Trade and Investment Strategy

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:18): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister update the house on the state's trade and investment strategy?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Planning) (15:18): I thank the member for Adelaide for her question and her interest in the state's trade and investment strategy. It's all good news. Our state's export and investment figures absolutely demonstrate the confidence that we have in the state economy. Yesterday's publication of the ABS stats on international trade in goods reported for the 14^th time during this government's tenure that South Australia produced record merchandise exports valued at $17.93 billion for the year ending December 2023.

We are one of only two states that recorded an increase, with every other state having falls. As the Premier told the house, Western Australia, off the back of its incredible mineral wealth, saw an increase of just 1.1 per cent and we are up 8.5 per cent, the fifth consecutive month that South Australia has led the nation for export growth. So that's good news. It's good news for jobs, good news for higher earnings, good news for higher investment, good news for higher profits, and it's a testament to the government's strategy, I think, in these things.

We have re-established Invest SA, which was scrapped by the former government. That has already funnelled a billion dollars of investment into this state. We have the government's hydrogen plan, which paves the way for the decarbonisation of our economy—something that they oppose. We have the Northern Water Supply project, unlocking mining exports; the AUKUS defence pact, and all of the pipeline of the frigates, as the Premier said, cementing our status as the defence state.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Listen to them opposing all the good news. They hate good news, hate it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: Nothing gets them going—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders, order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —like good news. We are targeting the emerging markets in the region. We are opening new markets that are coming to us as a result of—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: South Sudan, for instance, which has opened up for wheat farmers in your electorate, mate, so you should pay attention. You should pay attention.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: You should actually pay attention. One of the other things we have seen is that since—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Flinders!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —we have a grown up federal government, which has a grown up relationship between Beijing and Canberra, that has facilitated—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Newland!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: —the Premier leading a trade mission to China, which was very well timed for our rural exports in particular and our winemaking regions in particular. So what we have is actually a coherent strategy, not some sort of wish list. What we are doing—we have even had bipartisan missions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION: We have even had bipartisanship in this area. We are focusing on China, the United States, on India, on expanding their great demand for our commodities and our exports—copper, iron ore, wheat, barley, lentils. All of those things we are focusing on. I know the member for Chaffey had a really good meeting about lentils in India, and I am glad he did that. It's a very important part of our export strategy to be bipartisan and to have stability and predictability in government policy.

But we have also made important investments via the budget and we now have the largest international footprint in the state's history—new offices in Washington, in Frankfurt, in India—and we have appointed Mr Martin Haese as a special envoy to Singapore and South-East Asia. Why is that important? Because we have a 30 per cent increase in export growth to South-East Asia—a 30 per cent increase in that area. We have Thailand up almost 70 per cent, Indonesia at 42 per cent, Vietnam up at 26 per cent. So these are huge markets for the state, huge opportunities for the state's exports, and we would have thought that the opposition would support this.