ONE ON ONE – Lily D’Ambrosio

AMT: Let’s start with your professional background and how you came to your current role.

Lily D’Ambrosio: Well, I’ve worked in a number of different workplaces over the years. I went to Melbourne University, where I did an Arts degree. I then worked in the union movement. I represented OHS needs through that work, but also a lot of employees in the manufacturing sector. Then I did some political work, party-political work for a number of years, and then electorate-office work. I did a lot of community engagement and helped a number of community members, organisations and individuals in terms of their particular needs and relationship with the government services and council services.

And then I was elected into parliament in 2002. I served as a Minister in the last year of the previous Labour government – there was a vacancy in Community Development, and I had the opportunity to serve. I was very thankful for that, and I’m certainly thankful that there is another opportunity here now, and very pleased to have both Energy and Resources, and Industry. They are very important portfolios in terms of the economic development of the state, and the potential for job opportunities too.

 

AMT: So talk us through the new government’s plans for manufacturing in Victoria.

LD: Well, manufacturing has been and remains a very significant part of Victoria’s economy, an important contributor of jobs, and a major contributor in terms of investment opportunities to the Victorian economy. But it’s changing, we know it’s changing, so we’re very clear from the Victorian government perspective that we need to identify – and have identified – the industries that have the greatest potential for growth, in terms of jobs, but also economic benefits for the state of Victoria.

If you have a look at the agenda that we went to the state election with, it is very much squarely based on growing jobs and creating employment opportunities through four state initiatives. One of those is the Back to Work Act, which was the first piece of legislation this Government introduced into the Victorian Parliament, such is the importance of the job ahead of us and the commitment we’ve made to creating 100,000 jobs.

The Back to Work Act will see $100m invested to give payroll tax relief to businesses in Victoria that are willing to take on people who’ve been long-term unemployed, young people who are finding it hard to get a job, or retrenched employees. It’s got a very clear, focused agenda to give immediate relief and support for those businesses to grow, but also for people who are on the cusp of losing work, or have been in long-term unemployment, or young people – to get them into work and give them the opportunity to actually make a living and give something back to the community.

There are three other important initiatives. One that I am responsible for in particular is the Future Industries Fund. That is $200m in grants for six key growth industries for Victoria. We believe that, when that money is strategically invested, those businesses will produce improvements in the development of those industries and the prospects for ongoing employment.

Another element is the Premier’s own Industry Investment Panel, which is a $500m panel that will look at strategic projects across the state that can get our infrastructure moving and get the investment and jobs growth that we need. The Premier will be driving that. We also have a $200m fund for regional jobs, and of course regional Victoria is so important to the success of this state in terms of our economy and job opportunities. We believe we’ve got a very robust offering and a plan to get the jobs that we say we’re going to create actually created.

Of course the Future Industries Fund is the one where I’ve been working very closely with in those six key industries to ensure that we maximise the value of that investment from the state, assisting or facilitating the growth of those industries, sustaining their businesses, and ensuring that the jobs are there.

 

AMT: And those key industries have been identified?

LD: Yes. They are Defence and Transport, Food and Fibre, New Energy Technologies, Professional Services, International Education, and Medical and Pharmaceuticals. They are areas that we believe clearly have the potential for growth, and it makes sense for us to work with those industries and develop them so that we can have Victoria better placed as an economic hub for the country, and as an important employer. And manufacturing is an important element of that.

 

AMT:  Transport and Defence would seem to be the logical one for a lot of those companies in automotive supply chains to transition into.

LD: Absolutely! And complementing that is an additional commitment to the Geelong Industry & Innovation Fund to assist with that transition, our commitment for Melbourne’s north in terms of the Industry & Innovation Fund, and importantly the Geelong Defence Procurement office, which we’re making progress on having established as soon as possible. They’re the hallmarks of our government’s commitment to manufacturing, to industry more broadly, and to high-level, high-skilled jobs. There are new ways of doing things, new types of manufacturing, new types of technologies that are out there that we need to be alive to, to ensure that Victoria is well placed to take the opportunities where they present themselves, but also help to facilitate and create those opportunities at the same time.

 

AMT: That’s interesting – a key interest for AMTIL is investment in innovation and technology, and seeing companies investing in technology that makes things smarter and better.

LD: Exactly. And that’s where Australian industry needs to spend more effort on and focus, and I know that many of the businesses have done exactly that. But we’re facing a real crisis in terms of jobs. Unfortunately we also had a Federal Government that challenged our three automotive manufacturers to leave the country, and that’s exactly what they did, so that wasn’t any help. We have a situation where we’re going to see some real crunch in terms of jobs, and we’re working and acting as quickly as we can, with real investment with a real vision of what we can do as a state.

But we certainly would hope that the Federal Government understand that they need to pull their weight and support Australian jobs and support Australian industry. I’m playing a strong advocacy role in that regard. The Defence industry is one that is being treated as a hot potato federally, but we need some security in terms of the pipeline of work that’s got to come. And the Federal Government’s got to make a decision that it will commit to certain projects over a period of time, and get the order book out and start putting in some orders and tenders released.

I’m meeting with [Defence Minister] Kevin Andrews to talk about these issues; I wrote to him, congratulating him on his appointment, but also seeking from him the decision to actually award some more AWD blocks of work to BAE Systems. I’ll keep pressing on that and advocating as strongly as we can for Victoria. We have to defend our jobs, and defend a sector that really can only exist with a foreseeable pipeline of work. Because once we lose that capability, you just don’t get it back.

And we’ve got tertiary institutions here like Melbourne University that produces fantastic engineering graduates that work very well with the needs of the defence industry or the aviation industry. They’re the things that we need to have an eye to protecting, and the Federal Government’s got to pull its weight and realise very quickly that they’re on a course of action that is going to see us hitting a brick wall very soon.

 

AMT: AMTIL works closely with the Industry Capability Network and we want to see supply chains improve. For example, there’s a company called Lovitt Technologies that is a major supplier to aerospace OEMs. How do we help them build a supply chain under them so they can go overseas and get more work?

LD: We are doing a body of work to drill down into those businesses out there that are quietly doing what they’re doing and have got those contracts. How many rely on state contracts? How many rely on the global market? We need to understand that better. Over the last four years we lost a wealth of knowledge in Victoria under the previous government. We need to know what’s going on out there and we’re not going to waste any time getting to the bottom of that. Once we know and have got a clear map of what it looks like, we can be more strategic in the assistance that we can give and the facilitation that we can offer in terms of helping their development.

I think the community expects governments to act in this space. We went to the election with a very clear agenda. People want to see governments acting to support their jobs and the future of their kids. And to achieve that, we have to have viable industries that are given a fair opportunity, whether it’s through state procurement, federal procurement, innovation, R&D – everything that allows us to offer good jobs, high-skilled jobs, high-paid jobs. And let’s not forget the importance of the education sector in all this, making sure young people get the best start they can.

 

AMT: And there’s no magic wand.

LD: No, there’s no magic wand. I don’t think anyone in the community would expect us to make statements that are magically promising the world, because people know the reality of the situation. But we know there are things that can be done. And we’ve made it clear what will be done under our Government. We believe we’ve been given the confidence of the community in Victoria to do just that. They will be our priorities in terms of delivering on the commitments we made.