Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

19 November 2015
Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund

Christopher Pyne: … much for coming along today for this rather important announcement about the third round of the Geelong Regional Investment Fund. As people would know, the Victorian Government, Alcoa and Ford and the Commonwealth Government put together the GRIIF, as it’s called, in 2013 to help the Geelong area transform from an old economy model to a new economy model. In this round three of the GRIIF, we’re announcing $11.2 million of grants in seven different businesses in Geelong. Here at Jeff Sykes Boats, this is one of the recipients of the grants.

The grants are not designed to keep Geelong business and industry where it is, in the past, it’s designed to give those businesses a boosts. There’s been an assessment made, a merit based assessment about which businesses the governments think are the most likely to take off with a bit of extra taxpayer support and provide jobs. But it also increases the amount of money, so while the entire GRIIF is about $30 million, we think that there’s probably about $145 million of capital investment in this area because of the GRIIF creating about 840-odd jobs, which is obviously extremely important for Geelong. So I’m joined here today by Lily D’Ambrosio, the Victorian Industry Minister, Sarah Henderson, the Member for Corangamite, representatives of Alcoa and Ford and of course John Eren, the Local Member as well as being the Minister for Tourism I think here in the Victorian Government.

So we’re very excited about it, we think it will help drive jobs and growth in the Geelong area, and we look forward to more announcements, positive announcements for Geelong over the course of the coming year or two. Lily, would you like to add to that?

Lily D’Ambrosio: Thanks very much Christopher, and I wish to acknowledge everyone who’s here today, of course Alcoa and Ford and certainly the Federal Minister for Industry. It is a very exciting day, it’s an important day, because what it does is continue to tell a very positive story of Victoria as the nation’s manufacturing hub. It’s a new type of manufacturing, it’s advanced manufacturing, and what better place than in Geelong to – and here of course at Sykes Racing to be able to demonstrate the capability, the technology, the innovation that exists in this fantastic regional city.

And what it says is there is a really strong future, a strong future for investment possibilities, for growth of existing businesses and new businesses to grow those jobs that are going to underpin the future of not just Geelong but of course Victorian manufacturing. Certainly there is great desire to see a continuation of the types of support where it’s appropriate, for businesses to be able to take that next step, and we can see just through the tour that we’ve had here today, and the many questions about the technology that’s on display, the world is our oyster.

We have here a business that is very much reflective of the businesses that have been supported by this important fund, that shows that we have great capability to have a globally outward looking industry - a set of industries that are able to compete on a global scale. And that is where our future is going to be. It’s about using the skills and the smarts and the capability of our people, our people and the ingenuity that comes with it.

So it’s a very great pleasure for me to be here of course, to be able to trumpet, if you like, the great asset and the great benefits that Sykes Racing here shares with the broader community here. It’s not just a business that looks after itself, it’s a business that collaborates across universities and other industries to be able to share the technology and the knowledge to be able to assist and grow other businesses here in Geelong.

Question: You’ve just been on a tour of the premises, what will this additional money mean for this business? What will they want it to be?

Lily D’Ambrosio: Well this business, we’ve heard – Minister Pyne and myself have heard – that the smaller amount, and small but very significant amount of funds from the GRIIF is going to be very- used very cleverly to actually set up an engineering facility right here on site. And that will allow the business to be able to think about the ideas, the innovation, test them out, design them, and actually apply them all on the one site. And that is a fantastic capability under this one roof. So it will allow them to take that next step to be able to design and to think of the new products, the new designs that will continue to keep them one step ahead of those important global competitors on the world stage.

Question: And same question to you Mr Pyne – what does that mean I guess for how this business can grow?

Christopher Pyne: Well the purpose of the GRIIF is to support businesses that are showing a creativity, innovation, outward looking attitude. So here at Jeff Sykes Boats of course it’s going to be used for an advanced manufacturing centre so that they can service their customers better and faster and in more innovative and creative ways. Seventy-five per cent of the boats that have won medals in Australia in recent years in rowing have been made by Jeff Sykes Boats, so they’re obviously doing something right in the past, and we think they can do something even better into the future.

And across these seven particular grants, from saw milling to the local abattoir to the production of new ways of dealing with aluminium to here at the Jeff Sykes Boats, they’re all innovative, outward looking business that believe, with a bit of extra capital investment – and they’re putting money in themselves of course as well – that they can grow their workforce and do great things for Australia, in exports as well as domestically.

So these funds are causing other funds to be spent, so they are a growth fund, they’re not a grant that just says you know, Geelong’s going through difficult economic times, like Adelaide for example, they’re not just grants for Adelaide when we have similar programs with the North Melbourne here in the MNIIF. They are designed to help grow the economy, and that’s what government should be all about.

Question: Sarah Henderson, just on that, there’s been a lot of talk in the past about the GRIIF and its ongoing funding – can you tell us where that’s at?

Sarah Henderson: Margaret well at the moment there was going to be another $7.5 million from the Victorian Government, so that was committed before the Victorian election. The Victorian Government has indicated that that won’t be available, but I’m very much hoping …

John Eren: Excuse us, can I talk for us though …

Sarah Henderson: … that there might be ongoing funding available for the GRIIF, because the GRIIF has been a fantastic bipartisan vehicle to grow jobs in our region. It’s about 850 jobs investing in advanced manufacturing, food processing, agriculture. So, I’m very much hoping that maybe the Victorian Government might reconsider its position in relation to the $7.5 million that was an unconditional …

Christopher Pyne: We’ll give you a go in a second…

Sarah Henderson: ... it was an unconditional commitment of course made before the Victorian election. And we know how important jobs are in this town, not just here but across Colac, all these men and woman at this business know how important the ongoing investment is. So, I very much hope that we can keep the fund going with that $7.5 million.

Lily D’Ambrosio: Can I …

Christopher Pyne: I think John …

Lily D’Ambrosio: Can I just …

Christopher Pyne: They all want to respond.

Lily D’Ambrosio: Can I just say, that is plain wrong. The Victorian Labor Government went to the last election with a commitment to provide a further $7.5 million to the GRIIF fund. That money is there in our budget, and will be rolled out. In fact there will be some more to be said about the funding guidelines for that on the part of our Government before Christmas, and we are the only ones that have got money on the table, frankly, beyond this last round of funding for GRIIF, which ends today. So, let’s be clear about that; the Victorian Government has approached the Federal Government, and it would be remiss for me not to say, given that it’s been opened up as a question, that to match the Victorian Government’s $7.5 million in additional funds for Geelong we’ve not had a positive response from them. But I’m always happy to talk, because at the end of the day what this is about is growing jobs; growing jobs in way that provides a terrific sustained new manufacturing opportunity for Geelong and the greater region of Geelong. We’re very committed to that as a State Government, and I’d be very happy to continue a conversation with Minister Pyne to see if we can find some [indistinct] …

Sarah Henderson: Well I’m delighted that the …

Sarah Henderson:…7.5 million is on the table for GRIIF, so that’s actually some great news today, to hear it’s still on the table [indistinct] …

John Eren: It is great news. Can I just add, sorry…

Lily D’Ambrosio: it’s in the budget.

John Eren: If I can- can I think Kate from Alcoa and Ian obviously from Ford. I mean, you’ve provided tremendous employment opportunities for so many people locally, and we thank you for that. We also thank you obviously for your contribution towards the GRIIF. Both of you, your companies have committed some $5 million towards the GRIIF, so five, five, 15 from Government, 4.5 from the previous government, I better put that on the table, that’s been committed to by our Government. But additionally what we said is that we would provide matching dollar for dollar with the Federal Government. So we’ve committed to $15 million, of which $3 million of that has gone to the manufacturing hub in Deakin, which will do tremendous work. And as I’ve been talking to obviously Sykes here, and they’ll be working in collaboration with Carbon Revolution and the manufacturing hub to further advance their businesses, and that’s a great pleasure for us. And of course the $4.5 million that has already been spent through the wonderful opportunities that existed through the GRIIF, and can I just say five of those companies that have received- recipients of this fund were actually from my electorate, which is fantastic, which has a very high unemployment rate. And the unemployment rate, can I just add, has gone from, in the last 12 months, from just being over six per cent down to five, just over five per cent now, which is great to see. Employment is all about families, making sure that people get food on their table is what’s so important. That’s why this fund, and this fund is so important in growing jobs in Geelong. And the $7.5 million that’s been alluded to has been absolutely committed to by our Government. So that will be ongoing. We will now, in discussions obviously through Lily’s office, to work out in terms of the funding program going forward, but our election commitments and promises, thus far we’ve committed to every single one of them, and we intend to stick to this one particularly. So we have $7.5 million on the table for the next ground of GRIIF. So, we would really appreciate obviously the Federal Government with some more monies, and clearly we’re not a mining state, and we really need the help …

Christopher Pyne: This isn’t a speech John, we’re here to do a press conference, so let’s wrap it up.

John Eren: So it would be really great to get further assistance from the Federal Government considering that we are a manufacturing town, and manufacturing is in decline, and we’re not a mining state so we really would appreciate some further assistance from the Federal Government.

Question: I’ve got something on another issue for you Mr Pyne. There’s a report this morning that says politicians might only be allowed to charge taxpayers for flying families in and out of Canberra; what’s your response to that?

Christopher Pyne: Well I haven’t seen the- I’ve seen the report, heard it on the radio, but I don’t know what the committee that has been set up by the previous administration has come up with. It’s been- it includes I think Harry Jenkins from Victoria and Brendan Nelson, and I look forward to their final report being handed down. Obviously whatever the Government decides, whatever the taxpayers are prepared to support politicians with is what we will be happy to live with, because we’re privileged to do this job.

I don’t want to give anybody a lesson in mathematics, but the Commonwealth Government has put $15 million into the GRIIF, and Victoria’s put 4.5 in. So if they put another 7.5 in that’s great, but it still isn’t dollar for dollar with the Victorian- with the Federal Government.

Question: And just …

Unidentified Speaker: Thanks everyone.

Question: … on another issue, what’s your reaction to the AFP raiding your ministerial colleague Mal Brough’s property, about the Ashby investigation?

Christopher Pyne: I don’t know anything about that.

Question: Is it appropriate for him to stay in his job?

Christopher Pyne: I don’t know anything about that. I haven’t heard that that’s the case, and I’d be very surprised if it is.

Unidentified Speaker: Thanks everyone, we’re done.

Christopher Pyne: Thank you.

Lily D’Ambrosio: Thank you.

Sarah Henderson: Thank you.

[Ends]