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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-04 Daily Xml
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REGIONAL BUSINESS

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Can the minister inform the house about state government support for small business in the regions?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Small Business) (15:05): Can I take this opportunity to acknowledge the work the member for Mount Gambier has done in facilitating this process. He has put the company in touch with relevant people in the government, and does a great deal of work on behalf of his electorate, and I am very, very pleased to have been able to help him on this occasion. I am pleased to inform the house of the state government's support for a Beachport-based seaweed company. Australian Kelp Products will use a $38,000 state government grant to upgrade its processing equipment in an effort to expand its business.

Founded in 1995 by Bevan and Susan Mills, Australian Kelp Products selectively harvests seaweeds from the beaches of South Australia's Limestone Coast. The grant will be used to purchase two new drying racks and fund an engineering upgrade at the company's processing facility near Millicent.

Australian Kelp Products has the only commercial seaweed licence in South Australia and currently produces liquid kelp fertilisers and dry seaweed products for livestock supplements. Along with the $38,000 grant, the company is also investing an estimated $47,000 to secure additional equipment required to process large amounts of seaweed. By increasing its seaweed processing capacity, Australian Kelp Products believes it can expand on its export potential and create a high-value industry right here in South Australia.

In 2011 the company undertook a feasibility study in partnership with Flinders University, which looked at opportunities to extract high-value products from seaweed. I am pleased to offer this funding on behalf of the state government to assist Australian Kelp Products with the necessary infrastructure upgrades that will help capture these opportunities.

The Limestone Coast region is unique due to its mixing of cold, nutrient-rich Atlantic waters and the warm gulf streams of Gulf St Vincent, which results in more than 1,140 distinctive species of seaweed. Seaweed has a complex chemical structure and can be manufactured into new products for a variety of markets. Australian Kelp Products currently supplies a range of kelp products to sustainable agricultural companies nationally, and through these partners also exports to Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa.

I would also like to place on the record my support for Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast for their support of this project. I am confident that with the purchase of improved processing equipment they will be able to increase their production levels and potentially expand into a new range of products. We know that small and medium enterprises are a significant component of the state's economy, and this grant will help support a growing South Australian enterprise to build its capacity to develop and sell high-value niche products both here and overseas.

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