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

It is my great pleasure to rise today to celebrate a wonderful announcement for our region. Cotton On, an incredible company employing in excess of 20,000 people around the world and some 1,500 people in Geelong, has formed a partnership with Avalon Airport to construct a $40 million distribution centre at Avalon. I am very proud of the Commonwealth's role in making this happen. Under our government, some 12 months ago we finalised the Avalon Airport master plan through the Department of Defence, because this is land owned by the Department of Defence and leased to Linfox. It is estimated that, by 2026, 750 direct jobs and 1,100 indirect jobs will be created at this new industrial precinct. As David Fox said to me the other day, he believes that this is going to be an epicentre of thousands of jobs. There are many other companies who are now also interested in establishing themselves at Avalon, and of course we are so proud that we made the commitment to put Avalon into the regional package. That now opens the gateway to international flights into our region, which is an absolute game changer for jobs, for tourism in our regional economy and, frankly, for tourism in Australia. So it is a very proud day. Congratulations to Avalon and congratulations to Cotton On.

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