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

Before I speak about some wonderful opportunities in the Corangamite electorate around the job creation initiatives and policies that we are rolling out, I want to briefly reflect on the contribution by the member for Melbourne. While I respect his position and his right to have a view, it is important that he does not denigrate any members, and it is a pity that he cannot make an argument without making a personal denigration.

Mr Bandt interjecting—

Your name-calling is inappropriate. Could you please not interject when I am simply saying that the denigration of members will not advance your cause.

Mr Bandt interjecting—

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member is entitled to be heard in silence. Member for Melbourne, I would just ask that the member for Corangamite be heard in silence. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is my great pleasure to rise and speak about some wonderful initiatives that we are creating in the Corangamite electorate, driving jobs and opportunity for young people and for old people. Tomorrow I will be visiting the new centre of excellence for the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is one of the wonderful initiatives of our government. Some 300 jobs will be based in Geelong. A government agency is coming to Geelong, bringing with it jobs, innovation and new opportunities. The ABS centre of excellence will be very advanced in the sorts of technology it will be providing. It will give staff working there wonderful opportunities to work with Deakin University. I think it is a fantastic example of how our government is moving out into the regions and bringing those vital jobs into places like Corangamite and Geelong. This is part of a $250 million government grant to transform ABS infrastructure. It is a national data acquisition centre, compiling all ABS survey activity, which is currently spread among five offices around the country.

So this is a very exciting time, and it builds upon the other investments that we are making in the Corangamite electorate and in the Geelong region. At the moment there is a tender underway to build a $100-million-plus building in Geelong to house the new National Disability Insurance Agency headquarters. That will also house hundreds of new jobs. The NDIS is being rolled out across our region as part of the Barwon trial and dramatically transforming the lives of so many people with a disability and their families. It is wonderful to see this level of investment. We have also announced that some 400 jobs from the Department of Human Services will be moved into this particular building. So this is going to be an enormous investment activity in our city, with hundreds of construction jobs and massive investment, and this is going to help transform the landscape of the Geelong CBD, driven, of course, by our government's commitment to our great city of Geelong.

This builds on many of the other initiatives that we have announced for our region—wonderful job creation initiatives like our $14 million Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, a national hub to drive advanced manufacturing jobs, the jobs of the future. That is why our innovation package, announced by the industry minister and the Prime Minister at the end of last year, has been so important: a $1.1 billion investment and a whole range of initiatives to support start-ups, the CSIRO, advanced manufacturing and innovation. We have our $2.6 million Geelong Region Job Connections program, which is delivering a range of wonderful grassroots job creation programs. Our Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund has delivered around 840 new jobs, with $15 million from the Commonwealth, about $4½ million from the state and $5 million from both Ford and Alcoa. It is a great example of the community working together to drive those jobs of the future.

In particular, we have seen very significant job creation in agriculture—of course, agriculture is so important in Corangamite—and in advanced manufacturing. It has supported some wonderful businesses, and a great example is Carbon Revolution, an incredible business which is producing carbon fibre wheels for the global auto market and really showing how capable we are. Of course, the white paper is being released today, and there is a lot of anticipation that part of the LAND 400 Defence project can be based in our great city of Geelong, where we have so much defence capability. The regions will have such an important job in defence industries and in driving the jobs of the future.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 11:39