E&OE..................................
PRIME MINISTER:
Well thank you Malcolm. It's entirely appropriate that this little presentation ceremony should take place before a meeting of the Supermarket to Asia Council because the Supermarket to Asia Council is all about promoting the virtues of every aspect of food production, marketing and distribution in Australia into the Asia Pacific region.
And the scholarship programme that Malcolm's outlined to you is part of making the world and the region more aware of what Australia has to offer and very importantly it's also part of encouraging young Australians in agribusinesses.
And I'm delighted at the initiative, it's part of the New Industry Development Programme. And from quite a wide field, three people have been chosen. The scholarships give a certain number of options to the recipients. The courses need to be completed within a certain period of time, but they are a very important recognition of the skill and initiative of a lot of younger Australians involved in agribusinesses and I'm delighted to associate myself and the Government with the initiative.
I thank Malcolm for standing in for Warren Truss, he's on important Government business in Queensland to do with the sugar industry. And I therefore invite Malcolm to name and invite to come forward in order each of the winners.
[ends]