Mr SECKER (2:50 PM) —My question is addressed to the Minister for Trade. Would the minister inform the House of the vital role that exports play in supporting Australia's high living standards? Why are exports good for workers, for education and training, and for business innovation?

Mr VAILE (Minister for Trade) —I thank the honourable member for his question. In response to the question, I would like to announce the release today of a document that has been put together by Austrade in conjunction with the University of New South Wales. It is an analysis of the benefits to our economy of trade and exports. One of the opening comments in the document is that `exports are good for workers'. It goes on to say that `the net effect of trade on jobs will depend on both growth rates and structural change in the economy'—both of which our government is providing to our economy. It goes on to say:

This report, entitled Why Australia needs exports, shows that exporters pay their workers, on average, $17,400 a year more than non-exporting businesses. Exporters are more innovative; they provide their staff with safer, healthier workplaces; they provide more training; and they are committed to career development. The report also shows that exporters use enterprise agreements far more than the award structure and that those agreements are delivering much higher wages and efficiency gains for workers in export industries. Average earnings in export industries are around $46,000 per year compared to $28,000 a year for workers in non-exporting businesses. I remind the House that these flexible enterprise agreements that have been made between individual workers and their employers were given the opportunity to exist by this government but were opposed all the way by the Labor Party, which wants to scrap them. The agreements provide an opportunity for the 1.7 million workers in Australia who rely on export industries for their jobs to earn a better salary.

Yesterday the ABS released the export figures for the month of September. They were outstanding, to say the least. We recognise that the great outcome was supported by the Olympic Games. Our economy accrued a lot of benefit from the Olympic Games. The government took great advantage of that, and we ran a number of different programs promoting trade and investment opportunities in Australia during the Olympics. We had about 16,000 visitors through Business Club Australia, who participated in about 97 different functions and networking events. Business Club Australia was a huge success. We set ourselves a target of $1 billion worth of new business. Already, not long after the closing ceremony, we have achieved $700 million worth of new deals—and some very interesting deals. There has been a $150 million investment by Global Switch of the UK to build a leading edge Internet facility in Sydney. The WA based Australian Foods Company Ltd has signed multimillion dollar deals to provide peas and beans to India and the Middle East. The Paris based Infogrames Entertainment is investing $25 million over two years in Melbourne, generating more than 160 jobs. An Australian company that some of the starlets on the other side might be interested in, Vitamen, which is a manufacturer of men's cosmetic products—the member for Hunter might be interested in this one—is expected to secure substantial orders from Europe as a result of its involvement in Business Club Australia.

So it has been a great success. We have taken advantage of it with the programs we ran during the Olympic Games. Quite a few of the 41.9 per cent of businesses that intend to put on new employees in the not too distant future—as contained in the Morgan and Banks survey—will be exporters and will be employing people. They will be paying higher wages, and that is why we remain committed to expanding our export effort, as we have, and taking great advantage, as we did, of the opportunities during the Olympic Games.