Question Time

CHINA TRADE LINKS

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question regarding China.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Last year, South Australia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fujian Provincial Government and the People's Republic of China to 'open trade links and gateways for South Australian premium food and wine'. At the time, the minister boasted that the agreement would benefit South Australian food and wine producers by opening up access to Fujian. She called it a big win for South Australia—not just a win, not even a moderate win but a big win. The MOU, she bragged, would improve the awareness of the quality and production integrity of South Australia's premium food and wine to Chinese consumers.

Then the minister claimed that South Australian food and wine would be showcased in two one-stop shop outlets in China, giving local producers and exporters direct access to a market of more than 7.6 million Chinese consumers. These outlets in Fujian province, she imagined, would feature restaurants, shops and information, while also operating as a wholesaler to Chinese outlets. My questions are:

1. Are the shops open?

2. If not, why not?

3. If not, when will they open?

4. The minister guaranteed that one shop would be in Nanping, with a population of three million, and one would be in Zhangzhou, with a population of 4.6 million. How many of these 7.6 million people have availed themselves of South Australian produce since the minister made this faux promise?

5. What percentage of those 7.6 million people are now aware of South Australia's food production integrity?

6. What South Australian food and wine would the minister see if she walked into those one-stop shops today, six months after the minister had a photograph taken of herself with a prawn for the grand announcement?

7. If the minister can find these shops, why are they invisible to the Chinese?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for his important questions. Indeed, they are questions that help the government to showcase the work that it has done in assisting to advance our markets. A very important plank of this government, of course, is the premium food and wine from a clean environment.

One of the strategies to assist with increasing our markets and investments here in South Australia is to create opportunities in China. We know that it has a burgeoning middle class and a strong economy at the moment. I and a very small delegation from this government visited China, including Fujian province, to explore ways of tapping into the wonderful produce that we have here in South Australia. We know that South Australia is renowned for quality primary produce and we have an exceptionally clean environment. We know that food security is a big issue for the Chinese, and with a burgeoning middle class they are looking for premium products as well. As I said, South Australia is renowned for premium food and premium wine.

We were able to negotiate an MOU, which is a high-level overarching agreement to work together, and I am very pleased to be able to report that the negotiations around this new venture have progressed very well. A number of pieces of correspondence have taken place, where people have committed to progressing this very important relationship. We have established an expression of interest process whereby PIRSA has invited those industries and businesses that might be interested in setting up markets in these new establishments in China in the Fujian province, setting up a process to collect those interested parties.

You would think that the member of the opposition would be singing our praises at putting together such a fabulous opportunity, engaging with the industry and pulling people together to work out those who might be interested in progressing this. What we plan to do is to bring potential investors over to match investment interests with product or industry potential. We have invited a delegation here and we understand that a number of potential investors will be visiting. We will be taking them around and showcasing the potential here.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The level of the questions asked by the Leader of the Opposition shows how completely out of touch he is with dealing with China and with a project of this scope. He has no idea. One of the problems that our primary producers have had is entering the Chinese marketplace, because it is very different to what we have. It is very challenging and by our experience quite complex. We have this arrangement whereby the Chinese are involving investors there in China to build these operations, to establish food health safety standards, and they are looking at buying in some of our technology to help them with that.

Food health and safety is of primary interest to the Chinese—and to the Japanese, and to the Indonesians as well. We are dealing with a lot of these markets at the moment, but China in particular is very interested in looking at the technologies and the systems that we have in place, the quality assurance systems, and putting in place those that they find suitable to their particular situation. They are very interested in that. We have had people from Flinders University travel there to discuss those technologies.

There are lots of opportunities on a number of different fronts, and Jay Weatherill's government has been a conduit to help bring those parties together, to bring potential businesses and markets here in South Australia together with potential investors in China. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to give an update on how well this particular project is progressing.