Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to rise to speak on these appropriation bills. Today, I want to focus in my contribution on the many job creation programs and initiatives that our government is rolling out in Corangamite and across the Geelong region. Our government proudly has a very strong focus on job creation: front and centre in reflecting that focus is the commitment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to an ARC Centre of Excellence that will be commencing operations in Geelong next year, with 250 jobs coming to Geelong. This is particularly significant because it stems from a review of the Victorian economy, chaired by industry & science minister Ian Macfarlane, that was established in the wake of the announcement of the end of car manufacturing in this country. The review identified a number of different initiatives including asking how we as a government can work with communities around Australia, including in my electorate of Corangamite, to create the jobs of the future—not the bandaid solutions that we saw under so many of the programs delivered by Labor.

A great example is the money that was given to Alcoa. Very sadly for our town, Alcoa is closing its operations in Point Henry. This is causing enormous distress and concern amongst many families in Geelong. But we are focused on the long-term solutions. We are focused on creating long-term jobs—not on band-aid solutions, not on giving money here, not on giving money there, but on building a strong and prosperous economy. We are investing in businesses, because let us not forget that 80 per cent of our economy is driven by private enterprise. Unless we support businesses—small, medium and large—we will not see those jobs generated.

The ABS Centre of Excellence is one of the initiatives identified by the review panel. It is a great opportunity to bring part of this agency to Geelong. It will be based at Deakin University on the waterfront and will open up many other opportunities for both Deakin and our town. That is very, very positive. As part of the review that we conducted, we established a $155 million growth fund including $30 million that will be rolled out shortly for regional infrastructure and $60 million for a next generation manufacturing investment fund.

Again, I come from a proud manufacturing town. It was with some significant disappointment that in a recent contribution I heard the member for Corio speak about the fact that, under the federal government, manufacturing has died. It was regrettable. I think the member for Corio now regrets what he said. He knows that is not the case. Manufacturing is responsible for something like 40 per cent of our local GDP—12,000 jobs and 500 manufacturing companies—and we are going from strength to strength. Yes, we have challenges, but our growth fund announced last year by both the industry and science minister and the Prime Minister in Geelong—a great heartland of manufacturing—will help to drive the jobs of the future.

One of the applicants under the next generation manufacturing investment fund that I am supporting is AKD Softwoods, a wonderful softwood saw mill in Colac. They are investing enormous dollars in their local business and in the Colac economy. The forestry industry is very important in my region. AKD supports about 300 local jobs, and I am very, very supportive of the investment that they wish to make.

Of course we have the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, which to date has created something like 750 jobs at wonderful companies such as Cotton On and new and developing companies like Carbon Revolution, an advanced manufacturer which is making state-of-the-art carbon fibre wheels and is making Geelong so proud. The GRIIF is primarily funded by the federal government but there is also funding from the state government, Ford and Alcoa. Our government helped to negotiate a $10 million contribution, with $5 million going directly into the GRIIF. Under this fund, we are helping to drive these advanced manufacturing jobs. I visited Carbon Revolution recently with the defence minister, Kevin Andrews, and we saw what they are doing already. It is incredible. Already this new factory that has been developed—again at Deakin University, but this time at the campus in Waurn Ponds—is delivering something like 160 new jobs. Another recipient of the GRIIF fund is Quickstep, which is working in the area of high-tech automotive materials development for the global auto industry. Anyone who says that manufacturing in our town is dead needs to come down to visit and see what is going on. We are proudly investing in these jobs. We are a proud manufacturing town and we have a great future in manufacturing. Just last week we announced, under our auto diversification fund, a $200,000 grant for another great manufacturer—Backwell IXL, which is also doing wonderful things with the manufacture of solar panels.

That is one of the reasons that I have been so supportive of the renewable energy target. The renewable energy target is incredibly important for driving jobs, investment and opportunities, particularly in regional Australia. I am very pleased with the announcement today from both the environment minister and the industry and science minister in relation to the important position that we have reached in trying to get a deal. We really hope that the Labor Party comes to the table. We have certainly made some concessions because, as even the Australian Workers' Union has said, the 41,000 target is actually going to hurt jobs because it absolutely will impact on the aluminium sector for one. We have tried to come up with a practical, rational proposal—one that I think is supported by unions such as the AWU. There is a lot of support from bodies such as the Clean Energy Council. The position that we have announced is a very important one because it recognises how important renewable energy is in Australia. It is certainly embraced very widely across my electorate of Corangamite, where some 24 per cent of homes have either solar PV systems or hot water systems. The RET has been very, very important in driving up this uptake in solar energy.

I have also been very, very proud of a local program that we have announced—the Geelong employment connections program. This is a $500,000 program assisting the delivery of local job creation programs. It is doing some incredible work. It is supported to a large degree by the Geelong LLEN. I must particularly mention Anne-Marie Ryan, who has been driving that program and bringing local employers together with industry and retrenched workers to introduce them to new opportunities. There are some wonderful programs, such as the community services taster program, which gives retrenched workers an insight into the opportunities in the community services sector. The 'On the front foot' series was also funded. This was a series of six half-day sessions targeted at retrenched workers but open to all job seekers that again identified areas and gave people the incentive, enthusiasm and skills to find out how they could seek opportunities in those areas.

There is another program, the advanced manufacturing taster program, which is, again, a very important program in helping workers and job seekers identify new opportunities in advanced manufacturing. We talk about advanced manufacturing very broadly, from companies like Carbon Revolution right through to Boundary Bend, which is the biggest producer of olive oil in Australia and a very proud local manufacturer. The Foot in the Door program is being rolled out—again, giving job seekers the important opportunities to identify the jobs in our region. And the National Disability Insurance Scheme—the Barwon trial—is being rolled out, and that has been a great success, with some 3½ thousand participants already reaping the benefits of being involved in the NDIS trial. We proudly have the headquarters in Geelong, and when it is up and running by about 2018 it will deliver some 300 jobs—again, some wonderful opportunities for our region.

One of the projects I am championing, which will absolutely be a game changer for our region, is the LAND 400 project—the $10 billion Defence contract which will deliver armed combat vehicles. It is an incredibly important project for the region. I have got on the front foot on that project. It was wonderful to be there with the Defence minister—on an ASLAV, wearing my hard hat—and saying to all the primes, the international defence companies, 'Come to our region, and if you leave Geelong out of your bid you do so at your peril.' I was pleased to see that the Victorian government has announced a defence procurement office for Geelong. But I am disappointed—and I do want to make note of the fact—that, while it was a $5 million commitment, so far we have had a commitment of only three jobs in that office and very little evidence of an expenditure of $5 million by the Andrews government. The Victorian government really needs to ramp up its effort if it is going to compete with South Australia. We need an ambassador, we need an incentives package, we need the sorts of incentives to bring defence companies to Geelong to make sure that we are front and centre on the LAND 400 project. The Victorian government and Premier Andrews need to get their act together very, very quickly.

We have some incredible roads infrastructure projects in our region: the Princes Highway, a project for which I have been advocating for some six years, has been rolled out. Some sections of the road between Geelong and Winchelsea have been opened and work has started on the section between Winchelsea and Colac, and that is going to make such an enormous difference for Winchelsea, for Birregurra, for the people of Colac. And for the Great Ocean Road a $50 million commitment has been made by ourselves and the previous Victorian government. It is very disappointing that this project—such an iconic tourist road—was so opposed by Labor in the lead-up to the last election and is still being opposed by Labor.

As we heard in question time today, the big missing link is the East West Link. This is a project that will deliver 7,000 jobs. This is a project that, frankly, is making Daniel Andrews look like an absolute laughing-stock in the eyes of investors right around the world. This is a project that will save commuters in my home town of Geelong some three hours a week during peak hour. And this is a project for which Daniel Andrews is threatening to pass retrospective legislation to ensure that the Victorian government does not have to pay compensation for ripping up the contract.

As the Prime Minister said in his letter to the Premier on 11 March, this is a vital project for Melbourne and it is a vital project for Geelong, and the threats made by Premier Andrews are, frankly, quite frightening, because they will cause irreversible damage to our state and they will cause irreversible damage to our reputation as a place to do business. So, once again, as I have been campaigning for, for many months, let us build the East West Link. Let us deliver almost 7,000 jobs. Let us invest in this vital infrastructure that is so important for jobs, for our future and for our regional economy—where, frankly, we need every job we can get.

Last but not least is the NBN. I am incredibly proud that after such a mess under the previous government—where the satellite did not deliver what Labor said it was going to deliver, and, on fixed wireless, the government did not acquire the spectrum it was meant to acquire in order to roll out fixed wireless NBN—we are now rapidly rolling out the NBN. In my electorate some 34,000 premises will receive the NBN under the first 18-month rollout, on top of about another 5,000 premises under fixed wireless. And all of the small towns, like Barongarook and Alvie and Coragulac and Gellibrand—so many small towns that were left off the rollout under Labor—have now been embraced by our government, because we committed that we would fund and we would roll out the NBN to those towns that need it first. But I am very much on a mission that Geelong must be included in the next rollout, the southern suburbs of Geelong—Belmont, Highton, Grovedale, Marshall and Waurn Ponds. It is so important for our local economy and so important for our future.

See this speech in context