Gladys Liu (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I had the great pleasure of visiting the Box Hill headquarters of one of Australia's fastest-growing and most-promising healthcare companies, Planet Innovation. This incredible local company creates breakthrough medical products that transform lives and industries and have a positive impact all around the world. Planet Innovation has a portfolio of businesses but also partners with world-leading international organisations to help them create and bring to life their own game-changing innovations. The company specialises in manufacturing diagnostic products. But, during the pandemic, it pitched in to make ventilators too, contributing in an important way to our COVID response.

In recent weeks, the importance of Australia's sovereign vaccine manufacturing capacity, through CSL, has been widely acknowledged. The same can be said—and indeed must be said—for a range of other vital medical products, although there has undoubtedly been less coverage of this in the media. The manufacturing capacity of local companies like Planet Innovation is crucial to our nation's wellbeing and is certain to remain so, with the potential to help so many Australians in the months and years ahead. Our medical technology industry is truly world-leading. Thanks to the Morrison government and, in particular, the work of my good friend the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, we are well-placed to seize on major opportunities for future growth, investment and jobs in this area.

The 2020-21 budget includes an investment of $1.5 billion over four years through the Modern Manufacturing Strategy to assist Australian manufacturers to scale up, compete internationally and create more jobs. The strategy backs our national manufacturing priorities. Thank you to co-CEOs Stuart Elliott and Sam Lanyon, general manager of manufacturing, Colin Porter, and marketing director, Roger Langston, for inviting me to see firsthand, and hear about, all that you have accomplished. I look forward to seeing more of what you will achieve.

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