Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Lyons for his question, and I will talk about a couple of businesses in his electorate very shortly. The Australian Food and Grocery Council released their report State of the industry 2015 today, and it has very good news for the food and beverages industry in Australia, which is our largest manufacturing sector. It shows a surge in food and beverages exports, in 2014-15, of 28 per cent. Now, this is particularly good news because it was not so long ago, if we cast our minds back, that there were closures and downsizing in the food and beverages sector across Australia—during the Rudd and Gillard governments.

The sector is recovering, increasing by 28 per cent to $26 billion and creating over the last 12 months an extra 3,200 jobs across Australia—and 40 per cent of jobs in food and beverages manufacturing are in rural and regional Australia. So this is a good-news story. It shows that, through the use of innovation, our firms can compete with the best in the world and can export. That is why the new government is so excited about innovation as a transformative driver of the economy to create jobs and grow the economy.

In the member for Lyons' own electorate, Tassal have recently established a state-of-the-art fish rendering and oil refining facility at Triabunna, on the east coast of Tasmania, built with $3.85 million.

Opposition members interjecting—

Well, that is how the member for Lyons pronounces it. It is not a ski resort! It is not a snow ski resort! You certainly know the names of all of those, all the lodges at Mount Perisher—definitely!

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