Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago I was privileged to visit the local Rheem manufacturing facility in my electorate on the occasion of its 70th anniversary. Today, Rheem is one of Australia's largest manufacturers of household water heaters. Once owned by BHP, the company has grown and expanded from its first Melbourne facility in 1936 and its first Sydney site in 1939 to now several locations across Victoria and New South Wales.

When the factory opened in Rydalmere in 1953, Parramatta was a manufacturing powerhouse. The Rheem factory provided substantial employment, making up more than a third of all the manufacturing jobs in Parramatta at the time. The factory helped strengthen Parramatta's contribution as an industrial powerhouse, sharing the hub with other local manufacturers like Meggitt, Reckitt & Colman and the Australian Cream Tartar Company. As Parramatta has continued to develop into the vibrant business and cultural hub that we know today, Rheem has always been there. It saw the opening of Westmead Hospital and Westfield Parramatta in the 1970s. It saw the introduction of the iconic RiverCat ferries in 1993.

I'm confident that, as Parramatta continues to grow, the Rydalmere factory will continue its lineage as an advanced precinct for local manufacturing.

Since the factory opened 70 years ago, Rheem has touched the lives of many, including my family. My dad began his working life at the factory in 1961. As a child growing up, I remember my family waiting eagerly at the factory car park when my mum would pick him up from work. As a young process engineer, it was his job to keep production flowing—achieving efficiencies and helping establish new products. Dad remembers the arrival in the late 1960s of a big new IBM mainframe plonked in the middle of a huge empty room. No-one knew how to use it or what to use it for, so dad tried his best, picking up some elementary computing, as he managed the new machine.

My father's story at that factory is one of many, and I'd like to congratulate the workers and the leadership team who work at the factory today, as well as all of those who've shared in its 70-year history. Rheem is an iconic local institution. It boasts a renowned history in Parramatta's industrial heritage, and it is a leading light in both Australian and Western Sydney manufacturing. I look forward to visiting the factory again and celebrating many milestones in the future.