Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fowler for bringing this very important motion to this House. I also commend the contribution of the member for Hunter, who mentioned the manufacturers and builders who made the very house which we're standing in today. It reminds me that Eugowra, that very extraordinary town in the electorate of Calare, contributed the granite to this place. Eugowra, of course, was devastated by the storms and floods in November 2022. But the fact that the member for Hunter harks back to the building of this place makes us appreciate not only the role that manufacturing has in the electorate of Calare, through Eugowra granite, but also the role of manufacturing around Australia, including in the member for Fowler's electorate, which she's very concerned about.

The issue here is that manufacturers and manufacturing represent production, and, to my way of thinking, the wealth of this country must always be based on what we make, grow and sell. That means manufacturing, and, if we want manufacturing to continue in this country, we need to make it easier for manufacturers to do business and to thrive, employ people and keep production going, along with our other sectors like agriculture, so that we can continue to have the unbeatable quality of life and prosperity that we enjoy in this nation, which we need to hand down to future generations.

As the member for Fowler rightly points out, this is a very difficult business environment that our manufacturers find themselves in—and, indeed, that all of our business operators find themselves in at the moment. The cost of doing business is actually very high. We have labour shortages. We have a lot of red tape, which is difficult for small to medium-sized businesses to deal with. We have the high cost of materials and inputs and the high cost of power. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that many of our manufacturers are at breaking point.

In the Central West, we have many manufacturing operations that would be struggling with these high costs. We also have a lot of food manufacturing and processing taking place in the Central West. We have, for example, Simplot, which makes the iconic Chiko Roll for Australia and, indeed, the world. We have Ferrero, which makes Tic Tacs and Nutella. We have flour milling and canola oil manufacturing in Manildra. We have pet food manufacturing in Blayney, through Nestle Purina, and in Bathurst, through Mars. In Bathurst, we've got Devro, which makes sausage casings. And there are many, many more food and other manufacturing operations that are struggling with the high cost of power. We need to be taking concrete measures to make life easier for them so that they can continue to drive economic growth and prosperity.

The member for Fowler has come to this place and put forward the proposal that the instant asset write-off should be increased to $50,000 and extended indefinitely. I think that is a very worthy and worthwhile proposal, and I think many of our small and medium-sized manufacturing operations—and, indeed, businesses everywhere—would benefit from that. What it would mean is that businesses can make a purchase—an investment in, for example, machinery or equipment—and get the tax benefit in the year that they make the purchase, rather than having it written down over several years. We have seen in the past how important the instant asset write-off is for driving growth and investment, so I think it's very commendable that the member for Fowler is thinking about new and innovative ways that we can be helping small to medium-sized businesses.

Her motion also talks about 'lowering the cost of doing business by addressing the escalating costs for'—for example—'insurance, freight, energy and compliance, which disproportionately impact small and medium-sized manufacturers', and she's right about that. We also need to be promoting manufacturing as a career to young Australians by expanding government investment in training initiatives and apprenticeships, including for new Australians—something which I think is really important. The member for Fowler has put a lot of thought into this motion, and her words resonate across Australia and to manufacturers everywhere. We, as a nation, need to be doing more to help our struggling manufacturing sector. I commend this motion to the House.

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