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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-04 Daily Xml
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HCL Technologies

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:15): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister update the chamber on the opening of HCL's offices in Adelaide, which I understand occurred today?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:15): I do appreciate the question from the honourable member, who obviously has his finger on the pulse and is aware of things that were happening in the city today. It was a great opportunity, where I had the great pleasure of officially launching HCL Technologies' Adelaide office. Alongside many distinguished guests were Mr Swapan Johri, the Executive Vice President and Head of APAC Business at HCL Technologies; Mr Michael Horton, Senior Vice President and Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand, at HCL Technologies; Mr Serge Ambrose, the General Manager of HCL, Adelaide; and Mr Mark Allison, the Chief Executive of Elders.

HCL's office opening has been built on the back of their partnership with the iconic South Australian agribusiness company, Elders. This has provided the perfect leverage for HCL to finally call South Australia home. It was a beautiful event. There were about 100 people at the event and it was an opportunity to cut a ribbon and open the door of the new offices—a beautiful, bright, fresh office indeed, and I think the important thing is the relationship with Elders.

Elders is one of our iconic agribusinesses that has embraced technology and supported our farmers right across this great nation, not just South Australia, although it is home in South Australia. It is a perfect partnership to see HCL providing the technological back-up as Elders enter the tech phase of agribusiness because, clearly, for our farmers and producers to remain competitive they need to embrace the latest technology.

Also, there is a new word that was given to me today, and the word is 'ideapreneur'—not an entrepreneur but an ideapreneur. The people from HCL are lobbying Webster's Dictionary to see if we can get the word 'ideapreneur' into next year's Webster's Dictionary. Of course, it has such a beautiful synergy with Lot Fourteen and our entrepreneur's visa. So it may well be we might have a pilot from the federal government of an ideapreneur visa as well. It is interesting to see the energy and enthusiasm that the international world is embracing Adelaide, with the idea of the entrepreneur and the ideapreneur. Sadly, members opposite are void of any ideas or of any 'preneurs' of any sort over there.

It is fantastic to see that, since establishing their office in May, 50 new positions have been created by HCL in Adelaide. I would like to thank Elders personally for being a key partner in getting HCL to our state, in working with a global leader in HCL to adopt innovative technology that will help Elders enhance its delivery and quality of service to its clients across Australia and internationally. Today's launch is a great reward for effort. The South Australian government has been engaging with the company since 2014 to encourage HCL to invest in South Australia by demonstrating the state's strong credentials in various sectors and opportunities that exist for these companies.

Of course, the fact that the Marshall Liberal government was elected sealed the final deal. They were somewhat apprehensive until they saw the business confidence and excitement that's in the South Australian economy following the election of the Marshall Liberal government. They know the Marshall Liberal government is committed to transforming South Australia's economy through export and growth and attracting inward investment.

Our government has a vision to transform the economy into the most dynamic in the country and a place that supports business growth. A strong economic future for South Australia depends on growing exports and making it easier for international partners to do business with us, and there has never been a better time to do business in South Australia than right now.

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