Thursday 25th July 2013
The Hon Kelvin Thomson MP
Blog Response
to Politifact Australia Article 11/7/13
‘To
what extent is Australia a world leader’
Here are the facts
I
would like to thank Politifact for querying whether Australia is a world leader
in many fields, as I am always happy to discuss and promote Australian
businesses and exporters.
Independent Research Australian Export
Success
The
Milken Innovation Report, based on the World Economic Forum’s Global
Competitiveness Report 2011-12, found that Australia is a leading country in
innovation in university- industry collaboration, R&D expenditure, patents
and science education. It further found that Australia is above average in
technology exports which includes high value goods such as computers and
pharmaceuticals.
In
past studies conducted by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Australia ranked
first as a location to conduct clinical trials and second overall for the
competitiveness of its biotechnology. The EIU ranked Australia as second in the
Asia Pacific region for IT industry competitiveness.
In my
role and travels as Parliamentary Secretary for Trade, it was very clear to me
that Australian businesses are increasingly becoming renowned domestically and
abroad for their high quality, top end, high value, and niche products. You can’t export if your product isn’t
world-leading, and many Australian exporters are succeeding with world-leading
products.
I visited the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney,
Newcastle, Bendigo, Geelong and eastern Melbourne, as part of my Trade Outreach
Program.
In April I visited Queensland and I met with PWR
Performance Products, recipients of the Prime Minister’s Australian Exporter of
the Year Award 2012. PWR design, develop, manufacture and export premium
products for high performance motor vehicles in the elite racing market.
I visited NOJA Power who specialise in the research
and development and manufacturing of low and medium voltage switchgear
assemblies for industry, infrastructure and electricity distribution utilities,
and are represented in more than 80 countries.
I met with Populous Australia, part of a global
collective of architects, designers, technical experts and industry veterans
that design stadiums and sports facilities, including London Olympic Stadium,
Etihad Stadium and Forsyth Barr Stadium in New Zealand.
I visited the University of Queensland’s Institute
of Continuing and TESOL Education, which delivers education and training to
more than 6,500 student participants from over 60 countries.
I hosted a Trade and Exporter Roundtable in Gold
Coast where I met with some very successful and innovative Australian exporters
including Morlife, Technigro, Miessence, Icon Software Solutions and others.
In Sydney I met with Auto-Bake, which is a global
designer and supplier of fully automated industrial baking ovens and systems. Internationally
renowned for its innovative Serpentine technology, Auto-Bake’s compact,
cost-efficient, continuous baking solutions are custom configured for a diverse
range of baking applications.
In Sydney I also met with ResMed, a leading
developer, manufacturer and distributor of medical equipment for treating,
diagnosing and managing sleep disorder breathing and other respiratory
diseases.
In Newcastle I met with DSI, Australia’s largest
manufacturer and supplier of specialist strata reinforcement and support
products to the underground coal and metalliferous mining sectors, and is a
major exporter to the Asia-Pacific Region.
In April I visited Bendigo where I met with the
Australian Turntable Company, who design, manufacture a range of products including
car and truck turntables, heavy engineering solutions for the mining industry,
residential and commercial management solutions and revolving restaurants and
rooms. In Bendigo I hosted a regional Agribusiness Roundtable where I met with
Munari Wines, EV Olives, Wisa Global, and B&B Basil. I later met with Keech
Australia who design and manufacture high integrity steel casting applications
for mining, agriculture, construction, railway and defence. I met with Kluwell
Publications and VEA Group who are doing great work in the educational sectors.
In May I showcased Geelong to 13 Consuls-General
where we met with CSIRO Animal Health Laboratory, who are undertaking
ground-breaking work in responding to emerging and exotic animal diseases at
home and abroad, including in Asia. I met with Backwell IXL appliance, car
component, and foundry products manufacturer. I visited Cotton On who’re a
global retail chain which began in Geelong with a range of key products
including clothing, cosmetics and house decour, with over 800 stores worldwide.
I hosted a trade roundtable which consisted of Aircraft Plastics Australia,
Riordan Group, Stuck on You and other local businesses and exporters. I met
with Boundary Bend who are Australia’s largest olive producer, with 2.5 million
producing trees on 6,240 hectares. I met with RPC Technologies who supply
corrosion resistant, structural fibre reinforced plastic fabrications, piping
and ducting systems, acid resistant heavy duty linings and specialist composite
products for defence.
In my own electorate of Wills I held a Trade
Roundtable and met with bambis, who produce and distribute the well-known and
successful Salt and Pepper homeware range,
and Pneuvay Engineering, who specialise in pneumatic conveying,
industrial vacuum cleaning and materials handling components systems.
There are many other examples. According to Dr
Donald Hector, Chemical Engineer and former company director (article ‘How to
revive Australia’s manufacturing sector’ 11/11/11), CSL successfully made the
transition from being a government owned corporation to a highly competitive,
publicly owned company. It is now one of the biggest blood-products producers
in the world. Tasmanian Alkaloids is the largest producer of medical opium
alkaloids in the world.
Cochlear is another high value added exporter, and
leading global expert in implantable hearing solutions. The Cochlear implant is
one of numerous successful Australian products.
Another successful
Australian company going international is ComputerShare. According to Austrade,
over
the past five years Australia’s Computershare has become the world’s largest
provider of investor services, servicing more than 100 million shareholder accounts.
With operations and 12,000 employees in more than 20 countries, Computershare
is the prominent force in share registration, employee equity plans, proxy
solicitation, dividend payments, and other specialised financial, governance
and stakeholder support. Since 1978, the Melbourne-based company has grown to
become a A$4.5 billion business by continuing to invest in its proprietary
technology and product development. Revenue in 2011 was about US$1.6 billion,
more than 75 per cent of which came from outside Australia.
Exporter
Awards
The Australia
Export Award recipients and Hall of Fame inductees illustrate the diversity of
products, technologies, skills and services Australia is becoming increasingly
renowned for; ranging from LaserVision who specialise in high impact
entertainment communications, Ausenco, a leading provider of engineering and
project management services to global resource and energy sectors, Casella
Wines, and the University of New South Wales, to name a few.
The overall picture
Australia
posted its third trade surplus in as many months in April 2013, reflecting the
resilience of the economy despite global weakness. Data from the ABS shows
Australia recorded a seasonally adjusted surplus of $28 million in April, as
imports increased and exports fell slightly. April’s figure compares with a
March surplus of $555 million, revised up from $307 million. On the export side
the value of agricultural shipments rose 2% or $64 million, to $3.2billion. Of
this exports of meat increased 3%, to $680 million for the month. Compared with April 2012, Australia's merchandise
exports to China increased 16%, to $7.4 billion. There was also 5.5% growth, to
$1.5 billion, in exports to South Korea. Exports to India were 17% higher for
the month and up more than 8% over the year.
Australian economy and state of Australian business-
The Facts
Business
has invested over $1 trillion in Australia since Labor came to power in 2007. A
strong investment outlook remains for Australia, with a record $268 billion at
an advanced stage – helping to boost the productive capacity of our economy.
It is
a myth that we are a high taxing government or a highly taxed country. The
latest OECD estimates of total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP show
Australia at under 26%, well under the OECD average of over 33%.
Australia’s
economy stands as a beacon of resilience in the world, with contained
inflation, low unemployment, low government debt and low interest rates. Interest rates have
fallen from 6.75% to 2.75% since 2007 – the lowest rates since Menzies was
Prime Minister.
Australia
has a AAA credit rating with a stable outlook from all three ratings agencies.
We are amongst only 8 nations in the world to have this.
Unemployment in Wills-the facts
The Politifacts article questions whether local businesses in Wills are
helping to create jobs.
The March Quarter Unemployment figure for Wills was 4%, which compares
favourably to the March Quarter of 2012 when it was 5.3%.
The continuing fall in unemployment in Wills demonstrates the economic
management credentials of the Labor Government, helping reinforce Australia as
a leading country for economic growth and employment.
With unemployment
rates above 25 per cent in both Greece and Spain, and a staggering 50 plus per
cent youth unemployment rate in both countries, results like these in Wills and
nationally are the envy of the industrialised world.
Yours
sincerely
Kelvin Thomson
