Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I think that the answer in terms of the big picture is to say that Australia will only be competitive if we have a higher skilled, higher educated workforce and are innovative and have high productivity. We are in more competitive times. We are disadvantaged in some ways by the strength of the Australian dollar. That is why there is a range of government programs like Commercialisation Australia, the R&D tax incentive, the work of the cooperative research centres, the CSIRO, all of those things to try to build manufacturing.

In my own portfolio we have got the National Workforce Development Fund and I have been to manufacturers who are using that fund. For example, there is L&M Radiator in Perth, selling now to Eastern Europe, and WH Williams in Sydney, a metal manufacturing company who are growing their market as they get more innovative and get more out of their workforce. There are also some really great stories about companies adapting and being smarter. (Time expired)