Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly Thursday, 21 June 2007 THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs D.J. Guise) took the chair at 9.00 am, and read prayers. PAPER TABLED A paper was tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS COMMISSIONER Removal of Notice - Statement by Deputy Speaker THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: I inform members that private members’ business notice of motion 9, notice of which was given on 21 November 2006, will be removed from the next notice paper unless written notification is provided to the Clerk requesting that the notice be continued. CHINA TRADE AND INVESTMENT MISSION Statement by Premier MR A.J. CARPENTER (Willagee - Premier) [9.02 am]: It was my recent privilege as Premier and Minister for Trade to undertake an eight-day trade and investment mission to China. The main purpose of the trip was to reinforce the strong and growing relationship between Western Australia and China, explore new trade and cultural opportunities and commemorate the twentieth anniversary of WA’s sister-state relationship with Zhejiang province. Our relationship with China is underscored by the fact that it has now overtaken Japan as WA’s number one export destination, and our two-way trade has exceeded $13 billion. While in Beijing, I had productive meetings with a number of senior government officials, including Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan. I also opened a Western Australian trade and investment seminar, which attracted keen interest from a large number of potential investors. There appeared to be continued interest in our natural resources, especially iron ore. At Ningbo in Zhejiang province I attended the official opening of China’s International Consumer Goods Fair, which featured the very best of Western Australia. I also had the honour of speaking at the formal opening of the new Ningbo steel mill, which will process large amounts of iron ore from Western Australia. I take this opportunity to thank Zhejiang governor, Lu Zushan, and Ningbo mayor, Mao Guanglie, for their cooperation at both these events. In Hangzhou, I met the Zhejiang party secretary, Zhao Hongzhu; attended the opening of the Australia-China biotherapeutic summit, featuring our own Dr Fiona Wood; visited the Zhejiang University, which has a joint genomics and nutrigenomics study arrangement with the University of Western Australia; and had the extreme pleasure of presenting the English language competition awards to 25 local students. These students will be visiting Western Australia later this year. In Shanghai, I had a very fruitful meeting with the city’s party secretary, Xi Jinping, who is very keen to see WA’s relationship with Shanghai expand. The fundamental conclusion I drew from this trip is that China’s interest in WA is showing no signs of diminishing. Our relationship is still solid and there is a strong desire to broaden the trade relationship beyond natural resources. Opportunities are beginning to open in education, medical research, innovation and tourism. I also actively encouraged China’s pursuit of investing in Western Australian infrastructure projects, from rail to hotels. I also made it clear to those people whom I met that the introduction of direct flights between Shanghai and Perth will provide an important boost to our business, social and cultural interaction. I take this opportunity to thank the staff of the Department of Industry and Resources for helping to organise the trip; the regional director of China’s WA Trade Office, Mr B.J. Zhuang, and his staff for their invaluable local knowledge and logistical advice; and the Chinese, especially our good friends in Zhejiang province, for their hospitality and friendship. A report on the trip is being finalised and will be tabled at the earliest convenience. ZHEJIANG PROVINCE - SISTER-STATE RELATIONSHIP Statement by Premier MR A.J. CARPENTER (Willagee - Premier) [9.05 am]: China is one of Western Australia’s most valuable trading partners. It is our number one export market, with bilateral trade in 2006 valued at more than $13 billion. It is vital to Western Australia’s economy that we maintain and grow our alliance with China, so the state government will be investing $770 000 in the next financial year to further develop this important relationship. On top of this, we will be allocating a total of $2.7 million over the next four years to expand Western Australia’s alliance with China. [ASSEMBLY - Thursday, 21 June 2007] 3501 This year marks the twentieth anniversary of our sister-state relationship with Zhejiang province. This relationship has formed the foundation of the state’s interaction with China. To mark the anniversary, I am pleased to advise that we intend to fund a number of trade, economic and cultural activities. Furthermore, we will increase our representation within our government trade offices and will provide ongoing funding for education, cultural and technological exchanges. Since Western Australia formed its sister-state relationship with Zhejiang province in 1987, the economic, trade and cultural linkages between Western Australia and China have developed strongly. In 1994, Western Australia opened a representative trade office in Hong Kong to assist with the development of this relationship. The office relocated to Shanghai in 1996, which was the same year in which we opened another office in Hangzhou, the capital of our sister state. These offices have successfully supported the development of our ongoing relationship on many levels. Two-way trade has increased dramatically, from $246 million in 1988 to $13 billion in 2006. This phenomenal growth in trade with China has directly impacted on our economy. Chinese investment in the state’s resources industry has come a long way in recent years since the first joint venture in 1987, which established the Channar iron ore mine in the Pilbara. There has also been a significant increase in tourism and in exchanges between students and academics from our respective universities. Western Australia has been privileged to receive visits from senior Chinese leaders over the past two decades, and there have been many visits to China by leaders from Western Australia. I recently returned from a trade mission to China, which I mentioned before. The sister-state relationship provides Western Australian companies with a great strategic advantage. It helps to identify trade and economic cooperation opportunities through the assistance of the provincial government. By taking advantage of these opportunities, Western Australian companies can establish a foothold in the market and can use this to grow their business throughout China. The twentieth anniversary of the sister-state relationship offers us an opportunity to further expand our relationship with Zhejiang province and, more broadly, China, with the dual objectives of developing a mutual understanding between people and growing our economic and commercial connections. I encourage all members to travel to Zhejiang and China if possible. JUSTICE REFORM IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE - REFORM PROGRAM Statement by Minister for Corrective Services MS M.M. QUIRK (Girrawheen - Minister for Corrective Services) [9.09 am]: The “Inquiry into the Management of Offenders in Custody and in the Community” undertaken by Justice Mahoney and his subsequent report tabled in November 2005 identified the need for major reform to rebuild community confidence in our corrections system and to better manage the welfare of staff and offenders. It provided a blueprint for a much better corrections system - one that is more sharply focused on ensuring community safety and reducing re-offending. The government established a Justice Reform Implementation Committee, consisting of senior representatives of the Department of Corrective Services, the Department of the Attorney General, the Department of Treasury and Finance and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, chaired by Mr Greg Joyce and supported by a small secretariat. Over the past 18 months, JRIC, as it became known, has provided oversight and coordination of the reform program. The role of JRIC has now come to an end and continued implementation will be the responsibility of the Department of Corrective Services and the Department of the Attorney General. The key recommendations centred on the creation of a new Department of Corrective Services to provide: enhanced departmental performance and accountability; greater safety for the community and corrective services staff; improved offender assessment, including risk, classification and case management; upgraded infrastructure; benchmarked workloads for staff; an emphasis on training and development; and reform of outdated legislation. The reform agenda is a significant and long-term undertaking, the scale and complexity of which has presented a considerable challenge. It is important to have a structured implementation that is monitored and regularly reviewed to ensure diversions from the path of sustainable reform and organisational change are minimised. Justice reform is one of the largest recurrent-funded change programs of the Carpenter government. It combines major structural and cultural change with important new initiatives and expansion of existing initiatives, at a time when the justice system is experiencing record numbers of adults and juveniles in custody. I am pleased to report that the momentum is building and significant progress has been made, particularly over the past six months. The reform is taking place in three phases. The completed first phase required the creation

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