Automotive Supplier Diversification Program

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Automotive Transformation. Can the minister advise the chamber how an automotive supply chain company has diversified and is now supplying new products to the market?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:40): I want to thank the honourable member for her excellent question, and there are probably the some hundreds of questions she has probed ministers with in this chamber in her time, and answered orders of magnitude more than that in the 15 or so years—

The Hon. G.E. Gago: Sixteen years.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: —16 years she has been in this chamber. It is one of the aims of this government over the last few years to help companies and their workers diversify their businesses as we have seen the slowdown in automotive manufacturing. One such company is Rope and Plastic Sales Pty Ltd, a privately owned South Australian company located in Regency Park with a core capability of manufacturing plastic car battery components for the auto industry. Rope and Plastic received a $200,000 Automotive Supplier Diversification Program grant in 2015 to start a project to develop and manufacture a portable, fully adjustable clothesline system which is targeted at both small and large scale aged care, health and urban living environments.

The product meets the needs of a diverse range of groups including aged care, disability and people living in small spaces such as apartment blocks or townhouses. The company is now preparing to take their locally made EcoDry Clothesline to market. The EcoDry Clothesline has a number of unique features which will benefit their target market: things like casters for easy moving, unique line tension adjusting dials, a lever for adjusting height with ease with four height settings, UV and rust resistance. It is lightweight at just four kilograms and it has the benefit of some 16 metres of hanging space, to name just a few of the great features of this clothesline.

I understand the company is working with a number of South Australian manufacturing companies in this project including automotive supplier Axiom Precision Manufacturing for plastic components, and product designer John Packer, and a number of other local toolmakers, who have developed the specialised tools required to manufacture the product. The clotheslines are in part being assembled at Mobilong Prison and will be distributed through their local company, Hegs Pegs, which is run by local South Australia innovator, Scott Boocock.

This is a great example of a company whose core business was automotive battery handles for the Australian and United States markets. Having made the transition to a new product line that is about to hit the market and I am sure will be a global success. I was very fortunate to see some of their very first products at their display at the Royal Adelaide Show a few months ago, and I have every confidence that this will be yet another world-beating South Australian product and company.