Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to tell the parliament and, through it, to remind the Australian people about the great work of a very old company, the food manufacturer Nestle. Nestle has a dairy factory in the Goulburn Valley in my electorate of Murray in Tongala—a small town of 1,800 people. Nestle acquired this factory in 1971 through a merger of Ursina-Franck, makers of Tongala brand dairy products in Australia. Nestle manufacturing began as a condensed milk company in 1866 in Switzerland. In 1867, the company developed Farine Lactee, the first manufactured infant food in the world. In 1908, their first Australian branch opened. Nestle and Tongala went through some difficult times in the recent millennium drought, but it has resurged to now be a place of real product innovation, excellence and export.

I once had a conversation in Japan with some confectionery manufacturers who prided themselves in producing some of the world's most sought-after fudge. I explained the name and nature of the economy of my electorate of Murray and they said, 'Of course, we know the region well.' Indeed, they regularly visited it. I was more than surprised, until they explained that they sourced what they long ago assessed as the world's highest quality condensed milk from a dairy factory in the small village of Tongala. They explained that, while the world had moved to condensed milks made from powders and other additives, the Tongala Nestle factory still made their condensed milk from whole fresh milk of the highest quality. This is why they stated they could make the world's best fudge.

In 2012, Nestle invested $17 million to expand the Tongala factory with a new liquid-manufacturing unit. This transformed them into a state-of-the-art facility for Nestle's health science business as a manufacturing hub for Oceania, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. So Nestle Tongala now make specialised medical nutrition products, including hospital-grade supplements and tube-feeding solutions. These are used also in aged-care homes. And they also make the special packs for Maggi Stir Fry—to put real magic into your cooking—and they have just won an award for their packaging of these special products.

Tongala has world-class food manufacturing capability, quite clearly. Besides the 110 full-time workers in this Nestle factory, just up the road there is a world-class export abattoir, Greenham & Sons, who supply ground beef for USA's hamburgers. And, now, there is a new liquid fertiliser production plant, SLTEC, that is innovating to provide new product for the cereal and horticulture sectors. Tongala is a tiny town. There are fewer than 2,000 people, but they have this extraordinary manufacturing capacity. They are exporting to the world. The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement comes as a very welcome addition to the recent Japan and Korea agreements.

I also congratulate Tongala' marvellous aged-care facility, which is under the management of a marvellous woman, Jean Courtney, and a volunteer board. All strength to Tongala, may every Australian country town be known for its excellence and be applauded.

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