well I think some of those forces have
been a play for some time and you know
China asserts its sovereignty obviously
there's contestant claims in relation to
the South China Sea and Australia's
tried to be consistent number of
respects we've been consistent about the
best approach being a multilateral
approach we've been consistent with
respect to the South China Sea in terms
of advocacy saying all the parties need
to come together and work out a solution
consistent within close with you
conventional law of the sea so Australia
is an honest broker on this consistent
and and we've always maintained that the
best support on each of these issues
whether it's a trade tension or whether
it's a defense tension or whatever it
may be
comes back to a multilateral approach
and yet I know Australia's been
concerned about an encroachment into
Islands which are independent from China
independent from Australian energy
buildup all of China assets in those air
as well and of course when we talk about
the military buildup in the South China
season and areas such as that as well
is there an arms race going on if so the
history tells us arms races don't end
well well I said I wouldn't describe it
in that way you don't on to hold up
going well well I mean what what we're
seeing globally is that there as there
has always been continues to be an
evolution of approach defensive
mechanisms
you know I'm defense industry minister
I'm always looking at the way in which
Australia can ensure that our national
posture is one that is strong if we are
strong then we know and and importantly
a very big pillar of that strength comes
from having a domestic sovereignty a
domestic capability in relation to our
defence forces if we have that then we
know that that in turn produces a
dividend and that dividend is stability
and peace all of us are committed to
that ultimately the only way we maintain
stability and peace in the region is I
believe by driving prosperity we secure
prosperity through trade and if we do
that then I fundamentally believe that
we'll see a good resolution Australia
has been a terrific partner to the
United States for decades but
increasingly the positions that
Washington is taking seem somewhat at
odds with the the view and a Canberra I
just would be interested to get your
perspective on this as we
see this rau Rumble on between the
United States and China is Australia
finding itself having to pick sides or
perhaps having to just step away from
the u.s. perspective on this you were a
former trade minister sure you know very
well how the path that Obama laid out
for trade deals faltered with the new
administration is it time perhaps for
Australia to cut loose a little bit from
Washington well I mean there's an
assumption built in your question which
is that our ties with Washington perhaps
too strong and I don't think that's the
case but look what I would say in the
same vein about multilateral approach
Australia has always had independent
policy we are going to pursue policy
that's in Australia's best national
interest with respect to trade we firmly
believe in the benefits that flow from
bilateral deals from multilateral deals
from plurilateral deals so we pursue all
of those that was part of the dance card
that I had when I was a minister and
that's continuing on with it with the
minister now so you know we're striking
up deals we're looking to diversify
Australia's trade exposure South America
deals with the Indonesia with Hong Kong
with China with the European Union with
with it with the with the UK and and of
course with the EU of commenced
negotiations on an FTA there as well so
to get back to the courrier question we
have always maintained a position that
serves our national interest now whether
that sometimes sits in contrast to
Washington or indeed to Beijing question
do you believe Huawei is a threat to the
West Australia took a position as a
government that we would not allow
Huawei to participate in the rollout of
5g in our country that speaks to what we
believe are some of the inherent
weaknesses with respect to barway that
we were concerned about if we didn't
have a reason for doing that we wouldn't
have taken that decision can I just grab
quick 20 seconds on brexit for you and
we've got Lim Pops coming on the show a
little bit later on any hopes for
anything quick with the British or do
you just have to wait and see like the
rest of us in terms of strides bilateral
deal with the blast you may know well
sort of Liam Fox has done an outstanding
job I mean I think it's a very very good
Trade Minister
the UK and these are tough times you
know clearly there's a lot of turbulence
that's happening in the UK Australia
will always be a good friend to the UK
we share so much we have similar values
we've got terrific opportunities on the
trade front and you know I was pleased
with Liam to be the very first country
with whom we launched a bilateral
agreement to you know commence
fast-tracking an FTA so I think we can
certainly do it but but I mean speaking
frankly the UK needs to sort out where
it's ultimately going to go we're all
watching with great interest in you know
I think PMA and and others in the UK
system have got to work through what an
incredibly complex factors there's no
simple solution here that's clear but
will always be a very good friend