South Australian Trade and Investment Office, USA

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (14:35): Thanks, Mr President, and thanks for your encouragement, Mr Wortley, because there are obviously no mirrors in your house. My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister share with the council news of the planned South Australian government trade office in the USA?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing interest in the expansion of our network of trade offices. The Marshall Liberal government is positioning South Australia to grow. We are committed to creating jobs by boosting South Australia's inbound investment, international trade and supporting exporters.

As part of our strategy, we have committed $12.8 million to establish the South Australian trade and investment offices in our key five overseas markets, investing in on-the-ground support for South Australian businesses. We have already opened the first two trade offices, covering the key markets of China and North Asia, and plan to open the United States office early next year.

As announced at the American Chamber of Commerce event on 16 August, our US trade office will be located in Houston, Texas. The United States is a critical market for South Australia, with merchandise exports to that country in excess of $1.078 billion in the 12 months to July this year. This figure is an increase of $110 million compared to the same time last year and constitutes nearly 10 per cent of South Australia's total international exports.

The United States is also one of South Australia's key markets for investment and the highest source of foreign direct investment by capital expenditure, with investment since 2003 of some $5.7 billion. Over the same period, South Australian companies have invested $3.3 billion in the US. The Houston office will act as a first point of contact for business introductions, leads and matches to help South Australian exporters expand into the US market and also facilitate US foreign direct investment into our state. Texas, more broadly, has many alignments with South Australia, seeing strong growth in recent years, with strengths in energy, manufacturing and health care.

Some key facts are that the Dallas Fort Worth Medical Center is the largest research medical facility in the world. Recently, when Tony Abbott was prime minister, he signed a Bio-Bridge agreement between the Texas Medical Center and Australia, so there are some great opportunities there. Of course, in the space of energy, Texas has the highest penetration of wind energy of any US state and some of the cheapest electricity in the US.

So there are some particularly strong links there. Of course, there is space, and our sister city relationship with Austin—one of the fastest growing cities in the US—for some 36 years now. Also, in our food and wine sector we have four of the very largest supermarket and distribution companies for wine and alcohol in the US based in Texas. So there are some really strong links as to why Texas is the logical place.

We also have some of our companies with a presence, such as Lightforce, which manufacture professional lighting equipment, NuCannaCo, which creates products from industrial hemp, RM Williams is already there in that great state of Texas, and Petrosys, a mapping and data management software company—just to name a few. Also, Texas is one of the largest economies in the United States with a GDP of some $US1.6 trillion. It is the country's largest exporter and has more than 50 Fortune 500 companies, with 19 based in Houston.

Houston is also one of America's fastest growing metro areas, and our office there will be fundamental in supporting us to achieve greater growth and partnerships in collaboration with North and South America for our companies, organisations and educational institutions. As I mentioned yesterday, Latin America is an increasing source of international students, and being positioned in Texas gives us an ideal landing pad or point of entry into Latin America.

We will also work hard to influence key business decisions in the region and support our companies accessing the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement to grow our state's exports, attract investment and create jobs. In this way, the state government can offer real business and investment opportunities to South Australian exporters that we haven't been equipped to provide in the past to create more wealth and jobs for South Australians.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, a supplementary.