Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

For too long South Australia's attention has been fixated on the next big thing, looking over the horizon for something that will save us—if we need saving at all. We have had people touting the Olympic Dam expansion by BHP Billiton for a number of years and, more recently, the Future Submarine Project. The Commonwealth Games has recently popped up as well. They are all said to be projects that will save South Australia's economy. While I do not for a moment not support any of these projects proceeding, they should not in isolation be seen as something that will magically save our economy. The South Australian community has become unfortunately too obsessed with the magic bullet. We are not focused enough on the bigger picture: the growth in Asia and the opportunity that that brings us. Henry Ford famously said, 'If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said "faster horses"'. Faster horses would not have revolutionised society as the steps that Ford took most certainly did—and innovation was one of those—many years ago. Through innovation and enterprise Henry Ford created a product for the market that would not have existed otherwise.

The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has spoken at great length about innovation. That will be one of the driving factors of his time as Prime Minister. We can decide to either embrace the future or be overtaken by others who will. On a recent visit to Adelaide the PM was impressed by the products and innovation of Philmac, a local company in my electorate. The company is 85 years old, as he mentioned today in question time. It makes plumbing fittings and facilities for agriculture and irrigation. It is a niche exporter making valves. It is employing almost 300 people and is about to employ another 30 people. It is driven by innovation with its products.

We have much to be optimistic about, as the Prime Minister said in a major speech last week. He said:

The transformation of the middle class in Asia is extraordinary. This … is the first time for 300 years that half of the world's middle class are living in Asia.

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So the opportunities for us are absolutely extraordinary … There has never been a better time to be an Australian business.

This is particularly the case in certain sectors of the economy, such as health, with the trade agreements coming into force. In China tariffs of up to 10 per cent will be eliminated across a range of pharmaceuticals, vitamins and health products once our FTA comes into force, hopefully before the end of this year. For example:

'It really opens up the opportunity for the Chinese consumer to buy a whole range of Blackmores products and for us to offer them,' chief executive Christine Holgate [said].

Sales in its Australian-based operations were up 43 per cent, a result Ms Holgate attributed to increased demand for vitamins from Chinese tourists in Australia, the nation's ageing population and more investment in branding and research.

There are some real opportunities there across the spectrum. She noted:

'Companies like Blackmores are extremely well placed to capitalise and are employing additional people in anticipation of continued growth in markets like China.'

And:

… the opening of the latest free-trade zone in China last November had created a substantial opportunity for the group, which was one of the few companies in the vitamin and health supplement space to secure a licence to trade directly into that zone.

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The emerging entrepreneurial activity by local Chinese expats and tourists had opened a whole new sales channel for the company, adding an estimated $65m to Asia-destined sales.

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Rival companies such as Swisse Wellness and Vitaco are also looking to China for growth.

I want to elaborate further on the opportunities with the Chinese agreements. We know that they will create thousands of jobs—billions of dollars coming into our economy with the trade agreements across South Korea, China and Japan. To put the historic China free trade agreement in context, Australia and New Zealand commenced negotiations with China in 2005, and New Zealand finalised its agreements in 2008. Since that time New Zealand's dairy growth has been close to 900 per cent, while our dairy sector grew by around 150 per cent. New Zealand's free trade agreement with China has been an enormous boost for their economy, while dairy farmers across Australia have had to wait. It is industries and companies that will lead the charge to maximise the opportunities that have been laid by the federal government in this space.

I now turn to investment in infrastructure. Governments need to be making the right investments in key infrastructure in a creative and imaginative way, especially when funding is limited. There are a number of infrastructure related projects in South Australia that offer great potential for our economy. Some have existing federal government funding while others have raised funding with key organisations. Let me go through a few. First, there is $1 billion for the upgrade of South Road, which I have been fighting for in terms of the Torrens Road to River Torrens section. It will create around 1,000 jobs in South Australia and unlock travelling time along the North-South Corridor. Secondly, there is the South Road Darlington Interchange and Flinders University. Flinders University promotes an innovation precinct that thrives on connectivity and driving integration and innovation with the Tonsley business park. Hopefully it will deliver around $1.6 billion in private capital investment, around 11,500 new jobs, over 10,000 new residential units and a trebling, importantly, in international student numbers at Flinders, bringing a further $200 million per annum into the local economy. I know that New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland all have more international students than my state, but South Australia must do better and can do better and take advantage of the opportunities that Asia presents in terms of international student numbers.

Moving on to health and health services, the Medical Research Future Fund is, as we know, the biggest endowment of its kind in the world, and we know it is a game changer. Last week I met with Mr Steve Wesselingh, the executive director of SAHMRI, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, and he spoke positively of the opportunities for the MRFF:

The MRFF is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the landscape of medical research in Australia, delivering benefits to the health of Australians while helping secure our nation’s future through the maintenance and creation of the high value jobs that we so desperately need.

The John Chalmers centre, also known as SAHMRI 2, is a major project involving a cancer-destroying proton therapy facility valued at over $200 million. In other areas of health and medical products, BioSA are proposing a bio-innovation accelerator with around $40 million of funding sought from government to help create more success stories like BresaGen, Bionomics and GroPep in the biotic space.

In other infrastructure, the Glenelg Jetty Hotel is a $250 million project that is centred around an iconic hotel on the jetty and function centre. An upgrade of the Memorial Drive sports complex is close to $180 million. That will benefit not just tennis, the traditional tenant of Memorial Drive, but basketball, netball and squash, among other sports. The recently announced Northern Connector project in South Australia to build the North-South Corridor to help transport our goods to overseas markets is another billion-dollar project. On major road projects, the Strzelecki Track to the Cooper Basin upgrade will cost $450 million. According to the South Australian government, this will result in over 2,500 jobs in the oil and gas sector, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. The question I ask is, if this was proposed in 2014, why has the South Australian government not funded it? Instead they have decided to commit $160 million to the O-Bahn track in the city. South Australia is benefiting from the federal government's record spend on infrastructure. The Commonwealth government is now investing a total of close to $3 billion in South Australian infrastructure—the biggest single investment of any Commonwealth government. But not all of these projects can be funded by state and federal governments, as taxpayers' money does have limits. We will need to look at innovative funding models to get some of these projects over the line.

Finally, in terms of major government initiatives, I want to address the defence sector. We are well placed to take advantage of the coalition government's commitment to develop a sustainable shipbuilding industry for the first time in Australia's history. With over 30 per cent of Australia's in-country spend and sustainment budget, we can take advantage of the billions of dollars that the government will spend on defence. With the Future Frigates project, there are about 2,500 long-term shipbuilding jobs that otherwise would have been lost. As people know, I have been fighting for more jobs in the sector—in particular the Future Submarine Project, which we are closer to making an announcement on. But the Future Frigates, in itself, is around $40 billion and, importantly, the federal government has fast-tracked both this project and the patrol vessels.

In conclusion, our economy in South Australia, like in Australia, is suffering from transitioning from the mining boom and the decline in manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy where we need to be more innovative and entrepreneurial. For a number of years, South Australia has been sitting below the national average and below trend, so we have missed out, but we cannot be left behind going forward. We must take advantage of these opportunities and we must show ambition and enterprise to achieve our potential. The road ahead is full of opportunities—we cannot be left behind.

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