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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-04-30 Daily Xml
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Chinese Trade Relationships

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister inform the chamber about the positive impacts for South Australian farmers, for South Australian growers and fishers, following the state and federal government's re-establishing trade relationships with China?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. In May 2022 the federal Coalition lost government, but by then our state's key export industries had been harshly exposed by the damaged relationship of the Coalition government with our largest trading partner, China. The Morrison government and its then South Australian MPs Nicole Flint, James Stevens, Rowan Ramsey and Tony Pasin had left that mess behind.

The damaged relationship led to severe tariffs and trade restrictions placed by China, which had an enormous impact on our state's wine and seafood sectors, and timber, barley and beef as well, causing years of pain for South Australian growers, producers, winemakers and rock lobster fishers who were previously exporting product to China—in some cases, most of their product to China.

Of course, as we know, the former state Liberal government stood on the sidelines while this happened, in much the same way as the members I mentioned a moment ago—including the member for Barker, Tony Pasin, despite his party's actions resulting in such devastating consequences for so many businesses in the Barker electorate and across the state. The Leader of the Opposition in this chamber talks a lot about advocacy, but we did not hear very much from her at the time as a member of the state government that was standing idly by.

Fast-forward to 2025 and, fortunately, we are in a very different space. Both the Malinauskas and Albanese governments have worked extremely hard to rebuild the relationship with such an important trade partner, because we know how incredibly important it is to our state's agricultural and fishing industries, the communities they support and the state's economy more broadly.

I was fortunate to visit China in the early part of last year as part of progressing our state's wine and seafood industry re-entry into the Chinese market, and I was heartened by the knowledge and appreciation of our state's premium wine and seafood—the best, I would say, in the world. Over the past few years a number of state and federal colleagues have also visited China including, of course, the Prime Minister, the Premier, and federal trade minister Don Farrell, with a firm mission to see South Australian product back on Chinese menus. In recent weeks my colleagues the Deputy Premier, Susan Close, and Joe Szakacs, Minister for Trade and Investment, have also been in China.

Following the calm, determined and diligent work of both state and federal Labor governments, and those in the wine and seafood industries, as well as others, our premium produce is back on Chinese menus and tables—and it is back with a bang, having exported more than $850 million worth of products in the year to February 2025. That is $850 million worth of products, and the flow-on effects in a positive way to our economy and our producers are indeed intense.

We have seen seafood exports to China grow by almost 500 per cent in the year to February, rising to $63.3 million. After just two months of trade restrictions and barriers being removed, we have seen $47.1 million in southern rock lobster exports alone. It was great to hear on radio during this morning's FIVEaa Breaking at 8 from Mitchell Taylor, chief winemaker and managing director of Clare Valley's famous Taylors Wines, talking about wine exports to China returning to pre-COVID levels and his appreciation for the 'great work' done by federal trade minister Don Farrell in opening up our relationships with China.

Of course, this stands in direct contrast with the devastation brought by the former Morrison government of which, of course, Peter Dutton was a key part—devastation to South Australian exporters. What do we see from the opposition here? Derision; they don't care. They don't care that this is what producers had to endure because of their federal colleagues when they were in government, and they don't care again that, if there was a change of government, their mates in Canberra would not be giving a toss about South Australia and our industries.

It is all money that flows back to our businesses, communities and economy. The fact that the former state and federal governments either caused or sat idly by as it happened flies in the face of our hardworking growers and producers, who just want to be able to grow or catch their product and not be victims of those opposite and their mates.

The relentlessly negative member for Barker seemingly spends a lot of time doing two things: trying to take control of the Liberal Party and criticising the Labor government. I will tell you what he didn't do: he didn't use his position in the former government to have any influence on his superiors, and he didn't do anything to address the pain of the huge number of wine and seafood businesses in his electorate as well as others.

It has taken a Labor government at both state and federal level to get back to where we are today. I am very pleased for our state's wine and seafood exporters that our products are once again in such high demand in China—supporting jobs, businesses and, importantly, regional communities.

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