Emerson to lead new 'Asian century ministry'

CRAIG Emerson will be appointed to a new ministry of "Asian Century policy" as part of an ambitious plan of regional engagement.

Craig Emerson

CRAIG Emerson will be appointed to a new ministry of "Asian Century policy" as part of an "ambitious" plan of regional engagement that includes every Australian school student having continuous access to Asian language teachers.

The Australia in the Asian Century white paper, authored by former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, also sets the target that one-third of board members of Australia's 200 top listed companies have "deep experience and knowledge of Asia" by 2025.

The white paper also positions "Asian studies" as a core component in the national school curriculum, and calls for gains in economic productivity to lift Australia into the top 10 nations by per capita GDP, up from 13th place in 2011.

"The Government will work to strengthen productivity through building on our investments and reforms across the five pillars of productivity skills and education, innovation, infrastructure, tax reform and regulatory reform," the paper reads.

"But most of what is required to lift Australia's productivity is in the hands of individuals, especially managers of businesses. It will emerge through innovation in business processes within firms and more sophisticated relationships among firms, encouraging knowledge transfer and exploiting gains from specialisation."

The white paper projects Australia's real average national income will increase to $73,000 per person by 2025 - up from $62,000 this year - and least one third of the national economy will be deeply integrated with Asia, up from about one-quarter today.

WHITE PAPER: Australia in the Asian Century

The government also plans to push 10 Australian universities up the rankings of the world's top 100 - up from six according to the current Times Higher Education rankings - and have Australia's school system rank among the world's top five.

All students are proposed to have continuous access to a priority Asian language, listed as Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese.

The white paper also calls for broader and deeper diplomatic ties with countries including Mongolia and Vietnam.

Ms Gillard said the white paper "lays out an ambitious plan to ensure Australia will emerge stronger over the decades ahead, by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Asian century".

"Australia comes to these challenges with firm foundations: a strong economy, a track record of engagement in the region, and the person-to-person connections many Australians already have with people in Asian countries."