Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

We know that post COVID many people are now expressing an interest in moving to the regions and many businesses are seeing the value in establishing their operations in regional communities. Many of our regional universities already have very deep and practical research ties with their local economies and local businesses—as does our premier scientific agency, the CSIRO. These businesses are uniquely placed to provide the expertise to drive innovation, support commercialisation and facilitate business-to-business collaboration. That will drive the necessary scale. As Senator McKenzie knows, regional Australia has a strong track record of exporting unprocessed resources and food. The plan we have is about enabling the value-add, and the best place to do that is right where the products are produced. The coalition's Modern Manufacturing Strategy is all about helping scale up our manufacturing businesses so they are better able to compete. (Time expired)