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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-09-23 Daily Xml
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Trade and Investment

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (15:00): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. Can the minister please update the house about how the Marshall Liberal government is keeping South Australia safe and strong by continuing to drive investment into our state through the digital sphere? With the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a complete change in the way we do business, with an increased focus on engaging with international investors and importers through digital channels.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Member of the Executive Council, Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:00): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question. He, of course, comes from a really important agricultural region in South Australia. It drives our economy, whether it's wheat and barley or whether it's their world-famous wine that comes from the Coonawarra district.

We are always talking about the importance of investment and the challenges in trying to attract it because we know, Mr Speaker, as you would, the importance of investment in South Australia. We are trying to grow the economy. It is a really important way to grow. It helps create business confidence and in turn, of course, creates jobs, and that's what we are about as a government. Nowhere is it more important than in the economic crisis we find ourselves in with COVID as well, of course. It is even more important that we get investment here, into not only your region but also all of South Australia.

Interesting as well is the impact the coronavirus has had on international travel. It has really closed down the borders and made it hard for travel, and of course that means it is hard for these face-to-face meetings that generally explain investment decisions. We are looking at other ways of how we can go about that, so that's why I am pleased to inform you, member for MacKillop, as I do the house, that South Australia is going to launch an Invest in SA website.

It will be a fantastic website. It will be a digital one-stop shop to really bring together investors and, more importantly, some of the fantastic investment proposals that we have in South Australia, making them known to the world, which is really important from that point of view.

The Hon. Z.L. Bettison interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Ramsay!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: Importantly, it is a free business tool as well. For those South Australian businesses, or propositions that have the investment potential, that are investment ready, this tool will allow them to go online and register their proposal to showcase what they want, attract business and see how they can do it.

In terms of other opportunities this website will provide, it will also inform those potential investors about the South Australian landscape: what is required from a visa perspective, any licensing or registration that is required and, more importantly, what advantages there are in South Australia, whether that's our fantastic research institutions or what partnerships can be formed. Importantly, it is also the skill base of South Australia, all the skills the Minister for Innovation and Skills is bringing to the table with his fantastic investment in skills in South Australia, looking to leverage that and showcase what we can do to skill up South Australians and have that workforce talent available.

In summary, it will enable those investors from all around the world an easy to navigate process that is well informed of what those investment proposals are. We know the fantastic work that is going on in the innovation space—Lot Fourteen, the Australian Space Agency, the Cyber Collaboration Centre, the MIT Living Lab—and we have those case studies there. It is fantastic to have Professor Sandy Pentland from MIT actually effuse what a fantastic place South Australia is: the data analytics, the machine learning skills, in the top three in the world.

I think that really makes other big investors stand up and say, 'If it's something for MIT to come here, we should be looking here as well.' We see that as a fantastic opportunity. It also allows those investors to connect with business contacts, to really understand what advice they need and what support they need to either invest directly in a project or, in fact, set up their commerce and their enterprise here. It will be a fantastic way to promote South Australia. It will show that we are an attractive business destination, and really what that flows to is the economy growing, jobs for South Australians. That's how, as a government, we're going to make sure that South Australia is strong and safe.

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