Question Time

China Trade

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment a question.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Since the last state election, the minister has travelled to China on six separate occasions: April 2018, July 2018, September 2018, November 2018, January 2019 and again in March 2019. Given that the minister has travelled to China six times, South Australia should rightly expect significant outcomes from these overseas trips over and above the remarkable achievements of the very well regarded former trade minister, the Hon. Martin Hamilton-Smith.

My question to the minister is: what specific KPIs did the Premier set the minister to achieve on his trips to China and, in particular, as a direct result of the minister's actions, how many jobs were created from his trips to China; how many contracts were signed as a result of his trips to China; what was the value of those contracts; and what was the total cost across these five trips to China to the taxpayer?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:19): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in regaining the ground in our international trade. The member is right, I have had a number of trips to China in the last 12 months. It is interesting, I don't have all of the specific details at my fingertips but the very first trip was in relation to—and it was actually before I was sworn in, which is an interesting thing. It's rare that that happens. The Convention Bureau and Tourism Australia asked me to travel to China to help with a bid process for one of the big incentive—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Did you call yourself a minister then, like every other time you went?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President, I am trying to answer the member opposite's question and I—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, it is not the time to have a conversation with the minister.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Either he wants the answer or not.

The PRESIDENT: He is attempting to answer your question. You know that I am kind on supplementaries. Ask a supplementary when he has completed his answer.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Just to satisfy the—I know I shouldn't respond to interjections but—

The PRESIDENT: No, you shouldn't.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I had been sworn in as a minister but we hadn't actually formally sat (the actual being sworn in here as a member of the new parliament). That was an incentive visit that we—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Why don't you listen? Just sit and listen? Do you know what I even said?

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway, through me.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The members opposite clearly never listen. It was to present—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, can we just leave off the interjections. We would all like to hear the response.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President, I could lose my cool and say something I might regret again in a minute.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Order! The Hon. Mr Ridgway, I was talking then.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Sorry, sir.

The PRESIDENT: When I talk, it's the only person who is talking, and that includes you, the Leader of the Opposition. Please be quiet. Let's hear the answer to your question. You can then attempt to ask a supplementary.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I will explain what the incentive visits are. One of the companies we presented to, at the request of the Convention Bureau and Tourism Australia, was the Infinitus Group. They bring 8,000 of their top salespeople to destinations all over the world as part of a reward for their sales. I participated in that particular event early in that first trip that we did. I also touched based quickly with Shandong, given that it is our sister state and we need to make sure that we continue that particular relationship.

Then I had a visit, obviously, to Shandong again in July with a whole range of stakeholders, all of the universities. It was an international education visit. I think we had a number of student ambassadors who have come here. It is a student ambassador program and they have to demonstrate their English language skills. There was one young lady who I thought spoke beautifully and missed out. She burst into tears. Her mother and family burst into tears. Thankfully, there was one vacancy still available and StudyAdelaide went back to them and she and the other student ambassadors and family and friends were here not long ago. That's an investment in a future relationship. We had a range of—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Mr President—

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, we do not need a commentary. The minister has some leeway to respond to your question.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order.

The PRESIDENT: We are nowhere near the ability for you to put a point of order for relevance—nowhere near it—but I understand your anxiety and I will monitor it while the Hon. Mr Ridgway attempts to answer. I might add, Leader of the Opposition, that you did ask a multibarrelled question so the minister is attempting to answer all the facets of that question.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, he does not need to answer them in order. The Hon. Mr Ridgway.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Now I have lost track, Mr President. I may have to start again.

The PRESIDENT: Even the President has lost track. Just get on with it.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The number of trips: it has been six trips. Of course, we opened the trade office in China, something that the former government closed, and we have actually gone through the negotiations. I met with Austrade, the Consul-General, in Guangzhou and in Shanghai. So we have opened the trade office.

Of course, the trip in November was part of the Chinese International Import Expo. Austrade had a stand there. It was great to be there with the very hardworking federal minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, the Hon. Simon Birmingham. It's great to have a South Australian to work alongside as we grow our state's economy. There were a number of South Australian businesses there and there were a number that went on from there to the Hong Kong spirit and wine show that were able to exhibit their products there.

I was also asked to participate in one of the assertive bids, the one in January, for Nu Skin. The Hon. Tung Ngo asked some questions around that. We are still yet to get any formal advice. We think they are coming. We think it is next April, but we are not sure exactly on the time. But again—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: People coming are they—they're coming—not sure, maybe?

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, you can't ask supplementaries seated, alright?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: He can't help himself, he cannot help himself.

The PRESIDENT: You can only ask them after the minister has completed the answer. The longer we draw this all out, the more you interrupt him, the longer this is going to be. Speaking on behalf of all the chamber, we would like to hear his answer.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I could go on for the whole 53 minutes that are left, and I am happy to do that. The Nu Skin bid, we think we are going to get 6,000 people here in April next year. Infinitus is 8,000, probably in June or July next year. The value to our country, our state, is about $55 million that they will spend while they are here, and Nu Skin about $35 million, plus Infinitus has brought $10 million or $11 million worth of wine from three companies—one in the Barossa and two in McLaren Vale.

These trips, from a KPI point of view—I don't have any direct KPI or exactly how many jobs or how much investment—there is in excess of $100 million from those two particular bids that I have been involved in, and we are very confident they are going to come. If you look at the opportunities of presenting our businesses, we didn't have the great big fanfare of the former minister, who is obviously a very good friend of the Hon. Kyam Maher.

We don't intend to have the great big trade missions, with 200 or 300 people and all the fanfare. DFAT told me prior—in fact, they told me when the member for Waite was just a member of the opposition, before he made a decision to leave this party and go somewhere else—and Austrade were telling me at the time that those great big missions are really quite problematic. They are hard to coordinate and they take a lot of resources. Even the Chinese guys I met in Shandong—I think it was the mayor—said, 'Oh, yeah, we have all these people and we have the great big gathering and lots of ganbei, and we grab the name cards and when they leave we chuck the name cards in the bin because we never see these people again.'

Obviously, I overstepped the mark a little yesterday with some of my comments, but clearly it is about long-term relationships and some of the relationships that we are making. On the most recent trip to China I went and visited the site where the Kidman pastoral company, Australian Beef—about four or five Australian companies and some Chinese partners are building an abattoir on an island to export cattle. Interestingly, I get out of the car and I am met at the front door by Mr Bill Adcock. He used to run the Teys plant in Naracoorte, a guy I have known for about 30 years. He is building this plant, so we know that some Aussies are building it in China to make sure that it is the best animal welfare possible for these animals to be shipped over as live exports, but then slaughtered properly in China.

Everywhere I go I am trying to grow the South Australian economy. I don't have specific individual KPIs. What I can tell you, if members opposite sit and be quiet, is that we have about $100 million in tourism expenditure coming in. There is $11 million of wine, and that is not a one-off, it is continual every year. The chief executive of Infinitus said that the wine was so good that they were thinking of trebling that particular order. That hasn't happened yet. Then there is some ongoing support to our other existing exporters who already export to China.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: It is interesting that the Hon. Mr Wortley interjects. While we are talking about trade, I do recall premier Weatherill and the other minister, the Hon. Martin Hamilton-Smith, announcing the sale of a million litres of wine for Seppeltsfield on one of these trade missions. A bit strange. It is a good deal, but I know Warren Randall quite well and he had done the deal about four or five months earlier. So to go up there and announce it when it was already done—it is amazing. This is about building long-term relationships. I can keep going if you like but I think I have said enough and I am happy to leave it there, but if they give me a supplementary question I will carry on.

The PRESIDENT: You will do as I tell you, the Hon. Mr Ridgway.