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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-21 Daily Xml
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BREWING INDUSTRY

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (14:16): Thank you, sir. My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier advise the house about the state of South Australia's brewing industry?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (14:16): I thank the honourable member for her question, and a timely question it is, given that those opposite are seeking to talk down the prospects in our manufacturing sector. The truth is—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: You're an angry man.

The SPEAKER: I warn the leader for the first time.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: Such an angry face he presents to the world.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Premier, will you be seated. I call the member for Hammond to order, and I call the deputy leader to order for the first time. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The truth is that the West End Brewery, which is set for a $70 million redevelopment announced last year, is a fantastic example of manufacturing and, indeed, advanced manufacturing. The redevelopment includes a new beer processing room, and that beer processing room is being driven by automation from SAGE Automation. So, very high-end manufacturing is going into that very important part of the process. It has a new refrigeration system, a boiler upgrade, cellar automation and a new brew house.

That will mean about 30 new full-time jobs as they shift their operations from Perth to South Australia, a vote of confidence in the South Australian economy. There will be about 50 new jobs over a couple of years in the construction phase. There will be some civil construction works and some great jobs in fabrication down there. There is obviously a lot of very skilled stainless steel fabrication work that needs to be done on the site, and a range of other important civil construction works.

The redevelopment will ensure that the West End Brewery, which is known within the Lion Group as the innovator of the whole of the Lion Group, will sustain its position as 'nurturing the drinks of the future', which is the role they carve out for the West End Brewery within the Lion Group. It is already exporting to Japan. It takes barley from South Australia. It is involved in brewing beers such as James Squire, Guinness, Hahn and Toohey's for the South Australian market, as well as our own West End and Southwark Stout.

As part of the redevelopment, we will also be brewing beers for Western Australia. It is also the cider hub for Lion across the country, making Orchard Crush and 5 Seeds. So, it is becoming a centre of food excellence here. It is trading on its fantastic clean image of drawing from the deep aquifer beneath the West End site. It has always been a fantastic showpiece for the brewery industry, and it is an example of advanced manufacturing.

Of course, we have Coopers, that fantastic brewery, the largest Australian-owned and operated brewer in Australia and one of the state's leading brands internationally. There is also a range of smaller breweries, including Lobethal Bierhaus, Myponga Brewery, The Steam Exchange Brewery, Knappstein Enterprise Winery and Brewery, Goodieson Brewery and Copper Coast Wines. We also know that our barley finds its way into the most popular beer in China, Tsingtao, in our sister state of Shandong in the fine city of Tsingtao.

All of these companies are showing how our state can benefit from becoming not only more innovative, because we get the corner of the market on the brewing operations for the nation, but also more outward looking as we send our produce around the world. It is one of the keys to competitiveness and it is one of the reasons we have chosen this as a key component of our advanced manufacturing strategy, to focus on premium food and wine.

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