Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry. Will the minister update the House on how the recently released Industry, Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda will help build a strong and prosperous economy for all Australians, particularly in my electorate of Corangamite?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for hosting me in her electorate last week where I met more innovative and export oriented manufacturers as well as visit the Deakin University—and I have to congratulate them on the work that they are doing there. I also need to congratulate the member for Corangamite for the hard work she does in the electorate. She has brought a new emphasis on keeping industry competitive in that area. It is lucky that the member for Corangamite was elected when she was, given the previous representation in that seat.

While I was in the seat of Corangamite, I also announced grants under the GRIIF for Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia, a great group of dairy farmers who produce around 25 million litres of organic milk; and for Cotton On, a clothing company that has some 1,300 stores and now employs another 300 people in the area of Geelong as a result of this grant. We talk about the economic action agenda and of course this government is out there putting in place the framework that business needs to be competitive and to be profitable.

We announced last week the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda. It is a road map to deliver a lower cost, business friendly environment along with a higher skilled labour force and better economic infrastructure. And, of course, it will put science right at the centre of industry policy with a focus on collaboration and research in business.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They can laugh, but all they did for business was drive it backwards. Leading the agenda are six major initiatives, which will be implemented over the next 18 months: encouraging employee share ownership—something the Labor Party made an absolute mess of, destroying confidence in that whole area and changing legislation which brought the biotech start-up sector almost to its knees; as I have already announced, reforming vocational education; promoting science, technology and maths skills that we need in our young people; accepting international standards for certain product approvals; as the Minister for Immigration has announced, enhancing the 457 and investor visa programs; and establishing growth centres. The head of BCA, Catherine Livingstone, said it:

… sets out a compelling economic vision that deserves … bipartisan support—

and is a—

… cohesive strategy for restoring Australia’s competitiveness, diversifying our economy and delivering … jobs of the future.