Trade Missions

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:38): My question is for the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister share an update with the council on his business trip to China last week?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:38): Thank you, Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: I haven't given you the call, yet.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Oh, sorry.

The PRESIDENT: Minister.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The members opposite are always intrigued about business cards; I don't know quite what they are on about. They have made up some fictitious little story, but I don't want to be distracted by them, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway, please inform the chamber from the—

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I thank the honourable member for his question. The Marshall Liberal government is committed to regaining our ground on international trade. I just reiterate: when Labor came to office in 2002, South Australia's share of the national merchandise exports was 7.4 per cent, and after 16 years of Labor, South Australia's export performance has fallen behind the rest of the nation, with our current share around 4 per cent; in fact it is a little under 4 per cent. In addition to honouring our election commitment by opening the Shanghai trade office, my trip last week supported dozens of South Australian companies with their in-market exporting activities.

On 5 and 6 November I attended China's first International Import Expo (known as the CIIE) in Shanghai. The CIIE was held in an exhibition centre of some 50 hectares, some 500,000 square metres of exhibition space. I think on 5 November I walked some 23,000 or 24,000 steps, walking around that particular exhibition. As people would know, I enjoy walking but that was still a pretty big day of walking around. Unfortunately, I still did not get to some of the pavilions that had the latest automotive displays and robotics which I think would have been spectacular to see. Unfortunately, we could not get to everything.

There were 24 South Australian businesses exhibiting their products and services at CIIE and I visited all of their trade booths. Of course, there were a number of world-class wineries present as well as SA food and beverage companies such as Beston Pure Foods, Thomas Foods, Southern Australian Cattle Company, Almond Board of Australia, Oleapak and more who exhibited as part of the Food SA stand. I also caught up with Mr Gui, the business partner for Hancock Pastoral and the Kidman Properties, on his stand, where they were certainly proud to display some of the magnificent beef that is raised not only in South Australia but the rest of Australia.

Other South Australian brands also included the Port Adelaide Football Club. It was good to be joined on a trade venture with some South Australian footballers. I know that the Hon. Rob Lucas is not that excited by Port Adelaide but, nonetheless, when overseas it is all one big happy family and we have to support every football club that is over there in the market. Also there was the University of Adelaide and Earth Adventure. While at the CIIE I was pleased to witness a number of business deals signed between South Australian businesses and their Chinese partners, creating more jobs and more wealth for our state.

Following the CIIE, I travelled to Hong Kong for the annual Wine and Spirits Fair on the 8^th. At the fair I caught up with some distributors and key wine influencers in Asia as well as many South Australian wineries, including wines by Geoff Hardy, Chateau Tanunda, Schubert Estate, Leabrook Estate, Organic Hill, Salena Estate, Eisenstone Wines, Eldredge Wines and more.

An honourable member: Which was the best?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They were all fantastic. That evening at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition I was proud to present two South Australian wineries with awards, recognising some of their world-class product. McLaren Vale III Associates won best shiraz and best Australian red wine for their 2016 Squid Ink shiraz, and the Barossa winery, Gatt Wines, won the award for the best riesling for their Gatt High Eden riesling 2015. Considering that there were some 1,075 exhibitors at the fair from 33 countries I think these awards are an outstanding achievement and testament to the state's quality produce and our winemaking abilities.

While I was at the dinner, seated at the table with me was the Minister for Agriculture and Forests from Slovenia. I took the opportunity to extend an invitation to the minister to visit South Australia, a part of the world that she said she had never been to. Hopefully, next year, Mr President, you might be able to recognise her in the gallery if, hopefully, she comes to visit.

This experience working in-market for South Australian wineries and food companies last week confirms that our product is, of course, world-class but that our competition, which comes from the world over, is both fierce and unrelenting. As demonstrated by this visit and the opening of our new Shanghai office, our government is committed to working with our producers to help them unlock new export opportunities in key markets to boost our state's economic performance, to boost our export performance, and to drive a stronger economy and create more jobs for South Australians.