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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-18 Daily Xml
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TRADE

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Industry and Trade. Will the minister inform the house what the state government is doing to promote trade in Asia and South America?

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:31): Since coming to office, the government has had a significant focus on trade, particularly trade with our Asian partners. We have made some adjustments to our offices. Previously, we had expensive offices in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. In coming to office, we realigned these resources.

We no longer have an office in Hong Kong. We have an outstanding officer who now works in the Austrade office but who represents the interests of South Australia, that is her position. We have a fee-for-service arrangement with Austrade. That is a better way to go. In our view, more cost-effective, but, importantly, our resource, but someone who is plugged in and part of the broader Austrade network. We have done the same process in India for some time, although I think we are now having to make some further arrangements due to office space issues.

I can announce to the house today that we are taking this model further and that, after detailed analysis by the Department of Industry and Trade, we are now looking at putting a resource into the Australian Trade Commission in Vietnam. We will have our own person in Vietnam. We believe that the opportunity available to this state, indeed, this country from two-way trade with Vietnam is outstanding. Can I say, sir, from your point of view, you were very much part of our thinking following your delegation to Vietnam in recent years in providing us with some advice as to what the opportunities are.

Of course, we are greatly served by our Lieutenant-Governor, who is an outstanding Australian of Vietnamese origin and someone who has also accompanied you, sir, I understand, and who gives us an opportunity to further our linkages in Vietnam. The Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing has recently been to Vietnam, as has the Minister for Health apparently. The minister for trade will get there at some point.

I can also say that, since coming to office, the federal government—and I have had this discussion with the foreign minister, Stephen Smith—has orientated Australian foreign and trade policy towards South America, very much a region of the world that we in Australia have not paid as much attention to as we should have in recent years. As Stephen Smith said to me, having the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade put far more effort into the opportunities that are available, particularly with countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and, believe it or not, even Bolivia—I am told there has been a significant improvement in the political conditions in Bolivia. That part of the region is of great opportunity and, more importantly for our state, it is our opportunity and relationship with Chile. We have seen growing linkages between Chile and South Australia, heavily—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, I was going to mention the wine industry. Whilst the wine industry has a product that is competitive in some price points with ours, clearly, there is significant mutual benefit in developing our industries, both in Chile and Australia. A lot of Australians are working in Chile in the wine industry; a lot of our technology is going into Chile and vice versa with respect to expertise coming here.

Mr Venning interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Well, it is. It is global trade; it is globalisation. We must trade as a nation; and we must accept that, if we want to sell our product to them, we will get product in return from other countries. The other huge opportunity, obviously, is mining. The BHP Billiton company, of course, has the giant Escondida project—which I know the Premier has been to and the minister for primary industries and I have been to—as well as the Spence copper mine. Chile is the world's largest producer of copper.

The BHP Billiton company has been bringing large numbers of Chilean expertise over here to Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam and vice versa: a large number of BHP Billiton people have been heading over to Chile. But it is more than just BHP Billiton. I have had a number of discussions now with the Chilean ambassador here. I have met with the Minister for Mining, the Premier has met previously with the former minister for mining and a number of South Australian companies are now travelling to Chile on a regular basis and trade is coming back here. The Chilean government, indeed, has accepted an offer—I think through foreign affairs; through the federal government, at least—by the Australian government of some 500 university scholarships to Chilean students to study in Australia.

Our universities have been over to Chile trying to get our share of those scholarships back to our universities and learning and TAFE colleges here in South Australia. With that long preamble, I can say that, when I was in Chile, I asked my department of trade, in conjunction with Austrade, to do some scoping work to see whether or not we should have a resource in Chile. I am very pleased with the advice that has come back, namely, that we should have our own dedicated state resource in Santiago. We are in the process now of signing an agreement with the Australian Trade Commission to have a dedicated South Australian resource in Santiago to service the South Australian business interests, be they in the mining, technical or electronics sectors, as well as manufacturing, agriculture, primary industries, food, wine or whatever.

We will have our first representative in South America. That again shows that, properly targeted, having an effectively priced resource into these markets (but importantly working with the Australian Trade Commission as part of brand Australia) is a sensible thing to do. I would encourage members on both sides of the house that, if they are on any future study missions and they wish to visit Chile, they should look at using our resource in Santiago. The message to all our business interests in South Australia—and we are promoting this widely—is that this is a resource we are putting into Chile (as we are putting into Vietnam) for the purpose of assisting business, and I would encourage business to use those resources.

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