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6585 PRIME MINISTER
ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER. THE HON P J KEATING MP
NEW AUSTRALIAN CUISINE LAUNCH
THURSDAY 25 MAY 1995
It is a great pleasure to be here, among Australian and Japanese friends. to
sample a truly unique culinary feast.
The ' New Australian Cuisine' campaign reflects a number of important
elements in the modem Australia-Japan relationship.
At one level it is about contemporary Australian taste. At another it is about
our largest manufacturing industry.
In a sense, food is a touchstone of the change in Australia not abandoning
traditional culture or traditional industries, but modifying them. adapting them,
adding value to them.
The change in taste and style is increasingly towards the cultures of our
region Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, and of course Japanese.
Neil Perry who has prepared this selection today is one of a number of
leading Australian chefs who blend a Japanese influence into Australian
food. And food or food processing is Australia's largest manufacturing industry.
It will get larger we expect it to treble its exports by the year 2000.
Japan is a priority market and one of the key investors in the industry.
In 1993, 70 per cent of Japan's overseas investment in food processing went
to Australia.
For Australia's part, we are the third largest supplier of foodstuffs to Japan,
and exorts are growing at a rate of 10.5 per cent.
Australia is Japan's largest supplier of dairy products. We supply one fifth of
Japan's imports of beef.
Food is the fastest growing area of our trade with Japan and as I said earlier
today the potential is there to dramatically enlarge it
Australi3n food is the product of a clean environmcnt. It is fresh and pure, it
grows inth e Japanese off-season and it is eminently suitable for use in
traditional Japanese cuisine.
Because Australia is one of the most efficient agriculture producers in the
world, Australian food is also cheap. And so, I might add, is the wine. And
the wine is as good as the food which is to say as good as any to be got. Al
These days we export less dried, canned and frozen food products and more 01
fresh, clean and live like abalone. lobsters and salmon and asparagus et01
margoes. Among the processed foods we export are Australian-maae T
noodles like soba, udon and kamaboko.
We see enormous potential in the Australian food growing and food
processing industry, and the trade with Japan at once provides the greatest
opportunity and the best measure of suc
Food of course. is not just about trode dollars it is also a cultural exchange,
It is a means, perhaps the best means of getting to know each other.
Maybe even getting to know ourselves: " No man is lonely eating a bowl of
spaghetti", Robert Morley once said. I have the same sense of communion
with a plate of seahimi.
This campaign we are launching tonight is a perfect illustration of the cultural
dimensions of food.
Let me welcome the six Japanese food writers who are heading off on a
gourmet tour of Australia. I wish you a very enjoyablo and productive visit
as I do the Japanese chefs, representatives of cooking schools and other
food industry leaders who will follow the food writers.
Once again, let me say thank you to Nail Perry for coming to Japan and
preparing this food tonight
And thank you also Mr Toyosnima, Chairman of JETRO for his participation
in this launch and the opening of the Australia Business Centre.
WA greatly appreciat JETRO's support
Now It Is my pleasure to launchi m New Australlan Cuisine campaign 6587? 6588