Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hinkler for an extraordinarily constructive and informative question. What a wonderful job the member for Hinkler is doing in his electorate.

I happen to know this electorate reasonably well. I grew up not far—well, not far if you are a country boy!—from Bundaberg. We occasionally went over there because in those days Bundaberg did, and still does, have a reputation for excellence in engineering—and perhaps for one other thing in those days! But these days, of course, it has broadened its drinks list out to include Bundaberg Brewed Drinks. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks is a wonderful company that puts product out, and not only right around Australia. I happened to catch up with its CEO on a flight back from America and I asked him what he was doing in California. He said he had just been over to sell ginger beer and drinks into America. It is a great exporting company.

As with everything in the manufacturing and industry space in Australia, we need to capitalise on our export opportunities. The member noted, quite rightly, that in the budget just released we have in fact increased the funding for growth centres to $225 million. The Industry Growth Centre Initiative provides a new approach for industry policy. It builds on Australia's strengths in key sectors, and the member has clearly identified food processing and agribusiness. It is great news about the DA for Knauf Australia in his electorate.

But in the area of food processing and agribusiness we have a specific growth centre, which is headed up by Peter Schultz. That growth centre will provide not only the existing businesses in Hinkler with the opportunity to collaborate, to develop new products and to get into the global supply chain but also potential new industries that neither the member nor I have even thought about.

The growth centre initiative is the centrepiece of the government's strategy to guide industry in the new era of growth—a new era of investment and jobs—and we will do that by focusing on the areas which, as the member identified, are where Australia has a key natural advantage.

There are five industry growth centres. I have mentioned the food and agribusiness one. The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre is headed up by Andrew Stevens, who is well known for his work in the ICT area in Australia. Bronwyn Evans heads up the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Growth Centre. Again, particularly in the area of medical technologies, Australia excels. Everyone knows about Cochlear, but there are a whole range of products that Australia has developed there as well. The Mining Equipment, Technology and Services Growth Centre is headed by Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, an extraordinary woman who has played a key role in the development of the MET sector in Australia. Australia is the world leader in exporting mining and equipment technology all over the world. As well as that, Ken Fitzpatrick heads up the Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Growth Centre.

These growth centres will forge better links between industry and Australia's world-class researchers to maximise return on the Australian government's $9.2 billion annual investment in science and research. As the parliamentary secretary knows, we have some of the best scientists in the world. We have a great opportunity in terms of the products that they are working on to commercialise. By getting them to collaborate with world-class businesses, such as those identified by the member for Hinkler, I am confident in terms of our potential to play an important role in global supply chains going forward.

The growth centres are headed up by an overarching board. John Grill is the chair of that, along with Catherine Livingstone, Andrew Liveris, the most senior Australian-born CEO in the world, and, of course, Carolyn Hewson. I particularly want to thank John for his unselfish involvement in these growth centres. John has a distinguished career in business in Australia. He is a well-known philanthropist in terms of supporting science and research in Australia. But his commitment to this is without comparison. He has done an extraordinary job. The government is confident that this will deliver what we need to keep industry competitive in the future.

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