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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-10-26 Daily Xml
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STATE EXPORTS

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Industry and Trade. How will removing funding from the Council for International Trade and Commerce SA, the organisation that supports 40 chambers of commerce, removing all of the department's trade officers and cutting the payroll tax rebate for exporters, enable the government to reach its export target for $25 billion by 2014? South Australia's annual exports have actually fallen from $9.1 billion to $8.6 billion since the Rann Labor government came to office.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Gambling) (15:02): The members opposite are so outraged, so disgusted, so enraged by these cuts that they voted for them. That is how outraged they are—they voted for them.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is the budget. If you don't like the budget, don't vote for it. It's very simple. The Liberal Party has been raised on the knee of: 'We believe in the rights of individuals and no member of parliament is ever told what to do by the Liberal Party.' If you are opposed to these cuts, vote against them.

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker. The question to the minister was: how are these cuts going to increase our exports? That is what the Liberal Party is actually concerned about—exports.

The SPEAKER: I won't say yes on that point in question until I hear the rest of the minister's answer.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: It is like I said, Madam Speaker. They are so outraged that they voted for it. They are so enraged with these cuts that they went out and voted for them. But the truth is that DTED is being restructured—no doubt about it. It is something members opposite never had the courage to do, and your comrades, your colleagues at Business SA, are the ones who were saying that cuts to DTED are the canary in the coal mine, that unless cuts were made to DTED this government is not serious about saving its AAA credit rating. Well, we were serious; we did make the cuts. We have made sure that DTED is a slimline department that can deliver these outcomes.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will be quiet.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Of course, it will be focused on attracting, retraining and fostering investment in South Australia while the revised DTED will be instrumental in delivering solid economic growth. This will be achieved by targeting important sectors that include clean-tech, advanced manufacturing and knowledge intensive services. The state government, through DTED, is focusing specifically on working with key industry groups and companies to ensure that South Australia has a solid base of sustainable industries, jobs and sustainable growth. As I said earlier, if the opposition is so outraged, they could have voted against it. I am interested to hear how many members opposite raised the sector cuts in their addresses on the budget. How many?

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Exactly! Members opposite made a big deal about no member of government being in the house—

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order. The minister is obviously incapable of answering the question, but that does not give him an excuse to debate.

The SPEAKER: I think the minister has answered the question. The member for Unley.

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