Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to talk about our great state of Victoria, a state built on a manufacturing base. Sadly, we have seen that manufacturing base decline over time. In my electorate of Chisholm, we used to have a thriving manufacturing centre. Some people may find this interesting, given that nowadays my seat is probably considered almost inner city. In the Clayton end of my electorate, we had large car component plants. There was a very large biscuit factory—the Arnott’s biscuit factory. I, of course, remember it more fondly as Brockhoff’s. Sadly, they have gone. There are now very few manufacturing outlets in my electorate. Not only have those jobs gone but the downstream jobs which supported those manufacturing hubs have gone as well. Those jobs have not been replaced and those manufacturing bases have not been replaced.

I am now faced with another large employer in my electorate—another large manufacturer who is fearful that they will no longer be able to sustain the productivity of their industry and the 500 associated jobs in downtown Box Hill. I am talking about SCA Hygiene Australasia. Most of you will not know SCA, but a lot of you will use their product—Sorbent toilet tissue. In 2008, with Kimberly-Clark, SCA brought an application to the Australian government about dumping of toilet tissue from Indonesia and China. In December 2008, the then Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, indicated that dumping had occurred.

We consider that dumping has occurred when an exporter sells the bulk of a product in an overseas market at prices below production cost and/or below what it charges on its home market. Anti-dumping duties are often imposed by a country to help counter dumping. Material injury is generally defined as ‘harm which is not inconsequential, immaterial or unimportant’. In the first instance, it was found that dumping had occurred and a dumping duty was imposed. This was then appealed by the Chinese and Indonesian importers, The Attorney-General announced in January this year that he would investigate and the dumping duties were then revoked. The review found that the goods exported to Australia from China and Indonesia had been dumped and the Australian industry producing these goods had suffered to some extent. However, the injury was said to have been caused more by factors other than the dumping of the goods exported from China and Indonesia. The injury suffered was caused more by competition between Australian industry members and not by the dumping. This is disputed by both SCA and the union representing the 500 members on that site.

Last week I received a delegation of CFMEU members from the site at Box Hill who were very concerned about the future of their jobs and the future of manufacturing in Victoria. I share this concern. The union has called upon the government to review this decision and to look at what we can do. SCA Hygiene Australasia President Paul Thompson has stated:

When the product is sold at 45 per cent below cost there is no way a local manufacturer could be competitive and that leads to loss of jobs and loss of industry.

I do not want to see more manufacturing lost in Victoria. I do not want to see more jobs gone.

As I said when the Arnott’s biscuit factory closed in my electorate, it is probable that, if I had been in South Australia or a country town, there might have been a rescue package, but in metropolitan Melbourne that is ludicrous because there are other jobs to go to; however, they will not be other manufacturing jobs—they will not be created. We need to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to protect these jobs. The CFMEU’s Michael O’Connor has said:

Exporters from China and Indonesia are hurting the tissue-making industry by selling product at a lower price.

We are seeing this on our supermarket shelves. Something needs to be done. I want to support the guys in my electorate—most of the people at the factory are males, funnily enough—and to ensure that we keep manufacturing and keep jobs within my electorate.

In the short time I have left, I want to pay tribute to my greatest fan and my biggest critic. My dad died just before Christmas. I was all geared up not to cry. I want to say to him: ‘Thank you for all that you did.’ He was a rather unique and tough character, but he has gone at the age of 72 and I just wanted to say thank you.