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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-11-15 Daily Xml
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UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (14:06): Can the Premier inform the house about today's visit to Adelaide by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:07): Thank you, Madam Speaker, and—

An honourable member: Thanks for the invite.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Sorry, what was that?

An honourable member: Thanks for the invitation.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We don't issue them; we provide the welcome to somebody that chooses to come to South Australia, and we were very pleased to welcome the Secretary of State of the United States of America. I know, when somebody comes to South Australia and South Australia reflects well in the international community, a little part of them dies inside, but for the rest of—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —us we think this is an occasion to celebrate. I understand this is in fact the first Secretary of State of the United States ever to come to Adelaide.

Mrs Redmond: Because she said so.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: She did indeed say so, and I am at least prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt. This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting secretary Clinton, along with His Excellency the Governor and the United States Ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich.

We of course discussed the relationship between the United States of America and South Australia, and our joint interest in deepening those relationships, whether in defence or cleantech, or in the automotive sector or early childhood development. We had the opportunity to visit Techport to witness this strong collaboration in action. We were able to demonstrate the collaboration between South Australian enterprises and American enterprises, like General Dynamics, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Bath Industries, just to name a few.

While at Techport, secretary Clinton spoke warmly of her experience of Adelaide and spoke strongly about the importance of the US-Australia relationship. She also emphasised the importance of this relationship for our joint security, for our economic development and for our shared values and, very importantly, for high-value jobs for our citizens. She understood the advanced manufacturing agenda; she shared it as an agenda for the United States of America and paid tribute to the fact that we have made this a key priority for our state.

Two thousand workers are employed at Techport on the submarine and air warfare destroyer projects, which demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the United States and Australia for jobs for our people. It was a pleasure also to witness Senator Clinton visiting some of the workers on the site. They were very pleased to welcome her, and she personally passed on her best wishes to them.

I was also pleased to note her remarks concerning the link between prosperity in advanced economies like South Australia and standing up for workers' rights. This has of course been a terrific opportunity for South Australia to showcase its capabilities to one of the world's most influential leaders but also to shine a light on South Australia that can shine around the world.

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