Global Expansion Program

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister please update the house about the ways the Marshall Liberal government is supporting exporters?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Member of the Executive Council, Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:07): I thank the member for MacKillop. As I have said before in this house, the electorate of MacKillop is a strong exporting electorate for South Australia in food, wine and agriculture, which, of course, has been really challenged this year by the restrictions on the border that have been put in place because of COVID. The member for MacKillop is often discussing with me challenges with his businesses, putting me in touch with some of them and the challenges they are facing and how we as a government can help them in exporting as well.

That is why I am pleased to speak here today about the $2.3 million Global Expansion Program that the Marshall Liberal government is putting in place. It is a program that's designed around established South Australian businesses that have been able to demonstrate strong local growth here and are looking to improve their export capability and capacity as well. As I said, it's targeting established businesses here in South Australia, those that have been in business for at least 36 months and are already successful either in the local market or domestically as well, so they have successfully been able to sell their fantastic produce and goods to 1.7 million South Australians or, in turn, domestically to 25 million Australians. But how can they grow further?

Of course, a fantastic opportunity for them is to grow for the world, where you have billions of customers not only at your doorstep in the ASEAN region but also in some of those other established export markets we sell into, such as the UK or the US. As I said, they are a successful local businesses but they may not be well-established exporters. They might have done it intermittently but certainly don't have a program or a strategic plan in place, or they just don't have the execution capability. This Global Expansion Program is aimed at that cohort of businesses. It is also aimed at businesses that are already exporting to a particular country but looking to begin exporting into another country as well.

Alternatively, there are those established exporters who might be in a country but need to expand their in-country knowledge. They are trying to get a better understanding of the regulations in place in that country and, rather than revert back and say, 'I will sell into the domestic market where I'm comfortable,' they are really trying to increase their capabilities. If I could give an example of a country where there's opportunity, I would talk about Japan. They are a sophisticated market, and they really value the health and safety of produce that comes in. They are quite aware about that.

That gives an opportunity for exporters in MacKillop and also the wider South Australian business community to differentiate themselves in that market because we know the high-quality produce that is produced here in South Australia. Examples of South Australian companies already exporting into Japan include Coopers beer, Tuckers crackers or Wines by Geoff Hardy. They have agreements in place with the Sakagami supermarket group.

There are equivalent companies here in South Australia that might see themselves on a par with those iconic companies and they can see an opportunity. We want to help increase their capability, and we will do that by trying to offer bespoke programs. As the Minister for Innovation and Skills said, it is not just about having a bucket of money and a one-size-fits-all approach, and then businesses having to conform.

Rather, it is the other way around: listening to what gaps they have, what capability they need and then actually designing a bespoke solution for them so that really gives it high value for this program that's in place. The program is available now for South Australian companies. I encourage them to go onto the Department for Trade and Investment website and take up that expression of interest opportunity.