Speaking at a Bloomberg event in Sydney yesterday, Mr Morrison said that as China’s population grows wealthier, there will be a greater desire from the Chinese for goods and professional services such as financial services.
“I’m advised that for every dollar we spend buying Chinese goods and services as Australians, the Chinese spend two dollars buying our goods and services,” he said.
“The emerging middle class will also have greater demand for more sophisticated goods, and a broader range of services, especially the financial and professional services at which Australians excel.”
This will mean “enormous opportunities” for financial advisers and accountants, he said.
Mr Morrison added that the China Free Trade Agreement will remove many barriers to the Chinese market and provide Australian service exporters with improved access.
“These include financial services, legal services, education, tourism, health and aged care,” he said.
“This improved access to market will be equivalent or better than those enjoyed by competitor countries but we will have to be competitive in all of these areas.”
Mr Morrison said Australian businesses will also need to adapt to servicing clients over greater distances.
“Australian businesses need to be able to provide their services to people in China in the same way someone in Hobart might provide them to someone in Cairns, or someone in Sydney was providing them to someone in Perth,” he said.
“We are used to dealing with these distances in our own domestic economy, which suits us well for providing them to customers that aren’t that far away.”
