Australian Space Agency

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): Supplementary: apart from all the extreme excitement that was witnessed and all the fried eggs that were for breakfast, how many contracts were signed, what were the value of those contracts and how many jobs will be the result of all of the excitement that the minister talked about?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:41): I thank the honourable member for that question. He asked a similar one yesterday. It would be unparliamentary to use the response I would use in the bar. I usually don't sleep with my guests on the first date; I like to build a relationship. But clearly the members opposite want to go straight down to business on the very first date. I like to build a relationship, because we are in this game for the long haul. We are not just there for a one night stand that they might like to be there for. We are developing long-term relationships. We don't expect people to sign contracts on the first date. We actually want to make sure that we develop that relationship—invite them here and build a long-term relationship. You ran the government the way you wanted to run it; we will run it the way we want to run ours.