Set Up a Company in Australia @ Asia Business Set Up

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Set Up a Company in Australia

Entrepreneus choose to set up a company in Australia to conduct international trade, despite its tax-ineffiiency and remote geographical location. The following information allows trading business people to make an informed decision on locating their global headquarters in Australia:

Australia’s remote geographical location acts as a hindrance to international trade. That said, Australia lies in the same time zones as much of southeast Asia (for example, Perth in western Australia is on the same time as Singapore), and therefore investors enjoy strategic advantages when doing business with Asia, whose economies are forecast to account for 45% of global GDP by 2015.

Movement of goods within and from Australia is constrained by rail and port congestion due to lack of investment and capacity demand far exceeding supply. For example, in 2006 rail and port bottlenecks in Australia were responsible for a 23 million tonne shortfall in planned coal exports to China, costing the industry billions of dollars in lost export revenues. Because of this, business people who export goods are at a significant disadvantage compared to those located in other Asia countries. To address this crisis, the Australian government has allocated A$200 billion to building new infrastructure, including roads, rail lines, and expanding port capacities.

Australia has a limited network of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) signed with the USA, Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand. Through these FTAs, Australian exports are exempt from or enjoy reduced tariffs when imported to its trading partners. Australia is also a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In our opinion, entrepreneurs who set up a company in Australia to conduct international trade are at a disadvantage compared with other locations.

Despite 3. above, Australia has a well-developed air transport industry, providing regular, reliable connections to key business locations within the country and to Southeast Asia. Examples of flight times include Perth to Singapore (5 hours), Melbourne to Hong Kong (8 hours), and Sydney to Tokyo (9 hours). Entrepreneurs who set up a company in Australia as their global headquarters find that major commercial centres in Asia are comfortably within reach.

Australia ranks positively in terms of cost competitiveness amongst major industrialised countries. Examples of cost advantages include:

i) The cost of prime office space in Sydney is significantly less than in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong;

ii) Remuneration levels for management staff in Australia are lower than in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada and Hong Kong.

iii) While the cost of living in Australia is rising, Mercer Human Resources' 2010 Quality of Living survey, ranked Sydney and Melbourne as the 10th and 18th ranked cities in the world for quality of living.

For further information on how to set up a company in Australia, purchase our Asia Business Setup book.

Contact Us

To find out how to set up a company in Australia, email email@healyconsultants.com or call us in Sydney at +61 280 147 568

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