation of its states in the context of agricultural and mining best practices, which remains a key challenge in Islamabad after the 18th constitution amendment.

The visit also provided an opportunity for the delegation to seek the extension of a couple of Australian-funded programmes for disease-free citrus fruits in the Bhalwal and Sargodha regions; increasing mango production in southern Punjab and elsewhere; use of high-efficiency water irrigation techniques for Balochistan; and skill improvement for the production of high quality wool in Balochistan.

According to the food security ministry spokesperson Malik Zahoor, the federal minister and the Balochistan chief minister also studied the regulatory system of the Australian Wool Testing Authority, which ensures that farmers get the market price through improved techniques and standards.

These programmes can materialise in a very short period and provide a quick return in about six months, which can improve growers’ conditions, reduce poverty and increase national output, Mr Malik told Dawn in Brisbane.

These would be chipped in with the National Zero Hunger Programme being launched in a few days in all backward areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rural Sindh and neglected parts of Punjab, he said.

But more than that, Pakistan can look at the Australian experience in areas like skill development, services and best practices. For example, Australia draws more than 80pc of over 35,000MW electricity from coal, and yet its worst cities are way ahead of Pakistan’s cleanest villages in terms of environmental pollution and carbon emissions.

Pakistan, on the other hand, sits on one of the largest coal reserves in the world and produces almost negligible coal-based energy and that too from the old coal combustion technique.

According to Dr David Harris, Research Director at the Centre for Low Emissions Technology at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Pakistan should, in its early stages of utilising coal, adopt coal-gasification technologies to generate power through high-efficiency turbines, which are 25-30pc more efficient than combustion technology with higher carbon emissions.

He said it was difficult and economically unfeasible to improve efficiencies later on — a cost Australia is paying now.

Moreover, the Pakistani authorities and energy companies need to keep an eye on Australia’s LNG sector, which is estimated to become the largest LNG supplier by 2019, leaving behind Qatar, as it completes its $200bn worth of ongoing projects, according to Matthew Paull, Policy Director of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Limited (APPEA).

In his view, a couple of Pakistani companies should look for stakes in LNG production in Australia to ensure secure supplies directly or through swaps as the country plans to increase its use of LNG for power supply.

Australia has achieved wonders in water-management to overcome scarcity after facing its worst drought in 2007-08. According to Geffrey Gray of the Australian Water Association, the country’s water usage has been halved in five years as it moves to forecast-based changing water consumption crops.

And farmers were made to bid for high-water intensive crops like rice, and shifted to cotton. This was coupled with improved desalination techniques and re-usage of polluted water. As a result, tap water has become completely safe for human consumption everywhere.

Brian S. Mclntosh, an expert at the International Water Centre, said climate change had compelled Australia to work on urban water management, clean drinking water and waste water management to diversify its water sources. Pakistan could also learn how storm water could be controlled in localised storages to reduce its dependence on pipeline water and mitigate flooding.

Australia was able to make it mandatory for its citizens to have additional storage tanks for rain water storage for sewerage and gardening etc to extend the lives of the national storages and groundwater aquifers.

The writer is on a visit to Australia

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, March 30th , 2015

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