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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-05-19 Daily Xml
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SOUTH AUSTRALIA INNOVATION AND INVESTMENT FUND

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Industry and Trade. Can the minister advise the house of the South Australia Innovation and Investment Fund Round 3 announcement which took place this morning?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Correctional Services) (14:49): Yes, I can. I would like to thank the honourable member, as a former employee, for his keen and special interest in the Tonsley site. He knows more than most what this state went through when Mitsubishi closed at the Tonsley vehicle assembly plant in March 2008.

It is no surprise to all members that the Rann government acted, and acted quickly, to make sure that those workers and the state were not disadvantaged by the closure of that facility. Together with the federal government, we announced an extensive package of support in the sale, to the amount of $30 million—which made the Leader of the Opposition laugh because that is how she thinks of workers getting any sort of support.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This fund is known as the South Australia Innovation Investment Fund (SAIIF). Round 1 of the fund—which the Leader of the Opposition thinks is very funny—was announced on 27 February 2009. About $11 million of that fund was provided to eight projects, stimulating over $51 million worth of private manufacturing investment and about 300 jobs. Are you going to laugh now? No.

Round 2 of the fund was announced on 20 November 2009. About $6 million was funded to eight projects, stimulating over $52 million worth of private manufacturing investment and creating a further 300 jobs. Is that funny as well? Is that funny too?

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: This morning, at the SMR manufacturing plant at Lonsdale, along with the federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon. Kim Carr, I had the privilege of announcing the grant recipients for the third and final round. The sheer diversity of the companies in this third round speaks for itself.

I am proud to announce the successful firms. They are: Clean Seas Tuna; Ezy-Fit Hydraulics; Hospira Adelaide; Numetrics; agricultural machinery company, PLB Australasia; REDARC Electronics and Robin Johnson Engineering; SAGE Automation; Trackside Intelligence; and the People's Republic of Animation.

I take this opportunity to thank SMR for hosting today's event. SMR is a global pioneer in high precision moulding and optical engineering. It is a proud and profitable arm of a corporate empire, supplying about 30 per cent of the global market's rear vision mirrors. The company is a testament to the enduring strength of Australian manufacturing. It is constantly evolving, constantly growing, constantly remaking itself for changing times.

It is the commitment to continually research, seek out innovation and change that ensures that high-value manufacturing continues to be one of the state's primary economic contributors. It is a credit to this government and the federal government, and with the hard work of those engineering firms, in that they innovate, take advantage of these cash incentives, and make more of it.

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