Interview with The Australian Consul General
Here is an interview I had with Christopher Rees, the Australian Consul General of Osaka and trade comissioner in the company Austrade. This was not related to economics class.
K:So, as a trade commissioner, what does that job include?
C: Well, our primary job is to help Australian businesses to succeed overseas. That could mean helped companies to export from Australia to Japan, helping them invest in Japan and set up companies, and set up successful operations in Japan. But it also involves helped Japanese companies to invest in Australia; a productive investment which helps build our industries. So, our work involves dealing with a lot of Australian companies, understanding what they need, helping them identify the best way to get into the market, in the case of an exporter it could be finding an importer, and agent or distributer, work with a retailer or perhaps even have an online strategy. If they want to invest in the market, well, could be a greenfields investment were they come in and start up a new company from scratch or could be that they buy into an existing company, take over an existing company or form a joint bencher with a Japanese company. With investment we have Japanese companies looking to invest in Australia, not only resources, to secure supply of resources, such as coal, iron or gas, but also people that are looking to invest in the Australian market, people that would be setting up businesses might be distributing food products, beverages, different sorts of industrial products, even housing products into the Australian market place. So these are some of the things that the job of an Australian trade commissioner includes.
K: Does trading have any affect on relations between Japan and Australia?
C: Australia’s trading relationship with Japan actually goes back to the 1880s, when Australia started exporting wool to the newly emerging textile industry based around Osaka. In the twentieth century, Australia’s trade with Japan was dominated by resources, in particular coal, iron and later natural gas and uranium. In the 1970s, many large Japanese firms invested heavily in Australia to develop the resources industry. However, while the very large firms have played an important role in Australia, trading relations, most of Australia’s exporters are actually small to medium sized companies. These companies export and incredibly wide range of products and services to Japan, from processed foods to computer software, engineering services and aboriginal art. This level of enterprise has forged many close relationships and has fostered greater mutual understanding between Australians and Japanese. This is particularly true if we look at the large amount of business which takes place between family based firms in the two countries. Through commerce, we often see enduring friendships emerging, and the level of understanding and mutual respect that goes far beyond mere business. So we can say that while we often think of the big famous companies when we think of international business, the truth is, the bed rock of commerce between Australia and Japan is built on many thousands of smaller companies who have built close and lasting relationships with each other.
K: You’re also the Australian Consul General in Osaka, what does that job include?
C: Well that involves first and foremost providing to Australian citizens when they need it, being mindful of their welfare and providing consular services to Australians as they might need it. That includes assistance if they should be arrested, what we call notarial services which is witnessing of signatures and other legal documents, which is hard to do when you’re out of the country, letting people know about developments that might affect them, such as the recent earthquake and tsunami, and also public diplomacy, maintaining relationships with key government representatives, business and social leaders in the Kansai area, to understand about the Kansai area and also to promote the individual Australian businesses.
K: You mentioned the earthquake in Tohoku, so in light of this recent event, do you have any extra duties?
C: Well, when the earthquake and tsunami first hit, the most important thing we had to do was to try and determine the whereabouts of Australians we believed were in the affected prefectures. So we spent quite some time largely on the phone trying to call around evacuation centres, schools, hospitals, trying to identify the whereabouts of Australian citizens that were registered with us. After that, we found that a lot of people wanted to go back to Australia. Either they were in earth-quake or tsunami affected areas and couldn’t stay there anymore, or perhaps they were in Tokyo and were concerned about problems in Tokyo such as disruption of transport, regular power blackouts, aftershocks, which some people find very stressful, and also the possibility of radiation coming from the nuclear power plant. So all those people would leave Tokyo and fly down to Osaka, and leave to go back to Australia from Osaka. In some cases they didn’t have all the necessary paperwork they needed, so we would help them and make sure they could get the documentation in time so they could safely go back to Australia. We also make sure that information is available for Australians, to know what’s going on, make sure there’s updated information for them about the possibility of radiation contamination, and also to report back to Australia, so that the government can make decisions about how to handle the crisis. There was a time there when we also had to help the relief team that arrived that arrived from Australia, a group of over 70 people and sniffer dogs that were sent to help find survivors. They arrived and they badly needed water because water was running out in stores in Tokyo. We actually purchased about 1000 litres of water in the middle of the night on a Sunday, and arranged to have it shipped up to Tokyo. We just do whatever is needed to help the relief efforts, to look after Australians’ welfare, and generally provide the support that our government expects us to.
