Manufacturing Industry

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:28): My question is to the Minister for Trade and Investment. What is the Marshall Liberal government strategy to increase South Australia's capabilities to produce manufactured goods here on South Australian soil for the use and consumption of South Australians and, more broadly, nationwide?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON (Morphett—Minister for Trade and Investment) (15:28): Can I get you to repeat that question?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the leader! The member for Florey might repeat the question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms BEDFORD: Maybe another minister can answer.

The SPEAKER: When interjections on both sides cease, perhaps the member for Florey will be accorded the respect of the house that she deserves and be heard in silence.

Ms BEDFORD: Thank you, sir, for your protection. What is the Marshall Liberal government's strategy to increase South Australia's capabilities to produce manufactured goods on South Australian soil for use and consumption in South Australia and more broadly nationwide?

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: I thank the member for the question. Of course, manufacturing is very important to this state. Just last week, we were at the Premier's Export Awards, One of those awards was for manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, and it was awarded to a great company here in South Australia, Lightforce. What was interesting about talking to their manager, AJ, was that he basically said their aim at this point in time is that there is a great opportunity to bring manufacturing back to Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Elizabeth will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —because they are finding that if they invest in their capital, if they invest in their plant and equipment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —it allows them to reduce the percentage of labour costs and they can therefore compete against low labour cost countries. It is a great example of what can be done. In terms of what the Marshall government is doing to assist bringing advanced manufacturing back here into Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —there are many facets to what we can do. One, of course, is a trade office network throughout the world in some key markets because to invest into your plant and equipment—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —requires investment. We can help companies in terms of attracting investments into their company. Another great initiative we have done since coming to government—many times, coming to the election and going to these companies, they were saying the cost of electricity was crippling them. The cost of producing goods and the electricity component of that made them uncompetitive. When coming to government, we were faced at the time with South Australia having some of the highest electricity prices in the world.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Cheltenham is warned.

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: I commend the Minister for Energy and Mining for the diligent work he has done in bringing down electricity costs here in South Australia. He has championed the interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales, and that has brought a massive amount of investment into the state of South Australia, which has helped drive costs down. We heard the price has reduced by $303 on average.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: For residents, that is great news. Those opposite don't like it—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. S.J.R. PATTERSON: —but I will tell you what: the businesses I speak to, they notice it because they rely on electricity to be able to (a) be cost effective but also (b) be reliable. There has been massive work by this government to make sure the electricity is also reliable through demand management and through initiatives such as that, to make sure it is reliable and there is the capacity in our electricity system to make sure the lights are always on. These are some of the ways we are helping.

Of course, we talk about advanced manufacturing, but it doesn't mean that there are not skilled jobs required to look after that capital and that equipment. Just recently, I was out at Pope at Woodville. They explained that they have invested massively in fantastic new equipment, but what they need is skilled staff to be able to operate that.

The Minister for Skills has really been working hard to grow that skilled workforce here in South Australia to supplement that advanced manufacturing. I am confident that here in South Australia advanced manufacturing is moving forward. It is going to create jobs here in South Australia for South Australians.