CHINA TRADE LINKS

The Hon. A. BRESSINGTON (14:55): Given the community's angst over—

The PRESIDENT: Are you asking a supplementary?

The Hon. A. BRESSINGTON: I am.

The PRESIDENT: So you will ask it, thank you.

The Hon. A. BRESSINGTON: Thank you. Can the minister either confirm or deny, given community angst over foreign ownership, that these negotiations that she is undertaking with China do not involve China coming in and buying vineyards, dairy farms, etc., in order to have that trade agreement settled on?

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) (14:55): This government is very preoccupied, very focused, on ensuring the prosperity and sustainability of this state. We are looking to work every economic driver that we possibly can to create jobs and economic prosperity in this state. That is against a backdrop of the global economic crisis that we have had and now some quite devastating slowdown effects that we have seen right across the economy, almost around the world. South Australia is a small state. We are proud of our history of punching above our weight, and we will continue to do that.

One of the key planks to that strategy is attracting foreign investment into this state because, without foreign investment, plus the other strategies that we have, we would shrivel up and become a little Third World state. So it is outrageous to be suggesting that foreign investment is not welcomed in this state, because it is. We could not survive without it. In fact, a lot of our standard of living today is actually dependent on foreign investment that currently exists in this state, and has existed for a number of decades.