Coronavirus

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:32): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister update the council about how the Department for Trade and Investment is working across both state and federal governments to combat the challenges posed by COVID-19?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade and Investment) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for his question. As we know, we are in some of the most extraordinary, in fact the most extraordinary, times I think any of us have ever seen, with countries all around the world facing tremendous pressures from COVID-19, shutting down their borders and shutting down their economies.

It is an enormous task ahead. Yesterday, I outlined how the Department for Trade and Investment is gearing up its digital activities to support our exporters and investors, but I think it is important to inform the chamber that the Department for Trade and Investment will also play a significant role as on-demand supply coordinators for critical supplies required by SA Health, amongst others, and will be assisting South Australian businesses to participate in supply opportunities arising from this crisis.

This morning, I was on a national conference call with all state and federal ministers, organised by federal minister Andrews, regarding supply and manufacture of personal protective equipment. My very hardworking colleague the Hon. Stephen Wade, who, I might add, is doing an excellent job in this particularly demanding time, spoke yesterday about the national approach for supplies of medical supplies. I think that today all of the trade and investment ministers and the federal minister were together to make sure we can coordinate that, so that if one state has a supply of a particular product the rest of the nation needs that they are actually aware of that, and it is being coordinated so that we can respond.

Our health agencies are responding on a national level, but certainly our agencies will respond in a national way to make sure that we have, nationally, the supplies of goods where we have it, that where we have manufacturers that can actually manufacture products that can help the nation other states are made aware of that and we can get those products to them. The federal government has had discussions around some of the regulations, for example, the excise on alcohol for hand sanitisers. The ATO has waived that, and that is a sensible approach. So there's a big national effort going on to make sure that we are well served to have the equipment we need to combat this horrible threat of COVID-19.

We saw on the weekend pretty much all of our international flights suspended. We have established an export recovery task force to support exporters and companies and provide assistance, especially to the suppliers looking for airfreight. We want to be prepared, to look for opportunities. We have no international flights leaving South Australia now. There are some freighters that take freight to Melbourne.

We are looking now at coordinating with the producers—and a lot of them are fresh seafood—on how we can coordinate to get product to Melbourne or Sydney. There's a handful of freight-only planes leaving Melbourne and Sydney each week. We are working closely with them. We are also reaching out to all our other manufacturers, making sure that we understand the pressures that their businesses are under and seeing ways that we may be able to help them stay in their markets. It is good to see that they are responding.

Even today, out of some of these very dark clouds opportunities arise, one of them being that international supermarket chains can no longer find a source of Spanish olive oil, so they have reached out to a local olive oil producer for, if you like, import replacement. So while our exporters have lost some of their overseas markets during these times, there will be some opportunities for our high-quality food exporters to fill the gaps left by the break in the supply chain, even if it is only temporarily. I think that emphasises how important it is for all of us to work together.

In closing, I would like to mention that I am in regular contact with the shadow minister, Zoe Bettison. She is being briefed again tomorrow. I reach out to her regularly, and I have told her that anytime she wishes to call me to do so. I am happy to keep her informed. Even though the crossbenchers are not here—the Greens, SA-Best and the Hon. Mr Darley—at any time, if they need some information in the areas that I am responsible for, I am more than happy to provide them with information, and if I can't I will try to get the information for them. Mr President, I think it's important that we share the load and actually work together to get through this as quickly as we possibly can.