Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:34): I thank Senator Paterson for his question. Senator Paterson, like every coalition senator, is somebody who strongly backs the ability of Australian farmers and Australian businesses to succeed when they engage in overseas markets, to succeed on the export scene, and that is exactly what we have seen occur over recent years as a result of our government's success in creating new opportunities for Australian businesses. We want to see the delivery of certainty of opportunity for Australian businesses through enhanced market access, to enable them to sell more goods, sell more services and secure more investment from different international markets—and that has been delivered across each of our trade negotiations. We stand ready to do so with the United Kingdom, when they exit the European Union, as part of their domestic policy settings. We stand ready to do that because the UK is already a major trading partner for Australia. It is our eighth-largest trading partner in terms of total goods and services trade, a trading partner with which we have existing trade to the value of some $26.9 billion and a trading partner where our foreign investment is valued at some $574.8 billion of support for Australian jobs, Australian growth and Australian companies. It is critical for us to make sure that we continue to provide support for growth in that relationship, as we do in all of our international export and investment relationships. We have prepared for all of the potential uncertainties surrounding Brexit, including the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, to make sure that Australian businesses can have as much certainty as possible of access into the UK market and the EU market into the future. We are, as is well known, already at the stage of negotiating a free trade agreement with the European Union, a very valued partner. We stand ready to commence negotiations formally with the United Kingdom upon them leaving the European Union and to maximise the opportunities of that market as well. The PRESIDENT: Senator Paterson, a supplementary question?