Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

and a lot of that would be coming out of the electorate of Maranoa. It is interesting to note where the strongest growth has been. China is now becoming one of Australia’s largest fibre markets for both wool and cotton, because cotton exports to China last financial year rose by a staggering 307 per cent. So just over a half a billion dollars—$506 million—worth of exports of cotton have gone to China, along with exports to Indonesia worth $250 million, and Thailand, $157 million.

As I said, this industry relies very heavily on the reliability of access to water. Many of the state Labor governments are not cognisant of this fact, particularly in Queensland—the member for Maranoa comes from Queensland—where the Beattie Labor government—

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