TIM CRAKANTHORP, MEMBER FOR NEWCASTLE: I want to thank Chris for coming to Newcastle today to look at our local manufacturing and Varley in particular. When this government stops its addiction to offshoring the manufacturing of trains, buses, trams and ferries, we will see companies like Varley absolutely thrive. And when local manufacturers thrive, we get jobs and we get the community benefiting enormously.

CHRIS MINNS, NSW LABOR LEADER: Thanks, Tim. Look, it’s wonderful to be here with Tim and with executives and union delegates and the AMWU right here in Varley in the middle of Newcastle. Tim’s right, one of the reasons we’re here is to really investigate domestic manufacturing and look at the capacities and the ability of people right here in New South Wales, in particular in the Hunter region. I really want to draw a line in the sand on this idea that Australians and Australian companies can’t build things. We can do it well,  Australian engineering has been responsible for a proud legacy in train building, in shipbuilding, in bus building, in steel manufacturing and prefab fabrication over a long period of time. I believe we can bring that back into the New South Wales economy and the regional economy as well. If you look at the Western Australian, Queensland and Victorian governments over the last decade, they have rebuilt their domestic manufacturing economy. They’ve got back into the construction of rail carriages maintenance, shipbuilding, trams. In Western Australia, a trade and training centre backed by the Western Australian Government has been built just outside Perth and is now responsible for cycling through hundreds of apprentices who can work on these exciting manufacturing processes. Maryborough in Queensland, it’s a similar situation and in Victoria, the government has backed domestic manufacturing, bringing back jobs to that economy and those communities.

One point I think that’s really little recognised and something that the Opposition is going to focus on is the idea of value for money for the New South Wales taxpayer. I’ve seen reports that indicate of the top six overseas procured transport pieces of infrastructure, they’ve had budget blowouts of between 40 per cent and 50 per cent from the original budget estimate, so in other words, the government has come along said we need to build these things offshore because they’re too expensive to build in Australia but in the long run, the budget overruns equal nearly half the original estimated cost. The most egregious example is the CBD light rail, the budget overrun was $1.7 billion dollars, which was more than the entire project was meant to cost in the first instance. So my argument is the taxpayers aren’t getting value for money. More often than not these projects are over budget or over schedule or over time, and we’re not getting the domestic jobs that we need that really circle through the domestic economy. So one of the things that I’m very proud of and I think Tim would back me up here is that our focus over the last six months on domestic manufacturing has really seen the NSW Government for the first time in 10 years, come to Newcastle and talk to domestic manufacturing firms about what’s possible to build in New South Wales, to lift up opportunities for apprentices, to drive the economy and create jobs right here in New South Wales. It’s a great legacy, we need to make sure that we put meat on the bone when it comes to our policy proposals, we’re determined to do that, it’s one of the leading reasons we’re here talking to Varley today. We’re excited about the future, we are excited about Australian manufacturing, and we want great jobs right here in the Hunter.

JOURNALIST: So you’ve had a look at Varley, what do you think they’re capable of doing? If you are elected and what do you want to bring here?

MINNS: The extraordinary thing about Varley is the nature of their engineering works. I’ve asked about research and development, so many of the proposals that have been backed by the engineering crew and the manufacturing crew here has been complicated, elaborately manufactured goods. Seems like when it comes to talking to partners that they could potentially do business with, the know how when it comes to Australian manufacturing seems to know no ends, I don’t know of many countries around the world or many engineering firms that will be able to specifically look at a project and design a solution for a company that might be located on the other side of the world. It’s exciting what’s possible here.

Now, the proposals we are looking at, in particular are to do with train manufacturing, in particular, bus manufacturing, we’re somewhat advancedd in relation to our policy proposals in relation to that, but one of the things that we do need to do and we’re determined to do is to listen to the manufacturers here in the Hunter and understand what their capacities are. We want to do it right. At the end of the month, I’ll be going to Victoria to understand how the Victorian Government partners with private enterprise to drive and stimulate manufacturing jobs. I think we can do the same thing in this state.

JOURNALIST: What kind of injection could that have for the Hunter jobs wise and the economy?

MINNS: Yeah, of the big projects that were investigated by the McKell foundation last year, they estimated that New South Wales missed out on about 4,000 to 5,000 jobs, good well paid  jobs. Now, one of the big things quite understandably in the federal election is the unemployment rate in New South Wales and Australia. We’re approaching a number with a three in front of it, but I know some people have got three of those jobs. It used to be the case that good well paid jobs could get your kids through school, pay off your mortgage, then it was two full time jobs would be required to pay off your mortgage and get your kids through school. Now it looks like those jobs that you would have for decades that would skill you up, that would fulfill you in the workplace, and that would provide a sense of security and safety for your family are fallen by the wayside, but that doesn’t need to be the case. We can be world leaders when it comes to manufacturing, but I think it requires a bit of belief in what’s possible in this state and I’m determined to bring that back.
Thanks everybody.