Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is investing in a future made in Australia by funding more local infrastructure, targeting investments to resources and a clean energy future and supporting small businesses and jobs. The focus is on bringing new jobs and opportunities to communities in every part of our country, including my electorate of Pearce, to power a new generation of advanced manufacturing. A significant part of our $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia package will help us maximise the economic and industrial benefits of the international move to net zero and secure Australia's place in a changing global economic and strategic landscape. The Albanese Labor government continues to deliver on an ambitious reform agenda to strengthen the vocational education and training sector, close national skills gaps and train the skilled workforce that we need right across the economy, where no-one is held back and no-one is left behind.

To consider what is possible in the future, it is worth looking at the history and current status of manufacturing in Western Australia and in the Pearce electorate. In 2004, Western Australia's Department of Treasury and Finance produced a research paper entitled An economic history of Western Australia since colonial settlement, which provides some interesting insights into the economic development of WA. It says:

Between 1913 and 1946, the economy underwent significant structural change and economic growth was uneven at best. As the effects of the gold rush died down, mining's share of the economy declined and both the rural and manufacturing industries' shares increased … This was in contrast to the rest of Australia, where manufacturing activity became an even larger part of the economy.

Whilst some manufacturing industries were developed during the early post-war period, it says:

A major surge in the State's manufacturing industry came with the advent of a substantial mineral processing industry.

Pioneering families in Pearce continue to be proactive and focused mainly on agribusiness and establishing horticultural businesses in and around Wanneroo.

Today, there are over 12,000 small businesses in the Pearce electorate. We continue to have a successful and visionary horticultural industry. And we have two major industrial areas situated at Wangara and Neerabup.

Wangara is one of Perth's busiest industrial estates. It has a wide range of industrial services, warehouses and commercial services. Manufacturing companies in Wangara include the Adwest Group, a metals fabrication company; Aries Rail Pty Ltd, a specialist rail company; Boss Bollards; Tower Security; Glide Products Pty Ltd, one of Australia's leading manufacturers of high-quality manual and powered wheelchairs; and Burdens Australia, a manufacturer and supplier of civil, electrical, plumbing, rail, water and environmental solutions.

The development of the Neerabup industrial area is a key strategic priority as well. Currently, manufacturers include Wesbeam, which is Australia's only LVL manufacturer and distributor; David Moss Corporation, which manufactures and supplies pipes, fittings and underground ventilation systems to all of Australia and international markets; and Klen International, which specialises in the manufacture and supply of fire assay fluxes to the mining and geochemical assay laboratory markets worldwide.

The Albanese Labor government is embarking on a new set of interventions with a new industry policy that focuses on advanced manufacturing and research and development, including commercialisation and the maximum feasible benefits to be gleaned from our natural resources. Last week, I visited the Neerabup industrial estate that allows for a new facility, the Australian Automation and Robotics Precinct, to provide businesses with opportunities for automation and robotics testing, research and development, training and industry cluster development. In addition, there will be a North Wanneroo agribusiness precinct, a light industrial and service commercial precinct in Yanchep and Two Rocks, and a Neerabup waste innovation precinct has also been identified. I am confident that going forward there will be opportunities for businesses in the Pearce electorate to participate in value adding to our resources and to support critical minerals being processed and refined locally, as well as strengthen our innovation, digital and science capability going forward.

The Albanese Labor government will establish opportunities for investors with major transformational investment proposals to make a it simpler to invest in our nation and to attract more global and domestic capital. I believe his businesses in my community can be part of a Future Made in Australia and they have my full support.