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

I pay tribute to our exporters around the country, our exporters in the goods sector, the farming sector, the services sector, who are recording record after record at present. In 2018, we achieved record exports of $438 billion as a nation. We achieved a record trade surplus in May this year of $5.7 billion. Indeed, the five largest monthly trade surpluses ever recorded have all been delivered in calendar year 2019. This is a tribute to those businesses—a tribute to our exporters, to the Australian businesses who get up and go out and seek and seize opportunities around the world. And there are benefits that flow through from that. Australian businesses that export, on average, hire 23 per cent more staff than those who do not. They pay their employees an estimated 11½ per cent more than those who don't export, and they have labour productivity rates around 13 per cent higher than those who don't export. So opening up to the world delivers real, tangible benefits to their employees and as a result to households around Australia.