Interview with Lisa Kim, CNBC Australia

Subjects: meeting with Chinese Finance Minister, fuel security, investment opportunities in Australia Treasurer, thank you so much for joining CNBC today. Jim Chalmers: Thanks very much, Lisa. We’re in Hong Kong on the sidelines of the APEC Finance Ministers meeting.

What are you hoping to get out of this 2‑day event? Well, APEC economies make up something like 73 per cent of Australia’s trade. So, it’s very important that I’m here engaging with all of these economies in Australia’s national interest.

All of these economies are impacted in one way or another by the war in the Middle East and what that means for oil prices, energy security, bond yields, borrowing costs and the contest for capital. And so my big priority here is energy security and fuel. Also speaking with investors which together manage something like $2 trillion of funds under management.

And I also took the opportunity for a good lengthy discussion with my Chinese counterpart, Minister Lan. Could you give us a bit more colour about the conversation you had with him? Well, it was a really welcome opportunity to engage once again with Chinese Finance Minister Lan about energy security, about trade.

We have this very mutually beneficial trading relationship that goes across a whole range of resources and commodities and in other areas. And so we talked about the trade of energy products, we talked about fuel security, we talked about iron ore. All of these essential elements of what is a really important trading relationship for both countries.

So, speaking of China, China and the US are both very important to Australia. But the 2 countries are not exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment. As Treasurer, how do you walk that tightrope?

Well, we engage with all of our important partners in Australia’s national interest. And we’ve worked through these relationships and within these relationships in a considered and methodical way, always with an eye to what’s best for our country and what’s best for our economy. It’s not unusual for issues to arise between the 2 big economies in our region.

For Australia, we’ve got relationship with the United States, which is very important to us. Equally, a trading relationship with China, which is very important to our economy. We’ve shown an ability and willingness and enthusiasm to engage with both countries simultaneously.

Right. Impact of Iran more, Australia exports, energy, LNG. So, some of your companies, in fact, benefit from higher prices, but the broader public is also feeling the pinch from higher prices and inflation.

How do you bridge that gap? Well, from an Australian point of view and from an economic point of view, the end of the war in the Middle East can’t come soon enough. The war in the Middle East has been pushing up inflation around the world, and in Australia, it’s been weighing on growth around the world and in Australia as well, and pushing up borrowing costs at the same time.

So, from an economic point of view, the war in the Middle East has created a very difficult set of conditions for a lot of countries, including ours. You can see it in our inflation, which is a bit higher than we would like. We can see it in our growth.

You can see it in other areas as well. So, from an economic point of view, the end of the war can’t come soon enough. For the time being, we’re managing all of these key considerations around fuel security, managing the budget responsibly in the context of high inflation.

All of these things are important elements of our strategy. Treasurer, speaking of fuel security, is Australia considering buying more from China? Well, we made it very clear, and I had a welcome opportunity to discuss with Minister Lan this morning, that we value the opportunity to import diesel, for example, into our economy.

Our economy desperately needs fuel, whether it’s petrol, diesel fuel, aviation fuel. We work closely with all of our partners, including China, but also Singapore. I also met with my Singaporean counterpart because we know how important it is that energy security, particularly fuel security, right now, there’s a premium on that.

That’s another reason why we are engaging right across the Cabinet, right across the region and right across the world to get the best outcomes for Australia. You’ve had a busy past couple of 2 weeks. You were in Japan and then in Bangkok and then now in Hong Kong.

How important is it for Australia for you to manage these relationships? Well, whether it’s in Tokyo, Bangkok or here in Hong Kong, it’s very important that we tell the story of Australia as a remarkable investment opportunity for the world. Australia is genuinely an island of opportunity and stability in a sea of uncertainty and risk.

We’ve got a lot going for us in Australia, even though we’ve got a lot coming at us from around the world. We’ve got a robust labour market, our growth is the second fastest compared to G7 economies. We’ve got very low public debt.

So, we’ve got a lot going for us. We are a very attractive investment destination. We’ve got the industry, the demography, we’ve got the geography and geology.

We’ve got the security that investors around the world desperately are looking for. So, these opportunities, a really welcome way for us to convey that to the rest of the world. We welcome investment in Australia’s economy.

Australia is a wonderful opportunity, particularly at a time of great uncertainty elsewhere in the world.