Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise in the chamber today to speak about the benefits that the Export Market Development Grants Scheme has brought to my electorate. In doing so, I will also speak about the Export Market Development Grants Legislation Amendment Bill 2006. The EMDG Scheme, which is administered by Austrade, assists small and medium Australian businesses to enter the export market and to grow export sustainability by partially reimbursing their eligible export promotion expenses. Many of the businesses that have been enabled to grow are in the electorate of Riverina.

With this legislation, the government is delivering on its commitment to extend the EMDG Scheme for another five years and to provide a number of enhancements to the scheme. I congratulate the Minister for Trade, the Hon. Mark Vaile, who has been diligent in his efforts to continually open markets and access trade for the producers in my electorate. Not only that, but he is also an approachable person who is absolutely committed to his role.

The EMDG Scheme supports a wide range of industries. In my electorate, businesses in the fruit growing and wine manufacturing sectors are just some of the businesses which have benefited from the provision of the 3,000 grants which are provided each year. In 2004-05, 11 businesses received almost $400,000 in EMDG. They include the Beelgara Estate at Carrathool, which is an emerging business with an excellent product; Skyron Pty Ltd in Leeton, which is also a great business; Sunfresh Citrus in Leeton and Sumar Produce in Griffith. The magnificent citrus industry is finally able to get some assistance in their very difficult plight as they battle the enormous odds stacked against them.

Last year, the EMDG Scheme delivered more than 3,200 grants and paid out around $124 million to small and medium exporters. These businesses generated approximately $3.1 billion in exports. Many of those billions of dollars in exports also came from my electorate of Riverina. Of the grants delivered last year, 77 per cent went to small businesses with annual incomes of just $5 million or less. You could not ask for a program which is more targeted, more readily accessible and more readily appreciated than the EMDG Scheme. Twenty-three per cent of grants were paid to businesses in rural and regional Australia.

The proposed amendment to increase the claimable overseas visit allowance from $200 to $300 per day will be of particular benefit to new and emerging exporters. One of the issues that businesses confront occurs when they take their product overseas. Sometimes when they make appointments, the appointments fall over and they are required to extend their stay. That expense can preclude the smaller player from entering into lucrative export niche markets.

The amendment will increase the incentive for the businesses to take the crucial step of visiting overseas markets and meeting new customers and to learn how export business is done. It is a great experience that can yield enormous results. Removal of the export earnings test will also address the anomalies that have resulted in some of the small to medium enterprises in my electorate, and those emerging exporters, being denied grants or having their grant entitlements reduced.

Organisations from the Riverina are continuing to grow within the export market, and they are generating more jobs. We have manufacturing companies that include Celair-Malmet and Precision Parts—both domiciling in the Riverina. Celair-Malmet commenced in a backyard shed in Leeton, actually inventing one refrigeration unit. Then Ted Celi and his family have taken this magnificent company of Celair-Malmet to international pride, being one of the most significant suppliers to Wal-Mart in the US market. As I said, they have come from just a small backyard shed in Leeton. They invented a refrigerating unit and have now gone on to own the bulk of airconditioning units right across Australia. They have now branched out into the climate control business. They are an unassuming family, and I am proud to call them friends not only of mine but of the entire Riverina electorate.

We also have Precision Parts, another business started from a backyard shed. Many years ago the owners of Precision Parts were involved in the Air Force and decided to stay in Wagga Wagga. They decided to start up a business with harmonic balancers, would you believe. They now find themselves world leaders in harmonic balancing manufacturing, with both a rebuilt exchange unit utilising used units returned from distributors and a brand-new replacement unit using locally sourced components. Precision’s rebuilt and new product programs are purchased by almost all automotive wholesalers in Australia. The unique combination of unbeatable range, competitive prices against imports, stock service and consistent quality has underpinned this product support. The bulk of Precision Parts’ product range is targeted at the standard replacement market, but there is also a much smaller but highly profitable market for high-performance balancers, both in Australia and overseas.

So from just a simple EMDG, back in 1998, we have a very skilled entry into the US market and we have since seen Precision launching the Powerbond performance balancer range, utilising advanced bonded dampening technology, with instant market success both here and in the US. Who would have thought that a small business would now extend to over 120 employees in a very short time—around six years—simply by taking advantage of an EMDG, going into the US market and providing a product, a harmonic balancer, that is well regarded and a top seller?

This government has been focusing on opening up these opportunities. I recall that at the time I was running for the seat of Riverina Mark Vaile—the current Minister for Trade and Leader of the National Party—was the Minister for Transport and Regional Development. He was only too keen to come in to Wagga Wagga, talk to Precision Parts and others and encourage them into that export market. He has been very keen on this export market for such a long time and has continued to focus on opening up these opportunities right across the world with bilateral, regional, multilateral and global negotiations.

To take advantage of the outcomes achieved, the government has put in place a number of programs to assist and enable those businesses to take advantage of, or to capitalise on, the market opportunities that have been opened up. Programs like the New Exporter Development Program take aspiring exporters from the initial inquiry stage right in to the doors of the marketplace. There are programs like TradeStart, where the government has set up a national network of 50 offices providing resources, advice and guidance for new exporters getting into these markets right across the world. They can go in, discuss their product and get really good advice about the potential appointments that they might need to make in order to break into the market—whether that be with a niche or a high-volume product.

The government has kept the economy strong by doing this. I know the economy is strong because, just recently, the Business Review Weekly published the top 200 millionaires in Australia and four of them were in Griffith alone—McWilliams, De Bortoli, Casella and Barters. They are all operating in the export market. You see just how valuable many of these programs have been in creating resilience and also providing a strong economy, particularly in my electorate of Riverina, which has endured the most significant drought over the last five years and seen our broadacre farmers being particularly stricken. This part of the electorate has maintained the viability and the strength of the employment opportunities through this very difficult time so that our people did not have to leave the region. I sincerely appreciate the efforts that these businesses go to to ensure that takes place. I encourage anything that can keep our economy strong.

I note that just days ago, through the Riverina Industry Partnerships Program, two of our young Riverina people were selected from amongst 30 Australia wide for the export market development training course. These two people, Vito Mancini and Joanna Brighenti, will do a five-day intensive course that will give them an insight into how international markets operate and provide them with the skills to develop their own export strategies and run a successful export business. Both of these participants are involved in the citrus industry in Griffith. I applaud and congratulate the selection of these two people to do the course, because if anyone needs a leg up or a hand it is this industry. I have to say that I believe that both the previous government and the current government have sincerely failed the citrus industry in my electorate. I will do anything to ensure that these people get an opportunity to encourage, to promote and to ensure the growth and sustainability of that mighty citrus industry, which has really copped a bucketing since 1990.

We also have successful companies like Ricegrowers Co-operative Ltd, or SunRice. It is one of Australia’s most successfully vertically integrated agribusinesses and it produces and markets great products under outstanding brands of SunRice. This company is particularly sensational in that we saw it get the regional exporter of the year not just last year but also the year before. It was an amazing coup for SunRice, because it has had to battle an enormous amount of misinformation and malice out there about its product, which is the finest product in the world. SunRice is one of the best vertically integrated businesses and one many could emulate. I am very supportive of what it has achieved. It has an annual export sale of well over $500 million.

Since 2001, Ricegrowers has been Australia’s largest exporter of branded food products with its SunRice brand. It is always well positioned to achieve its vision—that is, to be the world’s favourite rice food company. It has gone a long way toward that. The one thing about SunRice and Ricegrowers is that all of the jobs are in Australia. We do not export in bins; we export a branded product. We are the largest branded product exporter from any port in Australia.

It is a significant product. You can go to Japan, Papua New Guinea and a whole host of places and see that Trukai or that SunRice brand. I never feel as proud as when I am visiting overseas and I can see a product that has been made by the hands of the Leeton people in the Riverina district being put on shelves as a branded product. That gives me a lot of pride as the member for Riverina. I recall going to Papua New Guinea for the ministerial forum with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and other ministers, such as Senator Vanstone and Mr Ruddock. We visited our Trukai factory in Lae in Papua New Guinea. To see the value that Trukai, SunRice and Ricegrowers have given to Papua New Guinea is an extraordinarily humbling experience. I congratulate them on that. They are a wonderful organisation that is wholly owned by Australia’s rice farmers, and they export 85 per cent of their production. They also represent four per cent of world trade, and 39 per cent of the trade is in japonica varieties. So you have branded consumer packs that, as I said, make up 70 per cent of their entire exports. We export to 72 countries in the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It is truly a global product and one that embraces globalisation and also one that has benefited from the EMDG. For that, I am always thankful.

The EMDG Scheme is a great principle and one that many companies in the Riverina have benefited from, as I have said. Those include Celair-Malmet, Filmont Australia, Louver Shield, Riverina Wines in Griffith, Miranda Wines in Griffith, Finemores Holdings in Wagga Wagga, Westend Wines in Griffith and Casella Wines in Griffith.

Casella Wine’s sales just recently reached $344 million in their enormously successful branded Yellow Tail product in the US market. They have been enormously successful in their export specific brand. They have not only exceeded most other exports but were also the exporter of the year not last year but the year before.

Something that they are really proud of is that they are a local family business—a simple family business started in Australia in 1965 by Filippo and Maria Casella, who emigrated to Australia from Italy. They brought with them their hopes and dreams. And the most refreshing part about the whole story of Casella is that they are very significantly high up the ladder of millionaires in Australia but live the simple life of the simple Italian family. Nothing has gone to their heads. In fact, John’s parents live right in the centre of the forest of stainless steel vats in their original little home cottage. It is another humbling experience to see that people do not let success go to their heads and become more important than the past, the present and the community and family members that have supported them. They have stayed very focused and close to that community.

We also have the De Bortoli Winery in the EMDG process. De Bortoli’s commenced in 1928. It is a fabulous winery. They are great friends of mine. It was established by Vittorio and Giuseppina De Bortoli, and they rapidly expanded their operations under their dynamic son, the late Dean De Bortoli. Today, under the equally dynamic leadership of Darren De Bortoli, son of Dean, the company has increased its value tenfold. It provides to the community and, as all of these companies are, is ready to help every community project and all community charity organisations. They are the first ones to put their hands up to put endless dollars into ensuring their community remains one of those great places to live and work.

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