Ten good reasons to invest in Australia

1.Growing foreign direct investment

• Australia is seen as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI). Over the last five years, inward FDI stock has increased by an average of 9.1 per cent per annum.
• It attracts a high level of FDI compared to other developed economies. The ratio of FDI to GDP is almost 35 per cent which is well above the average for comparable developed economies of 27 per cent. (UNCTAD).
• As of 31 December 2008, the stock of inward FDI in Australia was A$392.9 billion. The top four source countries were the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Netherlands.
  

2. Strong economic credentials

• In 2009, the Australian economy was ranked in the top three countries in the Asia-Pacific region for its overall competitiveness.
• For many years it has outperformed OECD economies in both growth and resilience of the economy. For six of the last eight years, the Australian economy has been found the most resilient in the world and its average growth rate from 1998-2009 was 3.4 per cent.
• It is a serious trade and investment player, generating more than 20 per cent of GDP from exports and more than 36 per cent from FDI stock and its economy is now predominantly services-based, with services accounting for just over 60 per cent of economic activity.
• The Australian Government responded quickly to counter recessionary pressures by spending proportionally more and earlier in terms of fiscal stimulus. (The IMF’s aggregate target for fiscal stimulus is 2 per cent of GDP and in Australia fiscal measures account for 2.1 per cent of GDP. This percentage is greater than that of the G20 PPP-GDP weighted average and higher than the UK, US, Canada, Germany, France and Japan - as of March 2009.
  

3. Strategic location

• Its unique time zone advantages, its cultural affinity with Asia, and its American/European business environment make it a perfect business bridge to Asia or western locations. Companies can benefit from ‘follow-the-sun’ operations.
• Japan and China are Australia’s top two trading partners. It has FTAs in place with the US, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand. It is negotiating FTAs with China, Japan, Malaysia, ASEAN, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Chile.
  
• Its traditional trade with Europe and North America is augmented by our rapidly growing trade with Asia. China and Japan are now the country’s top two-way trading partners, followed by the US and the UK and the country has strong trading links throughout Asia.
• Advanced transport and communications networks provide Australian-based companies with an edge in servicing Asian markets quickly and effectively.

4. Democratic and politically stable

• It is a safe destination for investment. The country's political and regulatory environment is stable, open and progressive, providing investors with a high degree of confidence and certainty.
• Its strength as an investment destination stems, in part, from a political system that has been assessed as being highly effective in responding to economic challenges and policy direction.According to IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009,the adaptability of Australian government policy to changes in the economy has been ranked in the top two countries in the region.
• Australia also has an open, efficient and transparent legal framework. Corruption levels are judged lower than those in the US, the UK, Canada and most regional countries.
  

5. Business friendly regulatory environment

• It has been ranked as the third fastest place in the world to start a business (Source: The World Bank Doing Business 2009).
  
• Transparency in government policy is considered third best in the region, and Australia's legal and regulatory framework has been rated one of the top six economies in the world for encouraging enterprise competition (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).
• Its corporate boards are ranked sixth most effective in the world and second in the region for the supervision of the management of companies (Source: Ibid).
• It is ranked seventh in the world and second in the region, after New Zealand, for the implementation of ethical practices in companies (Source: Ibid).
• It has a highly professional and transparent public service, which is reflected in its rating in the top seven countries in the world (Source: Ibid).
• The inherent value system in the society promotes competitiveness and has been rated fourth most supportive of business competitiveness in the world (Source: Ibid).
• It ranks thirteenth globally and in the top four countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Source: Ibid).
• For personal security and protection of private property, Australia ranks sixth globally and first in the region (Source: Ibid).
  

6. Highly skilled and multilingual workforce

• The intellectual gene pool of Australia's workforce is constantly replenished by an internationally acclaimed tertiary education sector (ranked ninth in the world by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).
• It has been ranked equal first in the world for general literacy (Source: Ibid), and on average across all industry sectors, 24 per cent of Australia’s workforce holds a tertiary qualification.
  
• Its working environment has proven to be highly attractive to skilled workers, ranking third in the world for attracting and retaining talent in a study of 57 key economies. The country was also found to have the fourth most attractive business environment for highly skilled foreign students and has the highest number of foreign tertiary level students per 1,000 inhabitants (Source: Ibid).
• Its workforce is also considered to be technology savvy, having the third highest number of Internet users and the seventh highest number of computers per thousand people (Source: Ibid).
• Its citizens originate from more than 200 countries, and the country is home to one of the most multilingual workforces in the Asia-Pacific region, giving it the capacity to offer workforce solutions requiring multilingual and multicultural sensitivities.
• Approximately three million Australians – or 25 per cent of the labour force – speak a language other than English at home, with around 400 different languages spoken in homes around the country. Almost 1.2 million Australians are fluent in major European languages, and nearly 1.5 million speaking an Asian language at home (with more than 500,000 speaking a Chinese dialect) (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics – 2006 Census).

7. Cost competitive location

• It is considered one of the least costly countries in the industrialised world in which to base a business (Source: KPMG, Competitive Alternatives, 2008).
• Property prices are highly competitive, with the cost of prime office space in Australia’s state capitals cheaper than in most global and commercial centres. The cost of office space in Sydney is around 65 per cent less than in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Mumbai (Source: CB Richard Ellis, Global Market Rents, May 2009).
• It offers comparatively low energy costs, with electricity costs per kilowatt hours for industrial clients in Australia cheaper than in the UK, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan. Australian energy prices and petrol prices were ranked as the 10th and 14th lowest respectively out of 57 key economies (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).
• Another popular drawcard for investors is the fact that Australia is the ninth lowest taxing country in the 30 member OECD, with its tax revenue as a percentage of GDP being 30.8 per cent compared to an OECD average of 35.8 per cent (Source: OECD 2008).
• While its workforce is one of the most highly skilled and multilingual in the world, remuneration levels for management staff in Australia are lower than in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada and Hong Kong (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009), and salary levels for highly skilled professionals are generally lower than in comparable financial centres around the globe.
• The cost of living in its capital cities is also lower than in most other major capitals worldwide, including Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York City, Singapore, London, Los Angeles and Dubai (Source: Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Sydney 2009).

8. Innovative with excellent R&D and IT infrastructure

• Australian government support for research and development is matched by strong growth in business expenditure on research and development. In 2007-08, business expenditure on research and development reached a record $14.4 billion, representing a nine percent increase in real terms on the previous year. This expenditure was concentrated in the areas of manufacturing (30 per cent), mining (23 per cent) and professional, scientific and technical services (16 per cent) industries.
• It also offers a highly skilled workforce within the R&D sector, ranking 14th from 57 key economies in terms of its total R&D personnel nationwide per capita (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).
• The Enterprise Connect Network, which provides a national network of innovation centres and R&D services that support Australian small and medium enterprises by giving them access to expert practical advice.
• The International Science Linkages program, through which the government is channelling $95 million over nine years in support of international scientific collaboration.
  
• The Australian Laureate Fellowship Scheme, which will provide $240 million into post-doctoral and post-graduate research and mentoring.
• Australia has highly sophisticated infrastructure supporting R&D, and its scientific research institutions have been ranked eighth in the world (Source: World Economic Forum, Switzerland and Harvard University, Global Competitiveness Report 2008-09 (134 economies)).
• The country has a unique Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) program, which combines the research efforts of the public and private sectors in 48 CRCs operating across a wide range of industry sectors. In the program’s latest selection round, announced in December 2009, $130 million was granted to seven CRCs focusing on areas including biotechnology, mining and remote communities, and engineering asset management.
• Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which is among the world’s largest scientific institutions, is the biggest participant in CRCs.
• Australia is recognised as a powerhouse of biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovation. The country is home to a network of 470 biotechnology companies focusing on key industries such as therapeutics, agricultural biotechnology and diagnostics. In 2008, it was reported that 399 alliances had been announced involving Australian life sciences companies in the previous 12 months. Of these, more than 70 per cent were with international organisations – 101 from North America, 100 from Europe and 57 from Asia (Source: Hopper and Thorburn, 2008 BioIndustry Review: Australia and New Zealand).
  
• The country’s ICT market, worth A$100 billion, is the fifth largest in the Asia Pacific and the 14th largest in the world, and between 2001 and 2008 the industry grew nearly 14 per cent – faster than those of Japan, Hong Kong South Korea and Taiwan (Sources: ABS. Information and Communication technology Australia, 2006-07, October 2008. WITSA, Digital Planet: The Global Information Economy, May 2008).
• In 2008, Australia’s IT industry was ranked as the second most competitive in the Asia Pacific and the seventh globally, as well as ranking sixth for e-readiness (Sources: EIU: How Technology Sectors Grow. Benchmarking IT Industry Competitiveness 2008. EIU, E-Readiness Report 2008).

9. Strong and sophisticated financial services sector

• The Australian economy was ranked the most resilient in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009 and as one of the four most resilient globally (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Online 1995-2009 (Updated: May 2009).
• Its banks are among the strongest in the world. Of the world’s nine major which are rated AA or above by Standard and Poor’s, Australia is home to four.
• Finance and insurance is the fourth largest sector in Australia's economy, generating 8.1 per cent or A$81 billion of real gross value added in 2008-09. This contribution is up from 6.6 per cent two decades ago (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, can.no.5206.0, National Income, Expenditure and Product, Time Series Workbook (released 2 September 2009).
• It has one of the largest pools of consolidated assets under management globally, currently valued at about A$1.2 trillion (US$950 billion).
• Australia’s annual export value of goods and services now exceeds US$230 billion (representing more than 20 per cent of GDP), with a compound annual growth rate of around 9 per cent per annum since 1998 (Source: World Trade organisation, statistics database (downloaded 12 May 2009).
• The country has been assessed as having the third best regulation of securities exchanges and the fourth soundest banking system in the world (Source: World Economic Forum, The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-09) and Australia's percentage of non-performing loans is among the lowest in the world (Source: IMF, Global Financial Stability Report, April 2009, Statistical Appendix, Table 24).
• One of the largest pools of funds under management in the world, now standing at around A$1.2 trillion (US$950 billion), with more than 70 per cent of this being superannuation (pension) fund assets. Since 1994, superannuation funds under management have increased by 12.7 per cent (compounded annually) to more than A$700 billion.
  
• The largest stock market by free-float market capitalisation in Asia (ex Japan), and ranks seventh in the world. In September 2009, Australian market capitalisation stood at US$952 billion, compared with US$362 billion in Hong Kong and US$179 billion in Singapore.
  
• The fastest growing foreign exchange market in the Asia Pacific and seventh largest market in terms of global turnover. The Australian dollar is the sixth most traded currency and the US$/A$ is the fourth most traded currency pair.
  
• The second largest debt securities market in region (ex Japan) in terms of the issuance of both international and domestic debt securities. The country has more international debt securities outstanding than any other Asia-Pacific nation and ranks fourth in the region in terms of domestic debt securities.
  
• The largest securitisation market in Asia Pacific and the fourth largest value of issuance in securitisation assets globally behind the US, the UK and Spain.
  
• The fourth largest insurance market in the Asia Pacific and the 12th largest in the world in terms of premium income.
  
• The largest merger and acquisition market in the region and one of the most active globally, with a market share of 3.4 per cent of completed deals in 2009 (Source: Thomson Reuters).
  
• The largest hedge funds market in the region with total assets under management standing at US$27 billion in December 2008.
  
• Debt and equity markets that are amongst the most liquid and sophisticated in the world with new products emerging, such as exchange traded CFDs, property derivatives, and products related to carbon trading.
  

10. Excellent quality of life

• In 2009, Australia’s quality of life was ranked 6th in the world out of 57 key economies, ahead of New Zealand, the USA and the UK (Source: IMD World Competitiveness Online 1995-2009, Worldwide Quality of Life Index 2009).
• It ranked second on the UNDP Human Development Index 2009, behind only Norway, and Australia's life expectancy (81 years) was the fifth highest in the world.
• In the Economist Intelligence Unit Liveability Ranking 2009, four of Australia's mainland capital cities were ranked in the top eight liveable cities in the world. While in Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s Quality of
• Living Survey 2008, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane were all among the top 31 cities in the world to live in, ahead of notable cities such as London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and New York.

• The cost of living in Australia’s capital cities is also lower than in most other major capitals worldwide, including Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York City, Singapore, London, Los Angeles and Dubai (Source: Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Sydney 2009).
  

Updated: July 2010