Parliamentary question without notice | Northern Economic Plan
09/02/2016
The Hon. G.E. GAGO: My question is to the Minister for Automotive Transformation. Can the minister please inform the chamber about the launch of the Northern Economic Plan?
The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy): I thank the honourable member for her question and her many, many years of interest in South Australian jobs and in skills which the Northern Economic Plan goes a long way to talking about.
The Northern Economic Plan is a joint partnership between the state government, the City of Playford, the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, the City of Salisbury, businesses in northern Adelaide, industry, and community and social leaders. The Northern Economic Plan sets the direction for transforming northern Adelaide into a diverse and resilient economy. By working together with other tiers of government, the business community, the education research sector and the community sector, we are investing in growth sectors and looking at ways to make it easier for businesses to grow and create jobs.
On 28 January, the Premier officially launched the Northern Economic Plan at Bickford’s in Salisbury South. The launch was attended by nearly 500 people and was held on the warehouse floor. While we were in a roped-off section, stock was moving in and out of the rest of the facility. In fact, throughout the event automated forklifts quietly moved around and up and down the row of stocks in an impressive display of cutting-edge automation.
I would like to thank the staff at Bickford’s, who would have worked hard to accommodate the launch event occurring in a normally very busy workplace. In particular, I would like to thank Angelo Kotses, Managing Director, for the use of the Bickford’s site and his great speech about how the Bickford’s group is growing in northern Adelaide, across the state and across Australia.
Over 160 years since their founding, Bickford’s remains a private Australian-owned and managed business. From a small chemist in 1839 known as the Adelaide Dispensary on North Terrace to its current world-class facilities at Salisbury South, Bickford’s is truly a South Australian success story.
At the launch event, following a Kaurna welcome to country by Jack Buckskin, the Premier formally launched the plan and signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of the government with those three northern council mayors. Raymond Spencer, as the Chair of the Economic Development Board emceed the events and spoke about the need for businesses to take risks and importance of business innovation and practices. The assembled audience of business, community, council and state government representatives also heard from Professor Barbara Pocock, Director of the Centre for Work and Life at the University of South Australia.
The launch of the Northern Economic Plan was a culmination of a lot of hard work from the mayors of the three northern councils, and I would particularly like to thank Mayor Gary Johanson, Mayor Gillian Aldridge, and Mayor Glenn Docherty for the commitment and hard work in working together to bring this plan to a reality. The administrative sides of the councils have also worked very well together with the chief executives from the councils with state government officials. The plan has also benefited from the close involvement of business representatives including Erik Bosch, Simon Kennedy and Kelvin Trimpler, and throughout the plan’s development I have been grateful for the dozens of businesses in the northern Adelaide regions who have taken the time to meet with me in the conversations with many more of the major employers who have been crucial in shaping this plan.
I have had the chance to visit companies like Scholle Industries, headed by Erik Bosch, or Smart Fabrication, headed by Simon Kennedy. Both of these companies are key employers in the region and their involvement on the Community Leaders Group has been a key to the plan having a good understanding of business focus. The Northern Economic Plan was characterised by a high level of consultation with business, but also with the community. Information was provided to more than 120,000 households, and the Premier and myself hosted a first of its kind tele town hall meeting that had almost 7,000 residents involved. The feedback we received from both businesses and the community was that they wanted all levels of government to work together to help create jobs.
A core part of the Northern Economic Plan is identifying ways in which the state government and local northern councils can work better together to give businesses a smoother ride when looking to grow and expand. We do not want to see potential job creating expansions and developments not go ahead because businesses cannot find the right way to do it, so I am grateful that those councils are working very closely together to support this.
Through the Northern Economic Plan, the state government, local governments, businesses and the community sector will work together on immediate projects and look at ways of finding jobs for those whose jobs will be lost as the automotive sector winds down with Holden closing down at the end of the end of 2017. Some of these projects will start immediately and others are long-term projects. Some of the projects have already been committed to, and the focus of the Northern Economic Plan will ensure that there is as much return to the local community as possible. This means maximising local jobs and contracts for residents in the north.
An important part of the launch event was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and those three councils. As part of the launch of the Northern Economic Plan, the state government also committed $24.65 million dollars in new funding for the North supporting growth industries in that area. This included a funding boost for northern Adelaide in a range of areas.
We have committed $2 million to support an alliance of northern businesses to trial prototypes for electric/diesel hybrid buses and possible manufacturing in northern Adelaide. The Premier also announced as part of the Northern Economic Plan that $7 million would be allocated to attract anchor tenants to be established in the Northern Adelaide Food Park in Parafield and also to promote the use of renewable energy and, importantly, energy storage solutions for the food park. This funding was on top of the $2 million that was allocated for the food park in the 2015-16 state budget.
There will also be $4 million of new money for a disability employment hub. We know that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, growth areas in northern Adelaide will be the health, ageing and disability sector, and the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be a big part of this increase. As the NDIS is rolled out, the size of the disability sector workforce is expected to more than double. This increase has a forecast of 6,300 new jobs statewide and approximately 1,700 of them in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
The construction sector is a growing sector in Adelaide’s north with a number of highly innovative companies. One innovative area is the modular construction area. This process and some of the innovative methods used have provided local companies with a strong competitive edge. The government will support this sector and has allocated $500,000 to establish an Advanced Modular Construction Industry Alliance.
We have also allocated $100,000 to develop a live music activation strategy in northern Adelaide. This funding will look to replicate some of the success that has been achieved in the CBD and also some of the success that has been achieved with initiatives like the Northern Sound System. An allocation of $50,000 for a youth resilience and empowerment program will work with disengaged students, and this program will be delivered by Power Community Limited, the community development arm of the Port Adelaide Football Club.
The final funding announcement as part of the Northern Economic Plan was a $10 million fund to support small business. Northern Adelaide has something like 16,700 small businesses, many of which have the capacity to employ more people relatively easily. The Small Business Development Fund will help small businesses with small matched grants that will provide growth and jobs. I look forward to providing the parliament in the coming months with more details of these new programs in the future.
The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: A supplementary arising from the original answer: can the minister elaborate on what the government imagines will happen in this rather obscurely named disability employment hub? Is it training people to become disability support workers? Is it training people to manufacture disability aids? Is it, heaven forbid, helping people with disabilities to find jobs? What does the government envisage will happen in the hub?
The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy): I thank the honourable member for her question. A major component of it will be providing training for people to work in the disability sector. We know there is a massive increase as the NDIS is rolled out for the need for people to work in that sector, so a major focus will be training. It is not finalised, and I would be happy to take into account the honourable member’s views as the disability hub is finalised. I do not have all the details of it. The actual implementation of it rests with the Minister for Disabilities, but I will make sure that much more information is provided.
