State leader's bold new plan to entice Donald Trump to Australia
David Crisafulli is campaigning for his state to host the next leaders summit of the Quad, the diplomatic partnership between Australia, India, Japan, and the US.
'I'm leading a campaign to get the Quad to Queensland,' he told an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia event in Brisbane on Friday.
'Australia is due to host it (next year), and I couldn't think of a more appropriate place than Queensland to have it.'
He said he had floated the idea with the Prime Minister as recently as Thursday and he had been 'pretty persistent'.
Crisafulli said he plans to travel to Japan and India along with representatives of Queensland universities in coming weeks to lobby for the opportunity.
The last time global leaders descended on Brisbane was 2014 when it hosted the G20 summit, with guests including then US President Barack Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Crisafulli said Queensland did not get the 'buzz and recognition' some had expected from the summit, claiming its high-calibre invites had overshadowed the host city.
He said he couldn't think of a 'more appropriate place' to host the Quad meeting and promoted commercial ties between Queensland and the United States.
Crisafulli said Trump-era 'uncertainties' did not spell 'doom and gloom' but were a time of opportunity for the major trading partners.
Australia is North America's biggest supplier of beef, with Queensland being responsible for roughly half of Australia's production of beef.
He said demand for Queensland's resources will help offset impacts from the end of the US' country-specific tariff pause on July 9.
'It really plays into our strengths, what's happening on the trade front,' he said.
'Almost half of our exports at the moment are beef, and I see that as a good opportunity for a couple of reasons.
'First, the demand for Aussie beef isn't going anywhere in a hurry, and it will be a bedrock of great trade relationships for many years to come.
'But I also look at the new opportunities, and particularly with a lens of those tariffs over it, and how great that could be for Queensland.
'Start with critical minerals. Imagine an exemption for our critical minerals at a time when others are competing to get their products into one of our major markets.'
Washington hosted this week's Quad meeting, where Australia sought to brand itself as an alternative to Beijing in the supply and processing of critical minerals.
A meeting of foreign ministers from each member state agreed on a 'Quad Critical Minerals Initiative' designed to shore up global supply.
The joint statement cited concerns over the 'abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals'.
'Reliance on any one country for processing and refining critical minerals and derivative goods production exposes our industries to economic coercion, price manipulation, and supply chain disruptions, which further harms our economic and national security,' the statement said.
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