DPC travel outcomes report: Ben Carroll's 2024 travel to Singapore and China

Purpose of travel

From 1-8 September 2024, I visited Singapore and three cities in China: Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing. The purpose of my travel was to strengthen Victoria's social and economic ties and promote whole-of-government priorities including across trade and investment, education and skills, medical research, and Victoria's visitor economy.

This travel also presented an opportunity to commemorate the 45^th anniversary of Victoria's oldest sister-state, Jiangsu Province.

Benefits of travel to the State of Victoria

This visit was my first official travel as Deputy Premier. It was my first visit to Singapore and my second visit to China in a ministerial capacity since 2018. The travel aligned with the Victorian Government's priorities including to:

• promote Victoria's capabilities abroad in major international markets
• support best-practice policy exchange in priority sectors, including education, skills, and medical research
• facilitate stronger economic, cultural, institutional, and government-to-government ties with key international partners.

My program consisted primarily of meetings with government and industry stakeholders to support stronger ties with Singapore and China in areas of mutual interest.

Benefits of the trip to Victoria include:

• Promoting Victoria's health, life sciences, and medical research capabilities and encouraging greater collaboration with leading Victorian institutions.
• In Singapore, I promoted stronger ties between its world-leading life sciences ecosystem and Victoria, including through meetings with the National Centre for Infectious Diseases; National Research Foundation; National Health Innovation Centre; the Agency for Science, Technology and Research; BioNTech; and the Singapore Life Science Incubator. BioNTech; and the Singapore Life Science Incubator.
• I reinforced the importance of collaboration between Victoria and Singapore to tackle shared challenges, including global and regional pandemic readiness, and translation of R&D to products and services that improve health outcomes for Victoria, Australia, and the world.
• In Shanghai, I presented at a medical research showcase at the Victorian Food and Fibre Trade Pavilion, which promoted Victoria's strengths in pharmaceutical manufacturing, mRNA research, and the R&D ecosystem. The showcase highlighted opportunities for research collaboration and promoted greater investment in Victoria's health and life science sector.
• In Beijing, I visited Tsinghua University and met with the Development Research Center of the State Council to promote Victoria's education and research capabilities, as well as ongoing collaboration with Victorian institutions such as the Doherty Institute and University of Melbourne.
• I also promoted the opportunity for stakeholders to see Victoria's medical research, medtech, and industry capabilities by visiting Melbourne for the AusBiotech Conference in October 2024.
• Sharing and learning from global best-practice in education and promoting deeper collaboration at all education levels.
  • A meeting with Singapore's National Institute of Education and the Academy of Singapore Teachers was an opportunity to understand Singapore's approach to teacher education. These learnings can be considered as part of the Victorian Government's priorities in explicit teaching and professional development for teachers at the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership, which was inspired by Singapore's own academy. It was also an opportunity to share Victorian best practice in education including phonics, school mobile phone bans, and Best Start Best Life reforms
  • Victoria and Singapore share similar strengths, including a highly skilled workforce, world class universities, a professional teaching workforce, and strong government investment in R&D and innovation. A meeting with Skills Future Singapore was an opportunity to discuss approaches to delivering skills required for the current and future labour market, including through the Victorian Skills Gateway.
  • In Shanghai, I met with key education stakeholders including the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Shanghai University, and the Shanghai Foreign Language School. Key themes across the meetings included opportunities in STEM education and the importance of embedding evidence-based learning throughout early education in numeracy and literacy.
  • In Beijing, I met with senior government officials in the Ministry of Education, including the Vice Minister of Education and President of the China Education Association for International Exchange. We discussed best practice in primary, secondary, and higher education and health and wellbeing support for students in their education journey. These meetings provided an opportunity to exchange expertise with key policymakers in China's education system, which supports around 290 million students, 18 million teachers, and is one of the world's highest performing.
  • During my official engagements with education stakeholders, particularly those in the higher education sector, I reaffirmed Victoria's commitment and support for international students, with Melbourne being Australia's best student city.
• Strengthening government-to-government and economic ties.
  • Meetings with subnational leaders in China was an opportunity to elevate Victoria's profile with key stakeholders, helping to identify and capitalise on emerging opportunities by strengthening bilateral relationships.
  • Victoria shares a diverse and longstanding partnership with Jiangsu Province, which has included substantial collaboration across key portfolios such as trade, investment, tourism, creative industries, health and life sciences, and sustainability. In Nanjing, I commemorated the 45th anniversary of our sister­ state relationship with Jiangsu Province in 2024- our oldest sister-state relationship.
  • As a keynote speaker at the China-Australia Chamber of Commerce (AustCham China) gala event, I promoted Victoria's trade and investment credentials to a wide array of key industry, government, and diplomatic stakeholders in China, and highlighted the opportunity to visit Victoria for the World Chambers Congress in 2025.
• My visit also included briefings from key Commonwealth Government officials:
  • Australia's High Commissioner to Singapore, Mr Allaster Cox
  • Australia's Ambassador to China, Mr Scott Dewar.

Next Steps/Follow Up

Following my visit, several actions have commenced and will continue to be progressed. On 12 September 2024, the Secretary of the Education Work Committee of the Beijing Municipal Commission visited Melbourne. I met with the Secretary to continue discussions on education with a key Chinese Government stakeholder with responsibility for a student population of around 4 million, more than 90 higher education institutions, and globally top­ ranked universities.

In late September 2024, a reciprocal delegation from the Jiangsu Provincial Government visited Victoria to commemorate the 45th anniversary of sister-state ties. During this visit, Victorian and Jiangsu businesses were able to forge new connections at the Victoria-Jiangsu 45th Anniversary Economic Forum and Reception, and key departmental stakeholders were also able to progress collaborative initiatives and best-practice knowledge exchange in priority sectors at the 19th Victoria-Jiangsu Joint Economic Committee meeting.

Actions in progress include:

• attendance of key stakeholders in the life sciences sector to AusBiotech 2024 in Melbourne, following connections made across official travel
• connecting major research institutions in Victoria with counterparts in Singapore and China to collaborate in areas of shared challenges and opportunity
• sharing learnings from global best-practice in education and medical research into policy development in Victoria
• reinforcing meaningful sister -state ties with Jiangsu Province to deliver substantive outcomes in sectors of mutual priority
• promoting Victoria as a welcoming destination for international students, including continued advocacy to the Commonwealth Government
• considering opportunities to leverage the 60^th anniversary of Australia-Singapore diplomatic ties in 2025 for deeper engagement.