Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Understandably, the devastation in Japan is likely to have a short-term effect on Australia’s exports. It is still too early to predict the full economic consequences. Australian exports could feel the pinch in the coming months. As identified by the Treasurer recently, there is likely to be a short-term impact on some of our exports in coming quarters. Japanese demand for steelmaking inputs could fall in the near term following the closure of several large steelmaking plants and the disruption to Japanese manufacturing. However, demand for our energy products, including LNG and thermal coal, could increase. We must all remember that given the scale of the devastation in Japan economic conditions will remain unpredictable for some time. The Gillard government have every confidence that Japan, a tremendously resilient country, will rise to this challenge.