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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-04 Daily Xml
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Manufacturing Sector

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (15:23): My question is to the Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation. Minister, can you provide a status update on manufacturing in South Australia, along with government assistance provided to manufacturers?

The SPEAKER: Yes, and the Speaker would like to know how a status update differs from an update.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for the Public Sector) (15:24): You would have to ask the questioner not the answerer.

The SPEAKER: Minister.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: Thank you, sir. In the time that I have been the Minister for Manufacturing, I have visited many companies, getting up to 100 now, and sought to understand the issues that they face as well as the ways in which government can support them. I'm pleased to report that 230 manufacturing companies in South Australia have to date been part of programs and received assistance through programs associated with Manufacturing Works, the government's 10-year strategy that started two years ago. We have just passed that second anniversary.

Last week, I went to visit two companies which I think illustrate the challenges and the opportunities within manufacturing. One was Walker Corporation, which makes the exhaust and muffler systems for Holden, which will—unless they are able to diversify quickly—close when Holden goes. The other company was Redarc, a tremendously exciting manufacturing company which has been expanding and has recently applied for another grant and is likely to expand still further. Its employment numbers have more than doubled in the last few years, and they expect to go another 50 per cent again. So, where Walker's is right at the edge of having to try to diversify in a very rapid way, Redarc has demonstrated the way in which a manufacturing company can be highly successful.

The government's role there is to provide a range of supports. We have grants and we offer platforms to support new markets, whether that is private investment or government investment. Probably the most important theme in supporting manufacturing is to provide capacity building for individual companies and workplaces.

This morning we launched Smart Workplaces online, which I would urge people with companies in their electorates to direct their attention to. It has a diagnostic tool on it to allow companies to learn from the best South Australian companies about how they can improve their workplaces and really integrate innovation into their daily working, the way in which they operate. That form of capacity building is extremely important and allied with the grants and so on that we are able to provide.

The website was developed through the use of three pilot companies: Ellex, Bickford's and also Seeley International. Fred Seeley spoke this morning at the event that launched it and was very dynamic, as he always is, in encouraging companies to integrate innovation into everything they do. I say all of this in the context of the importance of governments backing companies, providing the kind of capacity building and support that is possible and, indeed, honouring contracts they have with them.

I was appalled to see the report from the Senate yesterday that suggests that the last federal government entered into a contract with Holden to provide armoured vehicles for the federal government fleet. Holden had tendered and won that contract, and this new government appears to have cancelled that summarily and not only taken the—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Point of order, member for Morialta.

Mr GARDNER: Erskine May defines that ministers are not responsible for matters related to other governments' responsibilities.

The SPEAKER: If the manufacturing is in South Australia, the minister certainly is. Minister.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE: The new government not only cancelled that but entered into an arrangement with BMW, who hadn't even tendered. So I, of course, and this government will support any inquiry by the federal Auditor-General into that. In summary, governments have a role to play in providing support, increasing capacity and working with the manufacturing sector in order to make sure that South Australia remains a state where people make things.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired. The member for Mitchell.

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