Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's economic comeback will continue to be built on the future of competitive private enterprise and what it can do for employing Australians to be able to get a secure job on a competitive product. Based in Cheltenham, although technically, I need to concede, it is in the Isaacs part of Cheltenham, stone and porcelain services fabricator VBG has recently received a grant of $934,000 under the Morrison governments modern manufacturing fund, but like all good things in the that are based in Isaacs, it's owned by people in the electorate of Goldstein. We say thank you to owners George, Gene and Kostas Kalpakidis, who have described how the funding will empower them to invest in reskilling and new technologies in the dangerous area of silica, using water based treatments to make it safer. The grant will help create jobs for the future of VBG's employees and, of course, the community. VBG's employees include Andrew Graham, Bowen Leng, Vasilis Joras and Yuri Papko. It is at the forefront of the new era in Australian manufacturing, which the government is launching and supporting every step of the work.

It is important that our post-COVID employee create new employment opportunities rather than rely on those that are fading. The pandemic has exposed a number of points of fragility in our economy, our overdependence on certain exports and the risks to the growth industries. That is why, through the modern manufacturing fund, we are backing high-skill, high-growth sectors that can create jobs for local residents and Goldstein, Isaacs and across Victoria.