Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Surely, Parliamentary Secretary, there must be some idea within the department, when asking for $106 million over four years, of how the money would be spent, on what matters, in which countries or in which continents. When you are talking about Africa and Latin America there are about 50 countries in Africa and perhaps some 20 or 30 in Latin America, so I would be interested to know if there has been any attempt to identify the break-up between India and Pakistan and between Africa and Latin America. What is the balance? Surely that was in the minds of the government when they allocated this funding or in the minds of the department when they sought $106 million over four years.

There was just one question I had that might fall under trade, but it was within the budget papers. My question is in relation to the Australian Trade Commission and the reduction in promotional activities. The government is reducing expenditure on promotional activities that raise community awareness of Australia’s Getting into Export program. Would the parliamentary secretary to provide an explanation as to why that funding has been reduced?

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