Mr WAKELIN (3:19 PM) —My question is addressed to the Minister for Trade. Will the minister inform the House of the success of his recent visit to Indonesia and of the benefits of this visit that will flow to regional Australia? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies in the area of trade?

Mr VAILE (Minister for Trade) —I thank the honourable member for his question. Just to inform the House, as a result of the ministerial forum that we held with Indonesia at the end of last year in Canberra, at the request of the ministers in attendance at that meeting I have led an investment delegation to Indonesia, particularly to Jakarta, in the last couple of weeks. In that delegation we had the representatives of 16 of Australia's largest companies—in fact, representing about $80 billion worth of market capitalisation. Those 16 representatives of those companies also represented $6 billion worth of existing investment in Indonesia. The meetings that were conducted during our visit were certainly very, very successful and whilst we were there those companies announced a further $550 million worth of investment in Indonesia.

I can certainly say that the relationship that we are working on rebuilding with Indonesia is going very, very well. It is interesting to note that Australian exports to Indonesia at the moment stand at $3.74 billion and that two-way trade currently between Australia and Indonesia stands at $7 billion. It is important to note, if we analyse part of that export effort, the importance of what flows to different parts of Australia, particularly to regional Australia. In the year 2000 Australia exported $144 million worth of live cattle to Indonesia, which was up from $17 million in 1998. Interestingly, those exports came out of North Queensland—out of the electorate of Kennedy—out of the electorate of the Northern Territory and out of the electorate of Kalgoorlie, and I am sure those members are very pleased to see those export statistics back on the increase to that level.

Also in the year 2000, we saw $64 million worth of dairy products exported to Indonesia out of the electorates of Gippsland, Murray, Indi and out of Tasmania, and I am sure that the members representing those areas were very impressed to see those exports increasing to that level; they were only worth $37 million in the 1998 pre-crisis. Last year we saw exports of $86 million worth of passenger motor vehicles to Indonesia alone, which is a significant increase from the level of 1998 when they were only $6.5 million. Of course, they form part of that fantastic effort of the automotive industry last year where they hit a record of $4.2 billion worth of exports overall. Also, out of the electorates of Parkes, Gwydir and Maranoa, we saw $436 million worth of cotton exported to Indonesia.

These exports, which we have seen dramatically increase in recent years as a result of the efforts of our government in rebuilding the relationship with Indonesia, are helping to sustain thousands of jobs—in fact, over 1.7 million jobs in Australia. That is one in five jobs across Australia and one in four jobs in regional Australia. The sound economic management that we have provided in recent years has provided the platform for these exporters to be successful in our regional markets. Of course, our program of taxation reform has certainly helped Australia's exporters, as we have removed $3½ billion worth of cost burdens off the back of Australia's exporters, allowing them to be more competitive in these markets. That was acknowledged by none other than the member for Fraser, who admitted:

And that has been borne out with the statistics that we have seen of increasing exports to Indonesia.

I am not aware of too many alternative policies floating around, about which the member for Grey asked, but we did see something in the last edition of Inside Canberra. I do not know whether we should take a lot of notice of this, but the shadow minister, Senator Cook, says that he would resurrect the National Trade and Investment Outlook Conference, which the previous Labor government ran annually. We abolished that because it was a bit of a gabfest; it was held in Melbourne and it did not get in contact with the rest of the exporters across Australia. But it is something that Senator Cook wants to resurrect. We do not know whether we should believe Senator Cook, because he has not been too strong on the policy positions of the Labor Party lately. In the recent estimates meetings in the Senate, Senator Cook was caught out. He was talking about the Board of Taxation, and he said to Mr Smith from the Taxation Office:

... ... ...

But he had to come back to the Senate estimates meeting the next day and admit:

So we cannot really believe Senator Cook on any policy matters, particularly any policy in regard to trade of the Australian Labor Party.

Mr Howard —Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.