Presented by QUT Faculty of Law Intellectual Property and Innovation Law Research Program, QUT Institute for Future Environments, and QUT Chair in Digital Economy Wednesday, 10 April 2019 8:30am to 5:00pm

The Future of Trade: The Limitations of Australia's Current Trade Policy Approach, and Recommendations for a New Trade Agenda Associate Professor Elizabeth Thurbon, UNSW

The Future of Trade: The Limitations of Australia's Current Trade Policy Approach, and Recommendations for a New Trade Agenda Associate Professor Elizabeth Thurbon, International Relations/ International Political Economy, the School of Social Sciences, UNSW

Abstract

In its 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, the Australian Government identified trade agreements as a key tool to advance its foreign policy objectives: from defending the rules-based order against protectionism to ensuring that emerging economies abide by liberal economic principles, to advancing the interests of Australian firms globally. So how well do the trade rules – which Australia is promoting - help advance these objectives? This presentation considers whether Australia’s current trade policy approach is more likely to help or hinder its foreign policy goals, and proposes an alternative approach to trade policy that is more in keeping with the government’s stated economic and political objectives.

Biography

Associate Professor Elizabeth Thurbon is a Scientia Fellow and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Social Sciences at UNSW Sydney. She has also held visiting fellowships at Seoul National University and China Foreign Affairs University. Elizabeth’s research expertise is the (international) political-economy of trade, finance and techno-industrial transformation, with a focus on the developmental role of the state in East Asia and Australia. Her most recent book Developmental Mindset: The Revival of Financial Activism in South Korea was published by Cornell University Press in 2016. Elizabeth is a regular contributor to public and policy debates on Australian trade and industry policy. She is the co-author of two popular books on Australian trade policy and economic security (with Linda Weiss and John Mathews), and Guest Editor of the 2015 Special Issue of the Australian Journal of International Affairs dedicated to evaluating the Future of Australian Trade Policy in light of the 10-year anniversary of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). She is currently a Chief Investigator on two large, externally-funded research projects: A 3-year collaborative ARC Discovery Project examining the role of the state in East Asia’s Clean Energy Shift, and implications for Australia (alongside CIs Dr Sung-Young Kim, Prof John Mathews, and A/Prof Hao Tan), and a project examining the Evolution of Financial Activism in East Asia, as part of a 5-year Academy of Korean Studies-funded Laboratory Project based at Seoul National University (alongside CIs Profs Keun Lee, Djun-kil Kim, Jang-sup Shin, Jaeyong Song, and Chan-yuan Wong). She holds a Ph.D. in International Political Economy from the University of Sydney. She also completed her Economics (Social Sciences) Degree at Sydney University, where she was awarded first class Honours and the University Medal for Academic Excellence.