By Victoria Stone-Meadows
City of Casey mayor Sam Aziz is “not afraid of foreigners owning Australian assets” and has stood by his decision to travel to China in a bid to attract international investment in the Casey municipality.
Cr Aziz took to his Facebook page following a spray from 3AW radio host Tom Elliot on Wednesday 1 March, who questioned the validity of the $25,000 trip for Cr Aziz, Cr Wayne Smith and two Casey Council officers.
“I make no apology for pro-actively seeking investment in our community – whether that be from the State Government, Federal Government or business,” Cr Aziz wrote in the social media post.
“It is absolutely council’s role to seek this investment in our community which is crying out for jobs and infrastructure. If council doesn’t, who else will?”
The plan to send a Casey Council delegation to China to build economic partnerships between Casey and Chinese cities was floated in December 2016.
Councillors Steve Beardon, Rex Flannery and Tim Jackson were in opposition to the trip in December but the motion was passed on the majority vote.
Cr Aziz went on a similar trip to China in 2013 when he was deputy mayor and said it would remiss of Casey Council not to explore international business and infrastructure opportunities.
“I am very sure of my objectives and that is to attest investment and that will generate jobs in Casey,” he said,
“If we weren’t thinking along those lines we would be negligent because at the moment 7 out of 10 ratepayers leave the city to go to work and that is unacceptable.”
“Every level of government should be making an effort create jobs at home.”
While there has been concerns around foreign ownership in Australia, Cr Aziz said there is no need for Casey residents to be worried.
“They can’t take the infrastructure back to China and they are only creating jobs in our back yard, improving the exchange rate, and providing a chance that our private sector can’t,” he said.
“We operate in a highly regulated market and like it or not, there Is a framework for foreign investment and it is heavily regulated.”
Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins said it is not unusual for local governments to take overseas trips but it must have something to show for it.
“A well organised trade mission can help generate local jobs,” she said.
“Casey must ensure they show residents the benefits of such a trip.”
Councillor Steve Beardon said it would be very diffuclt for Cr Aziz and Cr Smith to demonstrate the economic benefit to Casey of such as trip.
“If China want to undercut our market they can just lower the price of their dollar in so doing they are decimating our industry,” he said.
“Also, until they have fixed labour costs, child labour, and OHS protections I will not support doing business with them.”
Cr Beardon said a city the size of Casey cannot offer the necessary subsidies and business conditions to attract the investing power of similar sized cities in China.
“They won’t be investing in the City of Casey because we don’t have the economy on the scale they have,” he said.
“As City of Casey, we can’t offer any subsidies to attract to industry; the State and Federal government can but we can’t.”
While council was presented with a draft itinerary that included the world’s biggest mall and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Cr Aziz has categorically ruled out visiting these attractions.
“The itinerary is still developing and there will be no visit to the pandas,” he said.
“We will be going to China to promote investment in our city.”
