Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I really do appreciate the passion of the member who has moved these amendments. He is a regional MP. He has been in this place a long time and he does acutely understand his electorate, regional Queensland and the importance of manufacturing. He is right to point out that, in our history in Australia, we haven't always got things right. It does sometimes feel like a bit of reverse engineering. We are now talking about value adding when, really, we should have been value adding all along. He did point out the case of bauxite and iron ore. But that is exactly what we're trying to address in this bill, to be able to bring some of that value adding back on shore. There is a dedication within this, and one of the key areas is: How can we value add in our rare minerals and our mining?

To the importance of regional manufacturing, my electorate is a proud manufacturing electorate and, despite at the moment it only employs about 10 per cent of the local population, its output in economic value is and the jobs that are attached to it are so much more. One of the key areas in this bill that my manufacturers are very keen to tap into is that focus on mining. People may not realise, but we are going through another gold rush in Bendigo. We have found gold again. We have one of the richest seams of gold in the world and are producing such high-quality gold that we now have up to a thousand goldminers and workers underground. It is hard to believe that the gold is underground and coming back in towards Bendigo. On top, you would have no idea that we're finding all this gold underground. That mining is expanding manufacturing, which is looking at modern, innovative ways to mine that gold. It is an exciting time but what the manufacturers are keen for and what they have reached out to me about is that capital, that equity partner in government that they are looking for. That is what this bill really tries to do; it encourages innovation in our manufacturing. It encourages and supports that.

Deepcore Drilling is one of our mining companies that is working closely with Fosterville Gold Mine on how they can use their advanced manufacturing methods to develop new mining equipment. We have JL King, which is not in gold manufacturing but in food manufacturing. We have big food manufacturers in my part of the world. Sometimes those jobs get recognised as manufacturing jobs and other times they get recognised as agricultural jobs. We have more people working in food manufacturing in our area than all other manufacturing put together, over a thousand. Our biggest private employer in regional Victoria, KR Castlemaine, is in my electorate. They are really excited by what is being put forward in this bill—that ability to have cleaner, greener manufacturing—and are looking forward to see what opportunities they will have.

JL King have built a facility on the other side of town and are looking to expand. They do a lot of the ready meals that we now buy from IGAs and from other supermarkets and are being asked to get involved in aged care because they deliver good food that's nutritious and that is going to help aged-care facilities meet the needs of their residents. They need to expand but the cost of the equipment needed to expand is so high and the banks aren't interested. They just aren't interested. So they'd really like the opportunity that comes with this bill. Hofmann Engineering, which are known for their manufacturing and engineering operation in Perth, actually exist on the east coast in Bendigo. They refurb the wind turbines. They make them more efficient. They receive, in Bendigo, wind turbines from Europe. They're the best in the world at doing it—the ability to tap into the most modern forms of manufacturing capability, looking for that investment partner that this government's got.

This week, while we've been debating this bill, I've had two different manufacturers reach out and say, 'How do we get access to this fund?' I'm heartbroken to say, 'It's not through the parliament yet.' So I appreciate what the member's saying, but this bill, as it is, is going to deliver the best opportunity for our local manufacturers, particularly in regional Victoria.

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