Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

A very fine senator from South Australia who is doing a wonderful job for the people of South Australia. Thank you for a question, finally, this week!

The Albanese Labor government has been committed to supporting the Australian manufacturing industry from day one. We established the $392 million Industry Growth Program, with the Minister for Industry and Science—that wonderful fellow, Minister Husic—recently announcing the first grant recipients to support small and medium manufacturing businesses. One of the recipients is Cauldron Molecules; it received $4.3 million to develop a world-first hyperfermentation facility just outside Orange, in regional New South Wales. Their technology aims to bring down the cost of biomanufacturing across a wide range of products: food, feed, fibre and fuel—the four Fs. This government support of Cauldron will help keep other Australian manufacturers at the cutting edge, making a wider range of products at competitive prices. Cauldron have proved their technology works in the lab, and this grant will help show it can work in a 10-kilolitre pilot facility. After that, they plan to scale up to a 100-kilolitre facility that can deliver commercial volumes to their customers.

This government's approach is already delivering a growing manufacturing industry, and—listen to this—there are more than 70,000 more workers in secure, well-paid manufacturing jobs since we came to government.