Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. Will the minister inform the House how the Morrison government's commitment to the manufacturing sector is helping create jobs and drive our recovery from the COVID-19 recession?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. It was great to join him last week in his electorate to open a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. ProForm is a brilliant Aussie company that makes plant based protein products, and we backed them with a grant in the first round of the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. Since then they have gone from strength to strength. They are taking on new employees. In fact, this year alone the founders have scaled that company from five to 25 employees.

ProForm is a fantastic example of adding value to our world-class agriculture industry. Alongside our meat producers, they are primed to capitalise on Australia's reputation for producing safe, premium, high-quality food. ProForm also demonstrate how we harness science and technology to drive industry. They invested $2.3 million in a joint venture with CSIRO for their initial research and development. This is exactly what the Morrison government wants businesses to do. Collaboration is one of the key pillars of our government's modern manufacturing strategy, and that's designed to make our manufacturers more resilient, more competitive and able to scale up so that they can take on the world. Of course, scaling up means that there will be more jobs created. These will be quality jobs right along the manufacturing spectrum, from research and development through to manufacturing and production processes and through to sales, market and after-sales services, in particular.

We needed to make sure that we were putting in place the right economic conditions for all businesses, all of industry, to be able to thrive, and that is what we are doing. Our manufacturers, including the more than 440 in the electorate of Berowra, are benefiting from many of the things that this government has put in place. It's our investment in skills that is driving our comeback from COVID. It's the tax incentives, including the expansion of the instant asset write-off. I am so pleased we have such a magnificent Treasurer who is driving these reforms for us, we have an excellent energy minister who is working day and night to bring down our energy costs and, as a government, we are investing in research and development. We put our money where our mouths are. We are working day and night to make sure that we reduce red tape for Australian industry. (Time expired)