Brittany Sister-State Relationship

Mr DULUK (Waite) (14:53): My question is also to the Premier. Will the Premier update the house on South Australia's sister region relationship with Brittany?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:53): Absolument, Monsieur le Président. First of all, I would like to say and commend the former government which formally established the sister-state region relationship with Brittany. This was signed by the former premier, premier Weatherill, in September 2017. I think it is a good agreement, and it is certainly one which we will not only keep but look to grow and strengthen in future years. I think that these arrangements can deliver good benefit for us in South Australia and, of course, for the people of Brittany.

I was pleased on my recent trip to Euronaval to first of all meet with the president of the region of Brittany, Mr Loig Chesnais-Girard, in Paris and then travel with him on a train to Rennes, which is an incredible place, and I really enjoyed that. That evening, I met with other members of his cabinet: Mr Jean Michel Le Boulanger, the first vice president, with responsibility for culture and regional democracy; Mr Bernard Pouliquen, the vice president for tertiary education, research and digital transformation; and Mrs Anne Gallo (much easier than the other names), the vice president for tourism, heritage and waterways.

First of all, can I say that I was absolutely delighted with their engagement with this arrangement that sits between Brittany and South Australia. I am very grateful for that. We have already had a return from the original signing in September 2017 from vice presidents coming to South Australia earlier this year, and we are now eagerly anticipating a further visit from the President of Brittany, potentially in February next year.

I thought that I would update the house on some highlights. First of all, we were very pleased while we were there to announce the recipients of the Research Collaboration Grant Scheme; 11 grants that have now been awarded. These sit between South Australian and Breton universities and look at a range of collaborative research projects. The state government has put $200,000 towards this. I think it is a very good investment because it really has forced the two groups of universities to get together as quickly as possible and look for opportunities for joint research.

The second outcome from this visit was witnessing the signing of an agreement to establish a joint chair of Industry of the Future, what many people refer to as Industry 4.0, which sits between the University of South Australia and two of the universities in Brittany. I think this is an excellent opportunity for both of us to work collaboratively on this important area.

I also witnessed the signing of the collaborative agreement between the University of South Australia and EESAB, which is the European high school of arts in Brittany. They have many campuses in Brittany, including in Brest, Lorient, Quimper and Rennes. The agreement establishes a collaborative relationship between EESAB and the University of South Australia's School of Art, Architecture and Design. The agreement's objectives include the delivery of student exchanges, youth artist in residence programs and research collaboration.

I also made a visit to b-com to look at the work they are doing in cybersecurity, which is an area that I think will increasingly become of mutual interest between the two regions. It was not all work. We also spoke to them about the great opportunity of visiting South Australia in January next year for the French Festival, which will be held from the 11^th to the 13^th. There are lots of research opportunities, cybersecurity opportunities, defence opportunities and also that wonderful exchange of culture between our state and their region.

Dr CLOSE: A point of clarification: the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure does not have a pair and does not appear to be here to be asked questions.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: this is not a point of order but, just to make it very easy, the minister has a pair from the crossbench. He is attending COAG. The opposition has made it very clear that pairs are harder to come by, but the government has provided the opposition, through myself, with a minister who can take questions on behalf of the government.

The SPEAKER: I don't believe that this is the relevant forum to deal with this particular matter, but I will take submissions from perhaps either whip shortly, rather than consume time from question time. I will switch to the deputy leader for a question.