Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson for her question. Of course, Australia, being an economy that is enjoying its 27th consecutive year of economic growth, in part depends upon investment from around the world to sustain that growth, to ensure that businesses operating here in Australia continue employing more Australians, to generate more opportunities in Australia and to generate, ultimately, even export revenue from Australia.

In terms of the specific question that Senator Hanson has asked, what I can hopefully help the senator with is that my advice is that the stock of foreign direct investment in the electricity, gas and water sector, for example, in 2017 was $22 billion. However, to put that in some perspective for the Senate, that is a sector with a total capital stock as at 30 June 2017 of some $355 billion. So, in terms of foreign direct investment within that category of assets, that accounts for just around six per cent of those assets. Overwhelmingly, those types of asset classes are very clearly held firmly in Australian hands.

But the question referenced the total scale of foreign direct investment in Australia, and it's important to highlight the fact that that investment creates real opportunities. Some of the examples that have been highlighted in investment statements over recent years include the German tech giant Bosch, whose work to develop smart sensors for use in agriculture is creating jobs and opportunities in their Melbourne based engineering facility, and the Italian confectionery giant Ferraro, who is one of Lithgow's largest employers. Local staff are producing a range of products and extending that to planting around one million hazelnut trees to underwrite year-round production of products such as Nutella. And there's Japan's NEC, whose longstanding activity now supports more than 1,800 jobs in Australia. (Time expired)