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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-03-19 Daily Xml
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Trade Offices

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:29): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister update the council about the recent opening of South Australia's North Asia trade and investment office and any associated meetings he has had in Tokyo?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:29): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the expansion of our trade office network. As I said a couple of weeks ago in our last sitting week, I would be able to update the chamber on the fantastic achievement of opening our second trade and investment office, which we did in Tokyo, Japan on 7 March. The office will cover North Asia and includes both Japan and Korea in its area of responsibility. Japan is South Australia's fifth largest goods export market and fourth largest import market, and Korea is South Australia's 12th largest goods export market and eighth largest import market.

It is vitally important that South Australia has strong representation in these areas. Both Japan and Korea are high income and highly urbanised countries. Their consumers are highly discerning when it comes to food and beverages, and their businesses are global leaders in advanced manufacturing and services. They play to our export strengths. It was a pleasure to open the office, alongside His Excellency the Hon. Hieu Van Le, Governor of South Australia, and members of the South Australian business and diplomatic community.

I must say that it was a real pleasure to be on a trade trip with the Governor. As we know, he is a particularly strong advocate for South Australia and he adds tremendous value to events such as this. At the opening, he cut the ribbon and the plaque has his name on it, which I think is fitting. He did a fabulous job. Of course, the opening also featured the Australian Ambassador, Mr Richard Court AC, the President of the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce and a number of other dignitaries.

Following an extensive recruitment process by my department, Ms Sally Townsend was appointed to lead the South Australian office in Japan, and I am advised she commenced her position yesterday, on 18 March. It was great to have her at the opening of the office. Ms Townsend has strong connections within the North Asia market and she has been a strong member of the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan since 2012 and was elected chair in 2018. Ms Townsend was born and bred in Tennyson and is a South Australian through and through. She has lived in Japan now for some 18 years and is fluent in Japanese. She is a fabulous ambassador for our state and I know she will do a particularly good job.

The office opening coincided with Foodex, Japan's premier exhibition for fresh and premium food, and complemented participation by our major industry associations, such as Food SA, AUSVEG SA branch and the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association and their export members in the expo. There were also a number of other businesses there. Of particular interest was Macro Meats, the world's largest supplier of game meat. It was interesting to note there was a queue, sometimes up to 200 persons long, wanting to get a sample of Macro Meats' freshly cooked kangaroo meat. I think they gave away 12,000 samples of meat over the three days.

During the market visit, the Governor and myself also attended a round table hosted by the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan. This was a great opportunity to talk to a number of Australian business leaders who are doing business in Japan, who freely shared their knowledge about what it takes to succeed in that market, and both the Governor and myself had a great opportunity to sell the virtues of our great state. As I said earlier, the Governor is a great ambassador for us. We also met with global executives from Mitsubishi Motors and NEC, both of whom are long-term investors in South Australia.

The involvement of the South Australian government in this mission provided support to our companies doing business in this region and offered an opportunity for important connections in market to be made and nurtured long term by our new Japan office. I would like to thank everyone who attended the office opening and those who worked hard to bring it about in such a timely manner. This is just the start of South Australia's international engagement journey and I look forward to growing the rest of our international office network into the future.

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