Staley push for manufacturing

Member for Ripon Louise Staley is part of a Victorian Opposition spearhead pushing strongly to rebuild a manufacturing industry in Victoria.

Ms Staley joined a Liberal Party chorus in proposing a $1-billion Bringing Manufacturing Home Fund to encourage business growth and build facilities and generate jobs.

Ms Staley’s electorate includes Ararat and Stawell, which have been western Victorian bastions for regional manufacturing and production.

Major production firms based in the electorate include farm machinery, industrial and wood-heater producer Gason, electrical-wiring specialist AME Systems and Stawell Gold Mine.

The electorate has also established a strong renewable-energy sector, prompting Ararat and Northern Grampians Shire councils into exploring and developing value-adding manufacturing projects.

Ms Staley, Opposition Treasurer, said Victoria had lost more than 50,000 manufacturing jobs in the past 20 years.

She said there was an urgent need for response to the impact of COVID-19 to create jobs and boost the economy.

“With COVID-19 restrictions easing, now is the time for the Andrews government to act urgently to get Victorians back to work and back in business,” she said.

“Victoria has a real opportunity to create thousands of new jobs, attract millions of dollars in investment while regenerating our capability to produce critical supplies that we’ve otherwise lost to overseas – and communities in Ripon would benefit from this.

“Rebuilding local economies is a vital piece of Victoria’s recovery, and a boost to manufacturing in a region like ours could be a real boost for local jobs.

“Victorians now need a government focused on delivering a jobs-led and business-led recovery.”

Ms Staley said the pandemic had exposed holes in a national supply chain with an over reliance on too few countries to provide essential supplies such as personal protective equipment, PPE.

She said the Bringing Manufacturing Home Fund would prioritise support for industries of national importance such as PPE manufacture, defence procurement and rare-earths processing.

She added the proposed fund would provide support for businesses seeking to relocate manufacturing facilities and jobs back to Victoria.

“It would also support existing Victorian manufacturers to expand, as well as supporting innovation, research and development,” she said.

“With Victoria losing more jobs than any other state due to the pandemic, we need an urgent and bold plan to turn this around. We need to back local businesses to deliver the jobs and investment that Victoria so desperately needs.”

Ms Staley said the Bringing Manufacturing Home Fund added to a variety of Liberal Party policies designed to ‘get Victoria back to work and back in business’ after the economic fallout of COVID-19.