Southeast Net Australia Site with Mark Coure MP - Member for Oatley

新南威爾士州下議院議員Mark Coure專訪

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By Han? Thursday April 7, 2016

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As a typical Chinese brought-up who alwalys has the problem with facial recognition of westerners , Mark has a highly recognizable face to me and charming smile as well, which distinguishes him from any other Chinese politicians I have been in touch with. He represents Oatley in the parliament of New South Wales, also, being the first interviewee of our newly-launched website. This is a coolish morning of the April of Sydney, Australian Southeast Net correspondent Han and Mr. Mark Coure MP start talking in his bright sunny office.

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Southeast Net Australia Site Journalist: Han??? Mark Coure MP: Mark

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Mark & China

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Han: You have got a lot of Chinese craft here in your office, you are a big fan of Chinese culture, aren't you?

Mark: Yeah, have been to China about eight times.

Han: Where about you have been in China?

Mark: Chengdu, I spent 3 days in Chengdu. I love Hotpot (Laugh). It was an Australian business economic summit. Then I went to Chongqing, which was two hours away.

Han: Did you take the high speed train there?

Mark: Yes, I did.

Han: How did you feel about the high-speed train?

Mark: I love high-speed train. In addition to that I have been to Fuzhou. Also, I have been to Shanghai about 6,7 times. I represented the government every time I have gone over to China, and I am looking at another trip to China in a couple of weeks. I have not organized anything yet, but hopefully in a couple of weeks. It's a delegation with doctors and those in the medical commission here in Sydney, willing to expand into China.

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Five Years a MP

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Han: Speaking of medical service, you have done tremedous jobs on local hospital. What do you think a good hospital means to the people in Oatley?

Mark: My electorate which covers hurstville for example, sees a huge benefit in the redevelopment of St Goerge Hospital. The new emergency department has been a promise. It's the major redevelopment of the hospital. It's the first redevelopment in 16 years. This is quite a news for the communities in my eletorate and people in St goerge area. For the first time we have seen an upgrade taking place to make demand.

Han: What was the No.1 challenge raising fund for that upgard?

Mark: Obviously most of them has been already funded by the state budget. That was announced last year, some more will be funded in this year's budget. The new emergency department is 41 million. That was what we have promised to do. We delivered our promise.

Han: It's been 5 years now since you started your MP career. I was at your fifth year's auction dinner with Chinese communities. Does it make any difference to you raising fund out there?

Mark: Chinese communities are very active across Sydney and in my local electorate as well. They live throughout my area. I have one of the electorates that have one of the largest Chinese population anywhere in Australia. Chinese communities are very much pro-business, pro-family and pro-community. They care about their communities, they care about what government or parliament do for their community. They have been very active in trying to support them.

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The Largest Chinese Community

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Han: Do we have the exact number of how many Chinese people are living in your electorate?

Mark: 18％，which is roughly about between 9.5 and 12 thousand people.

Han: What has been te No.1 challenge reagarding your work with the Chinese Community?

Mark: There are lot of challenges just like everyone else in the communities. For 16 years, very little was built, very little was upgraded. There was infrastructure backlog, there was a huge demand for upgrade to schools, to hospitals, to Oatley stations, and we have been out to deliver all of that. We have been out to deliver the upgrade for Oatley station, which is about to be finished early next year.

Han: Have you felt the language barrier being one of the problem of Chinese communities esecially for mid-age Chinese immigrated?

Mark: We have free language class throughout hurstville. I have people in my office who work for me who can speak mandarin and cantonese. It's good that it's been a great partnership in the Chinese communities.

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On Free-Trade Agreement and More

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Han: With the increasing number of Chinese immigration in Australia, there Australian critics who are afraid of China, or?Chinese investment,?for it to be threat. How'd you see it?

Mark: I don't see it as a threat. At the end of the day, I have been there about 8 or 9 times, plus twice this year. China is a facinating country. It's a country that we are getting closer with. We have just signed the free-trade agreement. President Xi Jinping came to Sydney back in November 2014, and I had the honer to meet with him here in Sydney. The photo is in my wechat account. Signing the free trade agreement is the first of many firsts. Since diplomatic relations were established between our countries 43 yeears ago, our relations have gone from strength to strength. A number of Prime Ministers have gone to China, and a number of Presidents have come to Sydney here in Australia. We have got a very healthy economy here. We can walk dwon the main street of hurstville and see the benefit that the Chinese community has provided the local economy of hurstville. We have got many great and wonderful Chinese reasaurants. We have got the Chinese communities very active in politics, laws and accounting in my electorate. Generally I think the Chinese community has provided a great benefit not only in my electorate but in Sydney, Australia as well.

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Han: Does that reveal that you are 100% in favor of Chinese investment here in Australia?

Mark: Chinese investment helps Australian economy. It is another myth that just Chinese communities are buying our agricultural land. That's not true. If you look at Commbank's statistics about who's buying what, there are mostly places like America, the UK, parts of Europe that are buying many of our agricultural property, not Chinese. That's another myth by the union movement.

Han: As both politician and former business operator, how would you predict last year's free-trade agreement may impact the bilateral trade between China and Australia?

Mark: Free trade agreement is good in many remarks. The first point is it would open up doors in China for businessist here in Australia. Secondly, it will open up doors here in Australia for businessists in China who want to do business here in Australia. It helps both businesses in small medium and large scales, in both countries.

In addtion, if you look at the population in Australia. We are now over 24 million, when China is 1.4 billion. So it opens us to a bigger market overseas. What we are seeing at the moment is a huge middle-class emerging in China. Over the next 30 years I estimate, over 700 million people (in China) would be a part of the middle-class. Obviously there will be a even bigger construction booming in China over the yaers. We want to be a part of that investment, we want to be part of the economic revolution China is undertaking at the moment. Now is a good time more than any other times.

Han: Let's talk about another hot issue over the social media of both China and Australia, which is Australian moms complaining about Chinese moms purchasing too much baby formula from Australia. Would you consider it as a problem revealed in the bilateral trade?

Mark: I don't see it as a problem at all. Obviously they should increase the supply.There is a limitation on how many you can buy and take back. I gree with that.

Han: At the very beginning of our interview, you talked about your experience with high speed train from Chengdu to Chongqing. Australian people have been talking about the feasibity of building high speed train here in Australia as here. Do you consider Australia is now at the stage of doing so?

Mark: I believe in a bigger Australia. I believe in expanding the Sydney basin. The only way that you are gonna be out to ease congestion here in Sydney, is transport, or fast rail between Sydney and Centrel Coast, Sydney and New Castle, taking that out to western new south wales. If it is a 40 mins train trip on a fast rail from Sydney to Canberra, people would live in Canberra to get out of the congestion. That is something the government needs to look at. It's a huge cost. But it would benefit Sydney and Australia, cause we've gotta take people out. You can't expand Sydney, cause you have got the water around it and national park on the bottom. We need a fast rail link that would take us beyond those points to central coast, new castle, etc. People would catch fast rail to Canberra for example.

It's on the government agenda at the moment. It should be.

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走進馬克庫瑞敞亮的辦公室，我有些驚訝。一來是沒想到一個州議員的辦公室這么小，二來是落地窗外的廣闊景致與州議會大廈里有些局促的氛圍實在反差太大。

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我們一行四人的到來讓原本就不大的辦公室看起來熱鬧了許多，馬克熱情地和我們一一握手，帶著他那招牌式的微笑。悉尼四月的早晨有些涼，我們放棄了陽臺上極佳的風景來到他的辦公室里，開始了東南網澳大利亞站對話南十字星的第一篇人物專訪。

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馬克與中國

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馬克有三個身份，一是自由黨黨員；二是新州自由黨副黨鞭，有點中紀委那意思；第三，也是最重要的，他是代表Oatley的新州下議院議員。Oatley位于悉尼市區南邊，離市中心大約18公里。這個選區中的華人密度，是整個新南威爾士州中最高的之一。作為這樣一個選區的唯一議員，馬克的辦公室自然少不了中國元素：從臉譜，玉兔，到微縮版的清明上河圖和一瓶外形別致的白酒，他的辦公室活脫一個中國飾物展。對此，馬克毫不掩飾自己對中國的喜愛，并和我分享起他到中國的經歷，以及他和他選區的故事。

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東南網澳大利亞站記者 彭寒（以下簡稱彭）：你的辦公室里有很多中國的小玩意兒，你很喜歡中國文化嗎？

新南威爾士州議員 馬克·庫瑞（以下簡稱馬）：是的，我大概去過中國八次吧。

彭：都去了哪里呢？

馬：成都，我在那兒呆了三天，出席澳大利亞商務峰會，火鍋太好吃了（笑），我的胃很堅強，第二天什么事兒也沒有。在那之后我去了重慶，兩個小時的車程。

彭：坐的動車？

馬：是的，當然。

彭：喜歡動車嗎？

馬：我愛動車，太棒了。除此之外我還去過福州，當然了還有很多次到訪過的北京和上海，光是上海我就去了6、7次吧。每次去中國我都是出差，幾周后可能還會去一趟，和一個悉尼當地對中國市場感興趣的醫療委員會。

彭：你的選區里華人很多，有一個具體的數字嗎？

馬：18％，我的選區里18％的人口是華人。如果是人數的話，大概是9萬5到12萬之間吧。

彭：涉及華人的工作中，什么對你來說是最棘手的？

馬：棘手的問題是全面的，并不針對于華人。我們有很多基礎設施，醫院和學校都已經16年沒有更新過了，為此我做了許多工作，結果是令人欣喜的。

彭：語言障礙影響與華人社區的工作效率嗎？

馬：我們在一些地區開展了免費的語言課程，并且我的團隊里有懂漢語和粵語的工作人員，這讓我和華人社區建立了良好的關系。

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馬克眼中的自貿時代

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從政之前的馬克是一名商人，談及經濟貿易相關的話題時他總是顯得很興奮。去年中澳自貿協議的簽訂對于中國，澳大利亞，或者說對于馬克本人都是一件大事，只要是與雙邊貿易有關的問題他的旗幟都很鮮明，即使是在頗具爭議的具體話題上也是如此。

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彭：隨著越來越多的中國移民來到澳洲定居，澳大利亞的媒體中也出現了很多反華的聲音，認為中國對于澳洲是個威脅，尤其是在澳越來越多的中國投資，你怎么看？

馬：我一點都不認為中國是個威脅，畢竟我去過8，9次，今年還有兩次，我比他們了解。中澳正在越走越近，習主席2014年到訪悉尼的時候我有幸在場并和他合了影，那簡直太棒了，我的微信朋友圈里有這張照片。去年我們簽訂了自貿協定，這會是一個開始，43年的建交歷史將會越走越有力。事實上來自中國的投資讓我們的經濟很健康，當你走在Hurstville的大街上看到那些漂亮的中餐廳時你會發現華人對我們整個社區經濟上的促進。我的選區中有在政治，法律以及金融方面非常活躍的華人。在更大的層面上，華人為整個悉尼甚至澳洲，都帶來了積極影響。

彭：所以您對中資入澳是百分之百絕對支持嗎？

馬：是的，中國在澳的投資對澳洲經濟是絕對的幫助。最近有人在制造不實的消息稱澳洲的農場都被中國人買了，但是當你看看聯邦銀行的數據你會發現澳洲農場絕大多數的外資購買者都來自美國，英國，以及部分歐洲國家，而非中國。

彭：作為政客以及曾經的商人，自貿協定的簽訂在你看來會怎樣影響雙邊貿易？

馬：它會在許多方面發揮積極作用，首先它會為彼此國家的商人打開各自的大門，無論是中小企業還是大公司。另外，如果你看看人口的數據你會發現，澳洲現在有2400萬人口，而中國是14個億，這將會是澳洲更大的海外市場。我預計中國30年之內將會迎來中產階級的迅速崛起，進而帶來更加強勁的發展，我們也希望可以參與到其中，成為中國經濟變革的一部分，而現在（簽訂自貿協議）就是最好的時機。

彭：雙邊貿易的發展是可喜的，不過其中也出現過一些插曲，前幾個月在社交網站很火的澳洲媽媽怒批中國人買光了嬰兒奶粉事件，這會成為雙邊貿易的問題嗎？

馬：我一點都不這樣認為，生產商需要保證他們產品供應，就是這樣。并且現在也有了限購政策，對此我非常贊同。這不需要擔心。

彭：您之前提到了在成都坐動車的經歷，一些澳洲人也對澳洲建高鐵的話題展開過討論，您認為現在的澳洲有必要建高鐵嗎？

馬：我相信大澳洲，或者大悉尼的理念。只有快速的交通，或者具體來講就是鐵路，可以緩解悉尼的擁擠。如果從悉尼到堪培拉只需要四十分鐘，那么在悉尼工作的人們會搬去堪培拉來遠離擁擠的城區。但政府需要對這個從長計議，畢竟這會花掉很多錢和時間。但這對悉尼絕對是好的，因為悉尼的城區已經不能再擴大了，它周圍有河有海，南邊又是國家公園。快速的鐵路可以幫助我們跨過這些障礙，把周圍的地區聯系在一起。政府會繼續討論這個的。

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記者 彭寒

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