日本語 
Queensland – everything under the sun
Setting the Pace
A favourite holiday destination and source of minerals and beef for Japan, Queensland has plenty more going for it than beef burgers, coal and the Great Barrier Reef.
At World Expo 2005 in Aichi, the Japanese business community will have a golden opportunity to find out how much more Queensland has to offer as a source of collaborative research, trading partnerships and investment.
As Queensland’s largest long-term export partner, Japan imported A$5.3bn worth of merchandise from Queensland in 2003/4. These exports were dominated by coal, beef and non-ferrous metals.
In the 12 months to June 2004, more than 450,000 Japanese visitors came to Queensland, more than to any other state in Australia.
Model prawns
Queensland’s Rocky Point Prawn Farm is the world’s first prawn farm to receive voluntary accreditation with the International Standards Organisation. The farm’s green credentials include environmental awareness, improved water quality, recycling and water treatment ponds. The farm is being used as a model for others.
Australia’s largest exporter of live prawns, Rocky Point sends about 40 tonnes to Japan each year with an overall prawn production of about 90 tonnes a year.
Engine of growth
Known as Australia’s “Smart State”, Queensland’s robust economic growth has outpaced the rest of Australia for more than a decade.
Since Japan became Queensland’s biggest trading partner in the 1970s, Queensland has transformed itself into an engine room of economic growth. In 2003/4 Queensland’s gross state product grew 3.9%, ahead of the 3.6% growth across Australia.
There are new opportunities for
business collaboration and trade emerging in a number of areas, including agribusiness, food and wine, education, biotechnology, information and communications technology, manufacturing, nanotechnology and building materials.
Queensland’s pro-business policies are stimulating existing industries and attracting new industries to Queensland, notably in sectors such as biotechnology, the creative industries, aviation and aerospace.
This is a direct result of the Queens-land Government’s policies on trade and investment, coupled with its pro-business approach marked by low taxes, high payroll tax thresholds as well as a low cost of living and high standard of living.
For example, Queensland is fast becoming the aviation hub of the Asia Pacific, home to high-profile aviation and aerospace companies like Boeing Australia, EADS’s Australian Aerospace and Smiths Aerospace. And this year the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency approved only one hypersonics project, and that was with the University of Queensland’s HyShot team.
Nano water
A Queensland company has a unique solution for the removal and recovery of ammonium from wastewater, enabling water re-use. NanoChem’s Wastewater Treatment Process efficiently removes ammonium and organic nitrogen through a highly selective ion-exchange material in a simple-to-operate process. The nano-designed materials enable wastewater disposal and water re-use while meeting EPA targets. The process delivers predictable outcomes over a wide range of conditions, with applications in sewage, landfill leachate solutions, and industrial wastewater.
Mega-biodiverse
Queensland is also one of the most mega-biodiverse locations on the planet. There are 19 terrestrial and 17 marine bioregions in Queensland, five World Heritage-listed sites covering 40m hectares, the Great Barrier Reef, Central Eastern Rainforests and the Wet Tropics of North Queensland.
By cleverly combining this unique mega-biodiversity with world-class biotech research centres, Queensland is becoming a vital biotechnology hub in the Asia Pacific.
ICT expertise
Queensland has a thriving ICT sector with niches of expertise in software development for e-security, games, education and training. It is home to Australia’s largest software development company, Mincom, and has a strong track record for attracting highly successful ICT companies such as IBM, Oracle and SAP.
Clean environment
Food producers in Queensland are well-known for their consistent superior produce, whether sold fresh or value-added. Buyers are increasingly coming from around the world because they recognise Queensland’s clean environment translates directly into freshness and outstanding quality.
Indigenous arts
At the same time, Queensland is also an emerging source of sought-after quality Indigenous art and cultural products through the active pro-motion of this resource by the Queensland Indigenous Arts Marketing and Export Agency.
For further information, visit:
>> www.sdi.qld.gov.au/invest
>> www.export.qld.gov.au
>> www.qld.gov.au/expo2005
