As we celebrate Australian Made Week, Macquarie Fields MP and Shadow Minister for Finance, Industry and Trade, Anoulack Chanthivong, is calling on the government to commit to domestic manufacturing.
“For too long, the Liberal Government has turned its back on local manufacturers by choosing to outsource and offshore infrastructure projects,” Mr Chanthivong said.
“Overseas built light rail, ferries and trains have been marred by safety concerns and budget blowouts. These transport projects are timely reminders that infrastructure could be – and should be – built here.”
Australian Made Week encourages consumers to choose locally made and grown Australian products and Mr Chanthivong started the week with a visit to Ingleburn manufacturing company Eilbeck Heavy Machinery with NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns.
The Eilbecks have been manufacturing here for 115 years, continually growing and developing their business.
“Here we’re in a new facility, we’ve invested about $20 million of private capital into this Australian market and Australian manufacturing,” Charlie Eilbeck said. “You see our sign out the front here it talks about Australian made, that’s who we are and that’s what we’re investing in.”
Mr Chanthivong said domestic manufacturing employed 250,000 people in NSW alone and contributed $100 billion to the Australian economy.
“By committing to domestic manufacturing, we can help grow businesses like Eilbeck Heavy Machinery in Ingleburn and create much-needed, well-paid local jobs,” he said.
Chris Minns said that while he and Anoulack believed that NSW is great at making things, domestic manufacture does need a helping hand from the NSW Government.
“So many of those great projects could have been built right here in Australia with the amazing machinery and know how of companies like this one right here, instead they were sent offshore,” he said.
“We’d like to see more companies like this grow and explode in terms of their workforce, in terms of their opportunities in the marketplace, but also competitors to Eilbeck right throughout Western Sydney, the Hunter Valley and regional NSW.”
