Advanced Manufacturing

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (14:34): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Can the minister update the house on the government's commitment to advanced manufacturing in South Australia?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (14:34): I am delighted to inform the house that today South Australia's Advanced Manufacturing Strategy was released. It has been a while, I think something like 11 years, since we last had a manufacturing strategy for South Australia. Of course, as a manufacturing powerhouse in the country—at one point having the highest per capita production of manufacturing in Australia—we have suffered from the decline in manufacturing overall in Australia as so much was offshored.

We are now, I think, poised on the verge of a resurgence and re-industrialisation of South Australia but on quite a different basis, one which embraces low to zero carbon product and emissions and a profile for electricity generation that has been the great legacy of previous South Australian governments as well as the current one, harnessing the power of that for being able to sell products overseas.

There is also increased complexity in our economy, harnessing again the investments made right from early childhood through to technical colleges through to the skills agreement that was signed off in the last couple of days and also even to the point the Premier was making about the merger, increased complexity in our research and commercialisation capability at the university level. All of that captures a much more sophisticated manufacturing sector and therefore advances productivity and also an increase in our standard of living.

This strategy has benefited from the input of a lot of people from industry and also the academic world and people who have worked in industrial policy for a long time. It has at its core the desire to see that South Australia has a shared vision and focus across industry, academia, education, skills and training and also government so that we are all pointing in the same direction and trying to capture as much value for the state as possible.

We lost the car industry some time ago, which was very sophisticated, very large, internationally recognised high-end advanced manufacturing. It was really driving a lot of manufacturing capability in this state. No-one can forget when Spring Gully was the beneficiary of people who worked at Holden in being able to make a much more lean production system so that it was able to steer away from what looked like bankruptcy. It is just one simple example of the way in which very high-end manufacturing capability in its staff was able to help other manufacturers.

Having lost that, we are now having to refocus the basis of our manufacturing economy, acknowledging the very important role of defence but also space, biomedical and some other manufacturing sectors. This manufacturing strategy highlights a number of areas that require concentration.

There is investment; innovation; capability—of course, we all know the challenges in finding a skilled workforce for manufacturing, as for most other sectors; markets, making sure that we are targeting the markets that are most interested in the kind of manufacturing we are capable of; workforce, again; and, of course, the circular economy, harnessing our capabilities in recycling as well as the full circular economy so that we are fit for purpose as markets are increasingly demanding in zero carbon, in being nature positive and in being able to demonstrate the circular economy.

We are in a good position in South Australia, but we cannot be complacent. It requires a concerted effort, ideally across all sides of politics but certainly across industry, academia, training providers and government.