❓ Opposition questions the effectiveness of the government's overseas trade representation model, citing concerns about WA's profile in key export markets. The Premier defends the Invest and Trade WA network, highlighting its successes and expansion.
AnsweredQoN 887Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
INVEST AND TRADE WA —
HUB-AND-SPOKE MODEL
887. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Premier:
I refer to comments published in The
West Australian today and attributed to Western Australia's Agent
General in London, Mr John Langoulant, and the Investment and Trade
Commissioner for North East Asia region, Ms Nicole Fasana, who were summarised
in the article, in part, as saying —
� the State has little to no profile
in some of its top export markets �
(1) Is this
assessment from such senior public servants proof that the changes the Premier's
government made to our overseas trade representation, including the
introduction of the so-called hub-and-spoke model for our trade officials, are
a failure?
(2) Does this
assessment indicate that the Premier's overseas trade trips are doing
little to improve our reputation and presence in important overseas markets?
The SPEAKER : Order please,
members! Premier.
HUB-AND-SPOKE MODEL
887. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Premier:
I refer to comments published in The
West Australian today and attributed to Western Australia's Agent
General in London, Mr John Langoulant, and the Investment and Trade
Commissioner for North East Asia region, Ms Nicole Fasana, who were summarised
in the article, in part, as saying —
� the State has little to no profile
in some of its top export markets �
(1) Is this
assessment from such senior public servants proof that the changes the Premier's
government made to our overseas trade representation, including the
introduction of the so-called hub-and-spoke model for our trade officials, are
a failure?
(2) Does this
assessment indicate that the Premier's overseas trade trips are doing
little to improve our reputation and presence in important overseas markets?
The SPEAKER : Order please,
members! Premier.
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) The
member for Cottesloe continually revisits the whole issue of our overseas trade
offices. I wonder whether he identifies with
some of his former upper house colleagues who themselves were pretty fond of our overseas trade offices and visiting them! I remember one of them saying
that they had a particularly arduous journey and needed some information on
where to find a massage. We know what that massage was about.
Invest and Trade WA's
overseas trade offices are one of our great success stories. They are doing an
extraordinary job.
Dr D.J. Honey : But they have
little to no profile.
The SPEAKER : Order please,
members! Member for Cottesloe, you have asked your question. If you would like
the opportunity for a supplementary, I suggest that we listen to the Premier's
answer.
Mr R.H. COOK : On the
contrary, our Invest and Trade WA offices are significantly lifting the profile
of Western Australia right throughout our
priority markets. I was in Tokyo recently. As a result of that visit, we had over
60 articles in Tokyo media alone, which was down to the great work of our Investment
and Trade Commissioner for North East Asia, Nicole Fasana. As our trade
commissioner in Tokyo working out of the hub, she has people deployed in Manila
in the Philippines and Seoul in South Korea. She is making sure that we have
people out there all the time, looking for those investment and trade
opportunities, and they are being inundated with inquiries from right across
the industry sectors that we are looking to engage with. In fact, this year
alone, we have had more inbound delegations than ever before. These are inbound
delegations of business and political interests coming to Western Australia to
find out what great opportunities we have had.
A visit to the Chennai office,
which I opened last year, will give members a sense of the excitement that is
out there in our priority Indian markets. Tamil Nadu is absolutely engaged with
the opportunities that exist there. Of course, our Agent General in London is
responsible for our Middle East, Israeli, United Kingdom and European markets.
That too is going flat out. The Agent General is now in the process of opening
up our new office in Frankfurt. In addition, our Association of South-East
Asian Nations offices continue to grow exponentially. We have recently opened
an office in Vietnam. We have opened an office in Kuala Lumpur.
We continue to look at our network
continuing to expand. We are opening an office in Austin in America. That is
the first time that we have had a physical presence in that market. Members can
see that we are generating a significant amount of economic and investment
activity, the whole time inspiring and pushing along our trade.
Just
a visit to our Singapore office will tell members how excited the Singaporean
markets are, particularly around our agrifoods and the work that we can
do there to significantly grow the imports into their hospitality industry, particularly their fine-dining restaurant industry.
The opportunities out there are immense. Our Invest and Trade WA is now
being heralded as one of the most effective invest and trade networks in the
country, and we are very proud of its work. It is doing an incredible job to
continue to grow our profile in our priority markets.
member for Cottesloe continually revisits the whole issue of our overseas trade
offices. I wonder whether he identifies with
some of his former upper house colleagues who themselves were pretty fond of our overseas trade offices and visiting them! I remember one of them saying
that they had a particularly arduous journey and needed some information on
where to find a massage. We know what that massage was about.
Invest and Trade WA's
overseas trade offices are one of our great success stories. They are doing an
extraordinary job.
Dr D.J. Honey : But they have
little to no profile.
The SPEAKER : Order please,
members! Member for Cottesloe, you have asked your question. If you would like
the opportunity for a supplementary, I suggest that we listen to the Premier's
answer.
Mr R.H. COOK : On the
contrary, our Invest and Trade WA offices are significantly lifting the profile
of Western Australia right throughout our
priority markets. I was in Tokyo recently. As a result of that visit, we had over
60 articles in Tokyo media alone, which was down to the great work of our Investment
and Trade Commissioner for North East Asia, Nicole Fasana. As our trade
commissioner in Tokyo working out of the hub, she has people deployed in Manila
in the Philippines and Seoul in South Korea. She is making sure that we have
people out there all the time, looking for those investment and trade
opportunities, and they are being inundated with inquiries from right across
the industry sectors that we are looking to engage with. In fact, this year
alone, we have had more inbound delegations than ever before. These are inbound
delegations of business and political interests coming to Western Australia to
find out what great opportunities we have had.
A visit to the Chennai office,
which I opened last year, will give members a sense of the excitement that is
out there in our priority Indian markets. Tamil Nadu is absolutely engaged with
the opportunities that exist there. Of course, our Agent General in London is
responsible for our Middle East, Israeli, United Kingdom and European markets.
That too is going flat out. The Agent General is now in the process of opening
up our new office in Frankfurt. In addition, our Association of South-East
Asian Nations offices continue to grow exponentially. We have recently opened
an office in Vietnam. We have opened an office in Kuala Lumpur.
We continue to look at our network
continuing to expand. We are opening an office in Austin in America. That is
the first time that we have had a physical presence in that market. Members can
see that we are generating a significant amount of economic and investment
activity, the whole time inspiring and pushing along our trade.
Just
a visit to our Singapore office will tell members how excited the Singaporean
markets are, particularly around our agrifoods and the work that we can
do there to significantly grow the imports into their hospitality industry, particularly their fine-dining restaurant industry.
The opportunities out there are immense. Our Invest and Trade WA is now
being heralded as one of the most effective invest and trade networks in the
country, and we are very proud of its work. It is doing an incredible job to
continue to grow our profile in our priority markets.
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