Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow night I will be welcoming to this parliament the G21 delegation from Geelong. The G21 is a group which brings together five regional councils around Geelong, including the City of Greater Geelong, the Golden Plains Shire, the Surf Coast Shire, the Colac Otway Shire and the Borough of Queenscliffe. The G21 also involves business and community organisations. Together they speak with a single voice to state and federal governments and, indeed, to the world. I remember helping organise one of the first delegations from Geelong to this parliament more than a decade ago. It was a challenging period for Geelong. Ford had just decided to stop manufacturing engines in Geelong, which put a lot of local jobs at risk and put the local economy at risk. The G21 and the Committee for Geelong, another organisation which provides wonderful advocacy for the people of our region, helped secure the Geelong Investment and Innovation Fund from the then Howard government, which later—under the subsequent, post-2007 Labor government, a government in which I served—was ultimately used to help keep Ford manufacturing in Geelong, at least for a period. The GIIF, as we referred to it, was the first of many wins. I worked closely with our city's advocacy groups throughout Labor's time in government, and I have worked with them through the period that I have been in opposition. The results of that advocacy and the support from those representing the people of Geelong—the civic leadership of Geelong—can be felt in the Geelong economy today. Together we argued for and won over $3 billion for the Regional Rail Link; $37 million for Deakin University's carbon fibre research centre, which has one of the most advanced carbon fibre research furnaces in the world; and $29½ million for the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, to help create jobs and support the local economy after Ford ultimately made its decision to close its operations in Geelong in 2012. Together we argued for and delivered the northern community hub and won funding for the Geelong bypass.

Recently there have been some in our community who have questioned whether Geelong's advocacy groups, the Committee for Geelong and the G21, still have the cut-through to keep those wins coming. I can happily confirm that the advocacy that I have seen coming from these groups, here in parliament, has been absolutely first-class. Their pamphlets and their communication products have been clear and professional and the way that they have pitched the requests that they have been making has been clear and credible. They have been grounded and practical. It is true that wins for our community have been thin on the ground over the last few years under this coalition government. This is ultimately a government which does not care about our city in the way that Labor did. It was this government that let the GRIIF run out, which pulled the rug from beneath the feet of workers in our city, who were doing what they could in the face of the closure of Ford and Alcoa. This coalition government makes the delegations that are coming from our civic leadership and the advocacy that they provide all the more important. If we want to get this neglectful government's ear, we need to focus on how we can grow jobs in our city; and, if we want to grow jobs in our city, we need to focus on those things that will grow real jobs in our economy. We need to climb the technological ladder, and that means we need to focus on science.

It is particularly pertinent that I raise the question of science in connection with the local economy in Geelong and in connection with our national economy today because, as I speak right now, the Science meets Parliament annual dinner is on. Scientists from around Australia will be meeting parliamentarians throughout the day tomorrow. As one of the co-convenors of Parliamentary Friends of Science, I know how important science is in terms of infusing it and technology throughout our economy. It is a piece of economic reform that is as necessary to our future as any. Investing in science, and the next generation of products and jobs that flow from it, will determine whether Australians enjoy today's standard of living and meaningful work in the decades to come. That truth for this country as a whole is true for each of our communities as well, including Geelong.

Geelong has a head start growing these science jobs. More than any other regional city, we have institutions and the skilled workforce whose research will ultimately deliver the next generation of products and, therefore, jobs our economy needs to succeed in the coming decades. These include institutions such as the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases—again, a Labor win—which brings together researchers from a range of disciplines to tackle emerging diseases that pose a threat to human and animal health. The former Labor government established the funding for this centre and its supporting jobs and research to this day. The centre was very much an achievement of the advocacy groups of Geelong—the City of Greater Geelong, the G21, the Committee for Geelong. They came up with the idea and advocated for the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is doing great work. The CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory is protecting our multibillion-dollar livestock and aquaculture industries with a high-containment facility for research into the most dangerous infectious agents in the world. This is the leading research facility of its kind in the world, dealing with the most dangerous infectious agents. Carbon Nexus, the result of $100 million Labor government investment, is a world-leading carbon fibre facility. It is already spinning off companies like Carbon Revolution and Quickstep Technologies. They are next-generation manufactures providing real jobs for the Geelong and national economies. And, of course, we have Deakin University, which has a leadership that knows the best way to help an economy hurt by job losses today is to provide the skills and research to grow the industries, companies and jobs of the future.

Science works best in a rich ecosystem, where new ideas come together to grow more. Geelong has exactly that ecosystem, and we need to make sure we are focused on giving it what it needs to grow. We need to make sure we are taking advantage of the skills we have to be a part of Australia's defence industry, for example. We need to be front and centre, developing the products that keep our country safe and exporting them to the world. Recently, with the Avalon International Airshow, the people of Geelong have seen the breadth of opportunity that the defence industry and the high-tech industry bring to our community. Marand, who will design and make equipment to keep our fleet of F-35s in the air, is a Geelong company showing that we have the skills to be part of the long chain of high-end skills and jobs that make Australia's defence industry so dynamic. Geelong has a lot to offer. The people who spend their time representing our city—the civic leadership of our city—know that. They know that results are more important than flashiness, that attention seeking is not the same as effective action and that practical projects that lead to real jobs are more important than vanity projects.

Tomorrow, as I said, I will be welcoming a number of civic leaders on the G21 delegation from Geelong to this parliament. They include Bill Mithen and Elaine Carbines, the chair and CEO of G21 respectively; Peter Dorling, an administrator of the City of Greater Geelong; councillors Brian McKiterick, Des Phelan, Chris Potter, Susan Salter, Keith Baillie, Sue Wilkinson and Lenny Jenner, who are from a number of the other G21 councils; and Kelvin Spiller, who is the CEO of the City of Greater Geelong. They all represent councils within the G21 region and are representing the region as a whole with a single voice in Canberra over the next couple of days. Also coming is Patti Manolis, from the Geelong Regional Libraries. The Geelong regional library building is now an iconic structure in Geelong. It was funded by the former Labor government and is very much the outcome of Patti's inspirational advocacy around the importance of libraries within our community. It is fantastic that she will be here in this parliament tomorrow. The delegation includes Jason Trethowan, from headspace, who has over a number of years represented the Geelong GPs association, and Bernadette Uzelac, from the Geelong Chamber of Commerce, which represents the businesses of Geelong and which plays a critical role in advocating on behalf of our region.

Every single one of these people is determined to make sure the federal government hears our city's voice loud and clear. Theirs is a herculean effort. They conduct themselves with the highest degree of professionalism and skill and with a passion for their city and a sincerity in the way in which they bring the case to this parliament. They deserve nothing but our acknowledgement and our thanks.