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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-23 Daily Xml
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FOOD AND WINE INDUSTRY

Mr PEGLER (Mount Gambier) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills. Can the minister inform the house about the latest grants to support the potato industry and the wine industry in training their workers for the future?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:48): I thank the member for Mount Gambier for this very important question, because it goes to the heart of our state's productivity and, of course, our state's economy.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Would the minister be seated? I warn the member for Chaffey for the second and final time. Minister.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Members and South Australians are well aware of our state's reputation as the nation's wine state. We also have a bit of a leading role in relation to potatoes. Potatoes represent 20 per cent of Australia's vegetable production, and we grow 80 per cent of the nation's washed potatoes. The member is nodding. That is why we have awarded more than $50,000 to the potato and wine industries to ensure workers have the skills and knowledge to meet increasing production demands in what is a competitive national and global marketplace.

In relation to the wine industry, we are working together with Vinpac International, which is located in the very heart of our premium winegrowing regions in the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Vinpac is Australia's largest third party wine bottling service provider, which bottles and packages around eight million cases a year. This is expected to increase to 11 million by 2016. Vinpac will use state training funds to upskill trainers and assessors so that its regional workforce is better prepared to manage increased production and accreditations, while maintaining national and international high standards.

Funding for Potatoes SA will help prepare a workforce development plan that will take into account a whole value chain approach over the five key potato-growing regions to cover the attraction and retention of workers and their skills development. That means that producers right across the state—in Kangaroo Island, the Mallee, the Riverland, Murraylands, Northern Adelaide Plains and the South-East—will benefit from this partnership between government and industry.

I am pleased that this project will also inform a pre-employment program to help unemployed youth in northern Adelaide to access qualifications in production, horticulture and employment opportunities. I am very pleased that this support is completely in line with the state's priority to develop our premium food and wine from our clean and green environment.

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