The trade minister, Steve Ciobo, says he will reach out respectfully to Nick Xenophon and Pauline Hanson in the new parliament, and he acknowledges there is a growing constituency of Australian voters who feel alienated by globalisation.



In an interview ahead of his departure on Monday for a new round of trade talks in Indonesia to progress a proposed bilateral economic partnership with Jakarta, Ciobo told Guardian Australia the policy orthodoxy on open markets and trade liberalisation was being questioned increasingly by voters both in Australia and other western democracies.

“I think there is a disconnect between the prosperity we as a nation enjoy and the initiatives that have been undertaken that have delivered that prosperity,” Ciobo said.

“We see it in terms of proposals to achieve fiscal consolidation being unpopular, we see the Labor party campaigning on a ticket which is driven by more debt and more deficits – and we’ve got to make sure we make that link between the policy orthodoxy to this point and the benefits that flow from it,” he said.

Ciobo will go to Jakarta on Monday to add “political momentum” to the talks with the Indonesian government on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement which the Coalition hopes will ultimately boost trade between Australia and our near neighbour.

Successive governments have wanted to deepen economic ties between Australia and Jakarta, and in recent times, Indonesia has seemed more open to engagement through trade agreements – even making a late bid to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Ciobo said he remains cautiously optimistic the TPP will be ratified in the so-called “lame duck” session of the US Congress – the final session before the new Congress takes office after the November elections.

But with populist and protectionist forces gaining significant representation in the new Australian parliament, the Coalition will struggle to achieve broad-based political support for its trade liberalisation agenda, which is a key element of its economic policy approach.

Ciobo said he was waiting for the Senate count to be finalised by the Australian Electoral Commission later this week before reaching out personally to both Xenophon and Hanson. Both the Nick Xenophon Team and One Nation have populist and protectionist policy platforms.

“Pauline and Nick represent a constituency,” Ciobo told Guardian Australia. “I’m respectful of that constituency. I understand that a number of people feel alienated by globalisation.

“I just want to engage Nick, Pauline and others in a respectful way, counter any misinformation with facts and really reinforce the point that 25 years of continuous economic growth in Australia is driven, not exclusively but partly, by our engagement with the world,” he said.

“Free trade and liberalised trade promotes economic prosperity,” he said.

Ciobo said populists highlighted the closure of factories but failed to mention that trade liberalisation delivered dispersed net benefits to economies like Australia. The dispersed net benefits included “multiple businesses employing more people – they’ve got increased market access”.

“The populists will just point to the closure and say its bad, and refuse to recognise the dispersal of net benefits,” he said.

“I want to be an advocate about all the benefits that flow to Australia and other countries that deal with the world. For every closure of a Ford or a Holden we see businesses like Blackmores and Swisse, and agribusinesses, beef producers and others, who are enjoying surging demand for their products in export markets and employing people off the back of it.”

One of the criticisms of the Coalition during the recent election campaign was the government failed to talk to voters in the old economy, or present a broad-based policy offering that addressed equity and inclusion as part of an effort to speak directly to workers who feel globalisation has led to a decline in their economic circumstances and prospects.

Asked how the government now intended to address the gap between the winners and losers of globalisation, Ciobo said the government needed to redouble public advocacy. “I think it will take sustained advocacy about the net benefits that flow to Australia from engagement in free and liberalised trade,” he said.

Asked whether the task was more than advocacy, whether the Coalition had to engage directly with policy concepts like equity and inclusion, Ciobo said: “Ultimately through a range of different initiatives, the government will maximise opportunities for all Australians to enjoy the brighter days that are ahead.

“It’s fundamentally a whole-of-government approach. We achieve that through the interaction of the tax system, of trading initiatives. For me as trade minister my focus is on opening up as many market opportunities as possible.”