Tom Parker

My guest today is Tom Parker, the Commercial Business Advisor at New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Vice President of the Australia China Business Council in Victoria. Tom’s Asia journey was seeded in his mind when he saw his mum attend night school to study Chinese. Coupled with some rallying words from his Uncle Sharkey gave Tom enough encouragement to pursue studying Chinese in high school, then later at uni. Tom’s Clout is the ability to bring his China know-how back to Australia to help Australian businesses, and later leverage that same skillset to drive engagement with the Chinese-Australian communities, both here in Australia and in China, through the one thing that unites Australians, sport. We talked about Tom’s first memories of visiting China in the early 90s, how he got inspired by a professor wearing a tuxedo shirt which led him to do his thesis on a Chinese pop singer, and later setting up his own business in the Australia-China space and leading the first AFL regular season match for premiership points in China. — Melbourne • Beijing • Shanghai — FOOD: M&Ms MUSIC: Teresa Teng 邓丽君 MOVIE: Hard Boiled《辣手神探》by John Woo PERSON: Geremie Barmé This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cloutasia.substack.com