Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-11-13 Daily Xml

Contents

Regional Trade

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment regarding regional trade strategies.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: A look through the Department for Trade, Tourism and Investment website shows that the regional trade strategies are no longer available for viewing or downloading. My questions to the minister are:

1. Following machinery of government changes, what has happened to our regional trade strategies for China, India, Europe, North-East Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, South-East Asia and the USA?

2. Will the availability of the Economic Business and Growth Fund, like that provided to Mitsubishi, form a part of those strategies?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her question. As I said earlier in response to somebody else's question, we are actually undergoing a review. The Hon. Steven Joyce has been here doing a review. I expect we'll see a slight tweaking from a regional focus to a sector focus as we move forward. Rather than have information that is under review and potentially not accurate, the decision has been made not to have that information available at the moment. I am not quite sure of the connection with the business growth fund and the regional strategies. I am not quite sure what the connection is. I didn't understand that part of the question, Mr President. Maybe the honourable member might like to ask a supplementary to give me some clarification.