Annastacia Palaszczuk jets to China to lure more students and tourists
Annastacia Palaszczuk will lead Queensland’s largest trade mission to China with more than 100 industry delegates in a bid lure more international students and tourists.
Annastacia Palaszczuk will lead Queensland’s largest trade mission to China with more than 100 industry delegates in a bid lure more international students and tourists back to the state after years of tense relations between Beijing and Canberra.
The Queensland Premier, who announced the trip in April, will spend five days in high-level meetings with investors and government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.
Her fourth visit to China coincides with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s trip to Beijing and follows similar tours by West Australian Premier Roger Cook and former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews this year.
China overtook Japan as the state’s biggest export destination in September – worth $23.69bn a year – after a two-year long unofficial ban on Australian coal imports lifted in February.
Beijing imposed the informal ban after former prime minister Scott Morrison called for an independent global inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, and followed similar strikes against wine, wood, barley, beef, lamb and lobster.
Ms Palaszczuk will attend the China International Import Expo at Shanghai, where delegates from 28 Queensland companies will promote beef, seafood, horticulture, wine and wellness products.
Her surgeon partner, Reza Adib, is joining her on invitation from the city of Shanghai and is “paying his own way”.
“This will be my fourth mission to China and comes at a pivotal time in Australia’s history with the nation,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “Trade restrictions are easing, and international visitors have begun arriving on our shores for the first time since 2020, as China rises to be Queensland’s top export market.
“Our state has a longstanding relationship with China that we want to see strengthen as confidence in trade and travel return.”
Ms Palaszczuk will meet executives from China Eastern Airlines to lobby for more direct flights to Queensland and launch a targeted tourism campaign.
The state government recently paid China Eastern and China Southern Airlines to resume direct flights to Queensland through its $200m aviation attraction fund.
Tourism and Events Queensland chief executive Patricia O’Callaghan said the deal with the two Chinese carriers would bring more than 459,000 inbound seats in the next three years.
“Before the pandemic China dominated Queensland’s international tourism market, and we know it will again, with Chinese travellers forecast to pump nearly $3bn a year into the state’s economy by 2032,” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said her visit would be filled with “back-to-back investor meetings and official diplomatic receptions”.
Earlier this year, China’s ambassador to Australia said his country would be interested in investing in landmark events such as the Brisbane 2032 Olympics as part of a “new frontier” in bilateral trade and investment relations that will span renewable energy.
“Brisbane is a great city that is going to host the 2032 Olympics so perhaps that is an area where China and Australia can co-operate. China benefited a lot from Australia’s commitment and contribution to the success of the Beijing Games in 2008 and more recently the Winter Olympics so we want to reciprocate,” Xiao Qian told The Australian.
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