Australia’s role in our region and the broader world is rapidly changing. Technological developments and changing global networks are growing international trade, two-way investment, and the exchange of people and ideas. The result is reshaping business practices and revolutionising Australia's relationships with the rest of the world.

Australia is uniquely well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities created by digital disruption. New global production models provide niches into which Australia can compete, and many Australian businesses are already preparing for and capitalising on the increasingly global marketplace.

In this policy perspective, CEDA examines:

• Australia’s role in the Asia-Pacific region and the broader world;
• The benefits of well-structured bilateral trade agreements and how to realise them;
• How Australia can encourage the free movement of ideas and people; and
• How technology can shorten tyranny of distance and reduce market entry barriers.

This release coincides with the recent introduction of legislation needed to implement the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) and the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

Read and download the report: Global networks: transforming how Australia does business

Read media release: CEDA report: formal trade policy needed to guide future negotiations

Read Melbourne event summary: Agribusiness big winner in free-trade agreements

Read Perth event summary: China now the world's services centre

Watch the panel discussion from the Melbourne launch event

Chapters and authors

Chapter 1: Succeeding from Australia

The Hon. Andrew Robb AO MP, Federal Minister for Trade and Investment

Chapter 2: Free-trade agreements: do they matter?

Professor Peter Dixon and Professor Maureen Rimmer, Victoria University

Chapter 3: Rules-based trade as a pivotal power

Susan Harris Rimmer, Associate Professor, Griffith University

Chapter 4: Australia's hidden ambassadors

Kerry Brown, Director, China Studies Centre and Professor of Chinese Politics, University of Sydney

Chapter 5: Australia and the fourth freedom

Alex Dobes, Regulatory reform specialist, Victoria