Bills Digest No.
16, 2021–22
PDF version [492KB]
Ian Zhou
Economic Policy Section
31
August 2021
Contents
Glossary
Purpose of
the Bill
Structure of
the Bill
Background
Committee
consideration
Policy
position of non-government parties/independents
Position of
major interest groups
Financial
implications
Statement of
Compatibility with Human Rights
Key issues
and provisions
Concluding
comments
Date introduced: 4
August 2021
House: House of
Representatives
Portfolio: Foreign
Affairs and Trade
Commencement: On
Royal Assent
Links: The links to the Bill,
its Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech can be found on the Bill’s
home page, or through the Australian
Parliament website.
When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they
become Acts, which can be found at the Federal
Register of Legislation website.
All hyperlinks in this Bills Digest are correct as at
August 2021.
Glossary
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of the Export Finance and Insurance
Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021 (the
Bill) is to give legislative effect to the Government’s decision to broaden the
range of transactions that Export Finance Australia (EFA) can finance.
Specifically, the Bill will amend the Export Finance
and Insurance Corporation Act 1991 (the EFIC Act) to:
- permit
EFA to make equity investments and
- permit
EFA Australia to offer standalone guarantees for overseas infrastructure
transactions.
Structure of
the Bill
The Bill consists of two Schedules:
- Schedule
1 sets out the amendments to allow EFA to make equity investments
- Schedule
2 sets out the amendments to allow EFA to offer standalone guarantees for
overseas infrastructure transactions.
Background
What is Export Finance Australia?
EFA, previously known as the Export Finance and Insurance
Corporation, is the Australian Government’s export credit agency. It provides
finance to support Australian exporting businesses and overseas infrastructure projects
that are likely to result in an Australian benefit.[1]
Its mandate is to facilitate and encourage Australian export trade.[2]
Many governments have their own export credit agencies which
promote exports from their country. The OECD provides an incomplete list
of export credit agencies around the world.[3]
What types of financial services can
Export Finance Australia provide?
The types of financial services EFA can provide are
prescribed by the EFIC Act. Under Part 4 of the EFIC Act, EFA can
provide:
- export
payments insurance contracts
- guarantees
and subsidies in relation to loans to Australian suppliers
- guarantees
and subsidies in relation to loans to overseas buyers
- guarantees
to co-lenders in relation to export transactions and
overseas infrastructure development
- tender
guarantees and performance guarantees
- reinsurance
of guarantee, insurance, et cetera, relating to export business
- insurance
in respect of overseas investment transactions and
- loans
to finance eligible export transactions and overseas infrastructure development.[4]
Traditionally, export credit agencies such as EFA would
function as a lender of last resort for exporting businesses. This meant that
export credit agencies did not compete with private banks and would only
step in when private sector financing was unavailable.[5]
In recent years, however, some governments have increasingly
relied on their export credit agencies to provide a wider range of financial
services to exporting businesses.[6]
For example, the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Support for Infrastructure Financing)
Act 2019 expanded the power of EFA and increased the its level of callable
capital.[7]
If passed, the Bill will grant EFA additional powers to:
- make
equity investments and
- offer
standalone financial guarantees for overseas infrastructure transactions.
What is an equity investment?
The Government makes an equity investment (also called
equity financing) when it purchases an ownership interest in a private business
in anticipation of future returns.[8]
As an analogy, the popular TV show ‘Shark Tank’ is based on the concept of
equity investment where a panel of billionaire investors may offer to purchase
a piece of equity in start-up businesses in anticipation of future revenues.
In an equity investment transaction, businesses typically
sell partial ownership or equity to investors to raise more capital, avoid taking
on debts, and access particular skills and contacts from the investors.
The Government (as an investor) may choose to make equity
investments for public or foreign policy purposes in addition to anticipation
of future returns.[9]
For example, in his second reading speech, the Assistant Treasurer, Mr Michael
Sukkar, said: ‘Importantly, the equity power will also be made available to the
Australian Infrastructure Financing
Facility for the Pacific, further supporting Australia's Pacific Step-up’.[10]
What is a financial guarantee?
The Government provides a financial guarantee when it promises
to take responsibility for a borrower’s financial obligation if the borrower fails
to meet that obligation.[11]
For example, EFA can help an Australian exporting company
by providing a guarantee to private banks that specifies if the company fails
to meet its borrowing obligations, then EFA will take responsibility for the
repayment of the loan.[12]
This guarantee reduces loan default risk for the banks and therefore encourages
the banks to lend to the exporting company.
Arguments for and against export credit
agencies
There are divided opinions about the effectiveness of
export credit agencies. Supporters of export credit agencies argue that the agencies
can be an effective tool in supporting a country’s employment and economic
growth by promoting its exports.[13]
Supporters believe export credit agencies address market
failures by providing valuable financial services to exporting businesses to
help them grow and tap into overseas markets.[14]
In other words, if export credit agencies do not provide finance to exporting businesses,
then potential opportunities in higher risk overseas markets would remain
untapped.
Critics of export credit agencies include neoliberal
economists and climate change activists. Neoliberal economists argue that export
credit agencies play a harmful role in the economy because they dispense
corporate welfare to some corporations at the expense of the taxpayers.[15]
These critics believe that, in a free-market economy, the loans and services
provided by export credit agencies should be done by private banks rather than
a government agency.
Most of the government-run export credit agencies
(including EFA) claim that they fill a ‘market gap’ by providing loans and services
to businesses only when private financing is unavailable.[16]
Critics believe this is another way of saying that export credit agencies offer
loans to companies that private banks have chosen not to offer due to risk and
volatility.[17]
As such, critics believe the investment or loan decisions taken by export
credit agencies are likely to be wasteful and risky,[18]
and ‘discourages host governments from adopting market reforms necessary to
genuinely attract private capital’.[19]
Furthermore, some climate change activists are critical of
export credit agencies for providing finance to fossil fuel projects. For
example, non-profit organisation Jubilee Australia claims that EFA provided up
to $1.7 billion in financing to the fossil fuel sector – compared to $20.0
million for renewable energy projects – between 2009 and 2020.[20]
This is in contrast to the practices of the ‘Big Four’ banks in Australia (Westpac,
ANZ,
NAB,
and CBA),
which have all pledged their support to the United
Nations Paris Agreement on Climate Change and made commitments to
transition away from what they perceive as environmentally polluting and
commercially unviable projects.[21]
Committee
consideration
Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and
Trade Legislation Committee
The Bill was referred to the Senate Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade Legislation Committee (the FADT Committee) for inquiry.[22]
The FADT Committee published its final
report on 20 August 2021 and the majority of senators on the FADT Committee
recommended that the Bill be passed.[23]
The final report said:
In broadening its financing powers to include equity, EFA
will be able to make investments in a greater range of infrastructure projects,
and at an earlier stage of development. Notably, equity investments will be
reserved for exceptional circumstances.
The Committee therefore supports providing EFA with
a new overseas equity investment power and a stand-alone guarantee power in
order to expand its range of capabilities and bring it into alignment with
international and domestic peers.[24]
[emphasis added]
Dissenting comments
Senator Larissa Waters, on behalf of the Australian Greens, made
dissenting
comments to the final report.[25]
The Greens made three recommendations:
- the
Government delays introduction of the Bill until the independent review of
infrastructure investment operations and the review of the Environmental and
Social Review Policy have concluded
- the
Government amends the Bill to expressly prohibit EFA investment, including
refinancing and equity investment, in fossil fuel projects
- EFA’s exemption from the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) be repealed to increase transparency around
EFA investment activity.[26]
Senate Standing Committee for the
Scrutiny of Bills
The Scrutiny of Bills Committee had no comment on the Bill.[27]
Policy
position of non-government parties/independents
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party expressed support for the Bill.[28]
During the second reading debate on the Bill the Shadow Minister for Trade and
Resources, Ms Madeleine King, said:
More opportunities to export Australian goods and services to
the world means stronger Australian industries, and that means more jobs for more
Australians. The current lack of an equity investment power restricts Export
Finance Australia to a narrower range of transactions. An equity investment
power will complement its existing suite of financing powers, comprised of
loans, guarantees, bonds and insurance.[29]
Independents
Ms Zali Steggall and Dr Helen Haines proposed amendments
to the Bill that mostly align with the recommendations made by the Greens in
their dissenting comments (discussed above). The proposed amendments sought to restrict
EFA’s ability to finance fossil fuel projects and partially revoke EFA’s
exemption from the operation of the FOI Act.[30]
The proposed amendments were not passed.[31]
Position of
major interest groups
Non-government organisations (NGOs)
Jubilee Australia Research Centre, the Australian
Conservation Foundation, and ActionAid Australia provided a joint submission on
the Bill to the FADT Committee.[32]
The three organisations recommended the Bill should be amended to place a
greater emphasis on climate change.
Specifically, the NGOs recommended that the Bill should
contain provisions to:
- prohibit
EFA from financing fossil fuel projects
- require
EFA to ‘perform its functions in a way that contributes to Australia’s
implementation of the Paris Agreement’
- require
EFA to ‘consider whether a project to be financed (including where the
financing is an equity investment) delivers benefits for the recipient nation’
- amend
the FOI Act to revoke EFA’s partial exemption
- ensure
EFA strengthens its environmental and social review policy and procedures.[33]
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and EFA
responded to the recommendations of the NGOs via a supplementary submission to
the FADT Committee.[34]
Financial
implications
The Government considers that the Bill will have no direct
financial impact.[35]
However, the Bill has the potential to affect the Commonwealth’s fiscal
position, depending on the outcome of equity investments that EFA will undertake.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed the
Bill’s compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared
in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The
Government considers that the Bill is compatible.[36]
Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Human Rights
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights had no
comment on the Bill.[37]
Key issues
and provisions
Schedule 1—Equity investments
Items 1 to 3, 8, 11 and 13-14 of Schedule
1 of the Bill amend the EFIC Act to provide that where there is a
reference in the Act to a loan or the lending of money by EFA, it is to be read
to include the power to make equity investments.
The effect of these changes is to allow EFA to make equity
investments under the EFIC Act.
Mr Dan Tehan, the Minister for Trade, Tourism and
Investment, said in a media release:
This reform will align Australia with other countries, like
the USA, China, Japan, Canada and South Korea, which are already making equity
investments in our region to support their development and commercial
objectives.
While used sparingly, this power will give EFA more
flexibility to support important infrastructure investments in the Indo-Pacific
or export-linked projects in Australia.[38]
According to DFAT and EFA, EFA’s new power to make equity
investments will be constrained to ensure that ‘EFA is not crowding out private
finance, but instead filling a gap in the market’.[39]
Specifically, these constraints are:
- equity
investments will be limited to the National Interest Account (in other words,
the Australian Government – not EFA – will make the final decision on equity
investments)
- equity
investments will be limited to a minority interest unless there is a compelling
reason otherwise
- equity
investments should be $20 million or higher unless there is a compelling reason
otherwise
- EFA
will only bring forward proposals where other financing options are unavailable
or inadequate
- EFA
will ensure equity investments have appropriate exit arrangements and target
commercial rates of return
- EFA
will encourage participation from the private sector and like-minded Governments
and multilateral bodies.[40]
However not all the constraints are reflected in the
provisions of the Bill. For example, the Bill does not require EFA to make
equity investments over $20 million or limit its equity investments to a
minority interest in businesses. DFAT and EFA have noted that certain
constraints will be imposed ‘through a direction from the Minister for Trade,
Tourism and Investment and an updated Statement of Expectations to EFA’.[41]
|
Commentary
The Australian Financial
Review featured an
article that reported:
Telstra shareholders and
analysts are alarmed the telco giant could be used as a Morrison government
foreign policy tool to outbid China in buying the Digicel Pacific phone
network in neighbouring island countries, via a $2 billion taxpayer-backed
consortium …
The government is not directly
involved in negotiations between the two telcos but has offered in-principle
support to Telstra to help fund a purchase, such as through its revamped
credit agency Export Finance Australia, sources say.[42]
Greg Earl from the Lowy
Institute commented:
… it seems to be more than
coincidental that EFA is suddenly allowed to make equity investments in the national
interest just when the government is trying to persuade Telstra to help head
off a Chinese purchase of regional mobile phone company Digicel.[43]
Professor Stephen Howes of the
Australian National University explained the geopolitical rationale for EFA’s
new powers:
Infrastructure projects are
risky, and need equity before they can seek debt … When a Chinese company
offered recently to build a fish processing plant in Daru, there was little
the Australian government could put forward by way of a counter-offer. Now
it might be able to work with an Australian company to put an alternative
proposal on the table. Australian business is withdrawing from rather than
stepping up in the Pacific. The provision of equity support is one way to
address that worrying trend.[44]
|
Items 10 and 12 of Schedule 1 of the Bill amend
the EFIC Act to prescribe that EFA’s equity investments can only be made on its National Interest Account, and not
on its Commercial Account.[45]
This likely affects the types of projects EFA will finance.
EFA uses two accounts to provide finance to businesses.
Under the Commercial Account the agency is able to provide finance to businesses
without having to obtain permission from the Minister (currently the Minister for
Trade, Tourism and Investment). Under the National Interest Account EFA
may be directed by the Minister to providing finance to businesses if the
Minister is satisfied that it is in Australia’s national interest.[46]
Equity investment decisions under the National Interest Account will be subject
to existing national interest criteria under Part 5 of the EFIC Act.
Decisions under the Commercial Account are the
responsibility of the EFA Board. The agency acts as a for-profit organisation
and bear all risks and losses on the Commercial Account.[47]
Decisions under the National Interest Account are the
responsibility of the Australian Government and subject to ministerial
oversight. The Commonwealth bears all risks and losses on the National Interest
Account.[48]
Item 18 of Schedule 1 of the Bill prescribes
that the EFA Board must ensure EFA’s capital and reserves are sufficient to
meet potential losses in equity investment transactions. However, item 19
of the Bill amends paragraph 56(2)(b) to clarify that the EFA Board should not
include equity investments made in the national interest (under Part 5 of the
Act) as part of its consideration when determining whether EFA has adequate
capital and reserves.
|
Commentary
Greg Earl from the Lowy
Institute said:
EFA has become the little
heralded workhorse of economic diplomacy with responsibility for
implementing a $3 billion defence export support scheme and financing
critical minerals exploration in addition to the Pacific Step-up role and
its normal trade credit responsibilities. For example, the exposure on
its National Interest Account – which contains the most strategic lending
like last year’s $440 million emergency Budget loan to PNG – has risen from
$610 million in 2018 to $992 million in 2020.
But it is notable that amid all
the talk about muscling up to China the Commercial Account exposure of $1.8
billion in 2020 was actually down on the $2 billion exposure in 2018 when
the Pacific Step-up was announced.[49]
[emphasis added]
|
If the Bill is passed, it may potentially increase the
exposure on EFA’s National Interest Account.[50]
Schedule 2—Guarantees for overseas
infrastructure development
Item 1 of Schedule 2 of the Bill repeals and
replaces section 18A of the EFIC Act to allow EFA to make standalone
guarantees to lenders for the purpose of supporting overseas infrastructure
development.[51]
The new power will not apply to loans provided in the form of an equity
investment.
Table 1 below indicates that financial guarantees are a
key service EFA provides to exporting businesses.
Table 1: Export Finance Australia’s
transaction by facility type, data as at 21 November 2018
| Facility
Type |
Number
of transactions |
Percentage
of total transactions (%) |
Value of
transactions ($) |
| Bond —
Advance Pay |
14 |
5.00 |
10,359,021.72 |
| Bond —
Performance |
39 |
13.90 |
66,235,089.18 |
| Bond —
Warranty |
21 |
7.50 |
9,095,995.65 |
| Direct
Loan |
44 |
15.70 |
2,396,928,277.90 |
| Export
Credit Loan (ECL) |
33 |
11.70 |
35,903,931.21 |
| Export
Finance Guarantee (EFG) |
9 |
3.20 |
822,498,559.37 |
| Export
Line of Credit (ELOC) |
32 |
11.40 |
29,618,576.63 |
| Export
Working Capital Guarantee (EWCG) |
14 |
5.00 |
14,077,553.86 |
| Funded
Export Finance Guarantee (FERG) |
6 |
2.10 |
259,130,727.79 |
| Medium-term
export payments insurance (MTI) |
1 |
0.40 |
276,441,077.10 |
| Overseas
Direct Investment Guarantee (ODI) |
3 |
1.10 |
7,833,333.33 |
| Reinsurance
Guarantee |
1 |
0.40 |
18,828,773.12 |
| Rescheduled
Debt |
1 |
0.70 |
1,741,889,753 |
| Small
Business Export Loan (SBEL) |
62 |
22.10 |
8,356,824.00 |
| Total |
280 |
100 |
5,687,197,493.86 |
|
|
|
|
|
Source: Australian National Audit Office ANAO, Effectiveness of the Export Finance and Insurance
Corporation, Audit report, 44, 2018–19,
ANAO, Canberra, 2019, p. 16.
Concluding comments
If passed, the Bill will give EFA new powers to make
equity investments and provide standalone guarantees for overseas
infrastructure transactions. The Government argues EFA’s new powers will
support Australia’s Pacific
Step-up.[52] Some
commentators have suggested that EFA’s new powers will be used to counteract
Chinese geopolitical influence in the Asia-Pacific region.[53]
Critics of the Bill believe it should be amended to restrict EFA from making
investments in fossil fuel projects at home and abroad.[54]
[1]. Australia, Parliament, Export
Finance Australia (EFA) annual report 2019–2020, Parl. Paper 393,
Canberra, 2020, p. 6.
Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991 (EFIC
Act), subsection 8(4).
[2]. EFIC Act, subsection 7(1).
[3]. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), ‘Official Export Credit Agencies – Organismes de credit à
l’exportation’, OECD website, 6 July 2021.
[4]. EFIC Act, Part 4—Insurance
and financial services and products.
[5]. EFA,
‘Purpose
and Principles’, EFA website, n.d.
[6]. OECD,
‘Trade
finance in times of crisis - responses from Export Credit Agencies’, OECD
website, 25 May 2020.
[7]. The
legislation allows EFA to count the increased level of callable capital as part
of its own resources and lend against it, essentially giving EFA more resources
to finance overseas infrastructure projects.
[8]. Department
of Finance (DoF), Frequently
asked questions – Equity investments, DoF, Canberra, March 2021, p. 2.
[9]. Ibid., p. 2.
[10]. M
Sukkar, ‘Second
reading speech: Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity
Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021’, House of Representatives, Debates,
(proof), 4 August 2021, p. 3.
[11]. DoF, ‘Guarantees’, DoF website, 15 April 2020.
[12]. EFA, ‘Guarantees to help you build your business globally’, EFA website, n.d.
[13]. Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), ‘What We Do’, EXIM website, n.d.
[14]. Asian
Development Bank (ADB), ‘The
case for regional cooperation in trade and investment finance for Asia’, ADB
Briefs, 134, , May 2020, p. 3.
[15]. Cato
Institute, ‘Rethinking
the Export‐Import Bank’, Trading Brief Paper, 15, March
2002, p. 11.
[16]. EFA, ‘Market Gap Explained’, EFA website, n.d.
[17]. H
Hazlitt, Economics
in one lesson, Laissez Faire Books, San Francisco, 1996, p. 29.
[18]. Ibid.,
p. 33.
[19]. Cato
Institute, ‘Rethinking
the Export‐Import Bank’, op. cit., p. 6.
[20]. Jubilee
Australia Research Centre, Hot
money: Australian taxpayers financing fossil fuels, Jubilee Australia,
Sydney, 6 July 2021, p. 6.
[21]. J
Robertson, ‘Big
four banks distance themselves from Adani coalmine as Westpac rules out loan’,
Guardian Australia, 28 April 2017.
[22]. The terms of reference and submissions to the Senate
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee’s report are available on the inquiry homepage.
[23]. Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation
Committee, Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity
Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021 [provisions], The Senate, Canberra, March 2021, p. 10.
[24]. Ibid., p. 10.
[25]. Australian Greens, Dissenting report, Senate Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other
Measures) Bill 2021 [provisions], op. cit., pp. 13–17.
[26]. Ibid.
[27]. Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Scrutiny
digest, 12, 2021, 11 August 2021, p. 9.
[28]. M King, ‘Second
reading speech: Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity
Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021’, House of Representatives, Debates,
(proof), 26 August 2021, p. 17.
[29]. Ibid.,
p. 18.
[30]. In Division 1 of Part II of Schedule 2 to the FOI
Act, documents concerning anything done by the EFA under Part 4 (Insurance
and financial services and products) or Part 5 (National interest transactions)
of the EFIC Act are exempt from the operation of the FOI Act.
In other words, EFA can refuse to disclose documents in relation to Part 4 or 5
of the EFIC Act without having to establish that the document falls
within one of the categories of exemptions under the FOI Act. The
amendment proposes that documents concerning anything done by EFA under Part 4
of the EFIC Act will not be exempt from the operation of the FOI Act.
[31]. Australia, House of Representatives, ‘Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other
Measures) Bill 2021’, Votes and proceedings, (proof), 140,
2019–2021, 26 August 2021, p. 2162.
[32]. Jubilee Australia Research Centre, Australian
Conservation Foundation and ActionAid, Submission to the Senate Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other
Measures) Bill 2021 [Provisions], 13 August 2021.
[33]. Ibid., pp. 2–6.
[34]. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and EFA, Supplementary Submission to the Senate
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other
Measures) Bill 2021 [Provisions], 17 August 2021.
[35]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity
Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021, p. 2.
[36]. The
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at page 10 of the
Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.
[37]. Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, Human
rights scrutiny report, 10, 2021, 25 August 2021, p. 61.
[38]. D
Tehan (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment), Reforms
to Export Finance Australia, media release, 24 June 2021.
[39]. DFAT and EFA, Submission to the Senate Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Inquiry into the Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity Investments and Other
Measures) Bill 2021 [Provisions], August 2021, p. 2.
[40]. Ibid.
[41]. Ibid.
[42]. A
Tillett, J Kehoe and L Baird, ‘Telstra
caught in China row’, The Australian Financial Review, 20 July 2021,
p. 1.
[43]. G
Earl, ‘Economic
diplomacy: little Australia spends slowly in the Pacific’, The
Interpreter, 15 July 2021.
[44]. S Howes, ‘Australia
moves closer to a DFI’, Development Policy Centre blog, 2 July 2021.
[45]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p. 6.
[46]. EFA,
‘Export
Finance and Insurance Corporation Act’, EFA website, n. d.
[47]. EFA,
2020–2021
Corporate Plan, EFA, Sydney, p. 18.
[48]. Ibid.
[49]. Earl,
‘Economic
diplomacy: little Australia spends slowly in the Pacific’, op. cit.
[50]. Exposure means the proportion of money EFA invested in
and potentially stands to lose in a particular region or industry. EFA reports
its exposure by region and industry on page 46 of its 2019–20 annual report:
Australia, Parliament, EFA
Annual Report 2019–2020, p. 46.
[51]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p. 9.
[52]. Sukkar, ‘Second
reading speech: Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Equity
Investments and Other Measures) Bill 2021’, op. cit., p. 3.
[53]. Earl, ‘Economic
diplomacy: little Australia spends slowly in the Pacific’, op. cit.
[54]. Australian Greens, Dissenting report, op. cit., p. 13.
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