November 16, 2017 
Australia, Germany and the Asia-Pacific have an incredible history of collaboration. Together, we have produced leading innovation.
This relation is clearly evident today. You don’t have to search very far to see the results of this fantastic relationship, such as Siemens‘ $450 million software donation to the University of WA, or the alliance between CSIRO and Boeing.
These kinds of economic linkages bring fundamental opportunities. The 2017 Asia-Pacific Region Conference was dedicated to further enhancing these well-established relations.
About the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference
Taking place from the 3rd to 5th November at the Crown Convention Centre in Perth, the event is the most significant bilateral conference between Germany, Australia, and the wider region.
This year, political and business leaders came together to deepen lucrative trade links and explore the most significant industry issues occurring today. The industries in focus included energy, industry 4.0, agriculture, mining as well as food and supply chains.
Our Global Head of Renewable Energy & Infrastructure, Jan Rieche, and our Solution Designer, Martin Skramstad attended this year’s event to learn from others and voice their own opinions.
Addressing Issues and Bettering the Future
The Asia-Pacific Regional Conference drew multiple senior government ministers, diplomats, trade advisers and international delegates.
We recognised this as an unsurpassable opportunity to voice our concerns and propose suggestions for bettering the geopolitical environment. This lead to us securing a roundtable with Malcolm Turnbull, Frank Walter Steinmeier, Christopher Pyne, Josh Frydenberg, Mathias Cormann, Julie Bishop, and Peter Dutton.
During this roundtable, we voiced our concerns, primarily with current immigration policies, and the geopolitical issues limiting German-Australian prospects.
The hiring of skilled foreign labour (including German industry specialists) is absolutely crucial to facilitating projects.
“Without the free-flow of skilled foreign labour, lucrative projects are seriously impeded.”
Any foreign business operating in Australia (especially the ones that require specialist expertise) will be greatly impacted by limitations to immigration, such as changes to the 457, 186 and 187 visas.
As the conference was dedicated to the economic of linkages between our countries, it served as the perfect moment to remind the ministers of the limits that such immigration policies are imposing on these ties.
We fervently reminded Mr. Dutton and the other ministers that, without the free-flow of skilled foreign labour, lucrative projects are seriously impeded. This is especially relevant in areas where Germany and Australia collaborate (such as industry 4.0).
This issue is something of great importance to international businesses and, therefore, to us here at The Polyglot Group. Through consistent efforts, we hope that a greater awareness of the issue at hand will generate change, and better the results for businesses requiring foreign labour.
