Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, Melburnians and Victorians have had the news that we have been waiting for. I want to thank my community of Dunkley for the exceptionally hard work, the challenges that have been overcome and the sacrifices that have been made to suppress this second wave of coronavirus. As of tomorrow night, restrictions are going to start to be lifted. There's more work to be done and we all have to continue together to support each other and to make sure that we practice the COVID-safe rules, but retail will start to open, hospitality will start to open. I would never say 'get on the beers' but the Premier has a point when he says that we can get out and start to enjoy our lives again. So thank you for your magnificent work. But what it also means is this is the time to really think local—shop local and support our local businesses. From Mount Eliza Village through to the Frankston CBD, the Seaford shops, Carrum Downs and across to the little shopping strips in Langwarrin, there are local businesses. They are our friends, our neighbours and our parents who have really been struggling, and they need our support. This is the time to jump on board the Dunkley shop local campaign—think local, shop local, keep supporting each other and we're looking good as we move towards Christmas.

I had a Zoom forum with local small businesses a few weeks ago to talk about where things were at. They've been struggling because of restrictions in Victoria and some of the issues with borders, domestic and international. Besides the restrictions being lifted, what was almost unanimously raised in the forum was concern about whether the measures in the federal budget were really going to be able to help our local small businesses. The instant asset tax write-off is okay if you have money to purchase capital equipment, but, if you have a small business that has been struggling and you have no money in the bank, it's not going to help you. It's the same with some of the policies such as guaranteed loans. I've been speaking to a lot of small businesses in my electorate who say they're just not in a position to take out a loan, even one that has some assistance from the government, because they don't have the cash flow. What is really concerning them is the cuts to the JobKeeper payment and the prospect of it being lifted entirely and too soon. So, it's the time to support our local businesses, but it's also the time for the federal government to support Victorian businesses. We have done magnificently well in the face of a cavalcade of negativity and abuse from the state opposition and the Victorian federal ministers in this place, who should know better. They should be supporting us, not criticising us. One of the things that the federal Treasury should be doing is looking at how to support our local small businesses to get through this time, particularly now that we're able to start some trading.

When we talk about manufacturing in Australia, what we need to do is be champions of the local manufacturing precincts. In Carrum Downs, in my electorate of Dunkley, the industrial precinct is thriving and is amazing. It is South-East Melbourne's fastest-growing employment hub, doubling in size every five years. Job growth in the precinct of Carrum Downs and parts of Seaford is over 13 times higher than the southern region average. We have smart, modern manufacturing. They are productive, sustainable and innovative. As the Committee for Greater Frankston has pointed out, you can really put the manufacturing into three categories in Carrum Downs and Seaford: niche second-stage food processing, new-age building products, and made-to-order manufacturing. We need the federal government, with its so-called manufacturing policy, to look at the businesses at Carrum Downs and Seaford and support them. The minister has said only $40 million of the $1.5 billion manufacturing fund is going to be available this financial year. We need a significant amount of money in our thriving, growing manufacturing industry so that we can be better than ever. I will be writing to the minister and pushing her to make sure we are forefront in her mind.

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