Media Statement - 4th October 2007
A Rudd Labor Government will commit up to $20 million to establish a Manufacturing Centre in northern Adelaide’s Mawson Lakes to help South Australian manufacturers become more productive and competitive, creating more jobs for the future.
Through the Manufacturing Centre, South Australia’s 6,000 small and medium sized manufacturers will be able to get expert help to do their job better. South Australia’s Manufacturing Centre will form part of an Australia-wide Manufacturing Network, in which a Labor Government will invest up to $100 million.
The Centre will give South Australian manufacturers access to a wide range of expertise and facilities. It will work directly with manufacturing businesses to help them improve their innovative capacity, providing hands on support, such as:
- benchmarking of business processes against best practice and support to manage the organisational challenges of small business growth;
- help with finding and implementing the latest technology to make products more efficiently;
- access to cutting edge research and to prototyping and testing facilities to turn great ideas into innovative products; and
- assistance to cut through red tape to access other government programs.
Federal Labor’s Manufacturing Centre’s will not duplicate existing services. A Rudd Labor Government will work with the South Australian Government, local businesses and innovation services to ensure that the new Centre in Mawson Lakes adds value, not complexity.
For example, there may be a need for prototyping infrastructure to enable small and medium electronics companies – who can’t afford to capital for their own specialist labs – to turn their great Australian ideas into world leading products.
Mawson Lakes is an ideal location for a Manufacturing Centre because Adelaide’s north is widely recognised for its strength in manufacturing, including ICT, defence, automotive, electronics, minerals processing, food and wine.
Northern Adelaide’s manufacturing industry employs approximately 17,000 workers. This means one in five families whose futures rely on a productive and innovative manufacturing sector.
Federal Labor’s Manufacturing Centre is part of a positive commitment to working in partnership with South Australian industry for a prosperous future. Unlike the Howard Government, Federal Labor is committed to fresh ideas for Australian manufacturing to sustain our prosperity beyond the mining boom.