Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House that some manufacturing in the electorate of Petrie is actually thriving. We know Australia has a strong skills and manufacturing base and that Australians are in fact creative and the design experts. I would like to highlight the achievements of a local manufacturing company in the Petrie electorate that I recently visited. This local company proves that domestic manufacturing can be not only productive and profitable but at the forefront of innovation and design. This local manufacturing company is The Evolve Group. They are located in Clontarf and have created 130 jobs throughout Brisbane, 40 of which are in my electorate.

Evolve are a true end-to-end product innovation and commercialisation solutions provider. They are part of a new manufacturing industry that do not just make great products; they design them to be great and design them to be manufactured here in Australia. Ninety-five per cent of what Evolve manufacture is done locally. At a time when more and more Australian manufacturing departs our shores, Evolve have broken the mould and have steadily grown.

Ty Herman, the company's managing director, and his team understand what gives product value to the retailer, which is important. This is why they are successful in the global market and can compete with China. Any manufacturer or small business can make a cheaper product, but when Evolve make a product they ensure the product is either a patented innovation that cannot be copied or design it so efficiently that China cannot compete with it.

A great example of Evolve's product innovation and design is Polyslab. Over eight years ago, Evolve launched this very simple plastic equipment base, which goes under air-conditioning units. Since its launch, Polyslab continues to be the biggest selling equipment base throughout Australia and New Zealand. It is now sold in the United States and Europe. This remarkable product is not only manufactured locally in Brisbane but made from 100 per cent recycled products, which is of course great for the environment.

Evolve also make a four-wheel drive product called total recovery and extra device, otherwise known TRED. In six months, Evolve created this product, met the market demand and became the No. 1 selling product in the market. For those of you who like to go four-wheel driving on the beach or in the bush, if you get bogged you need TRED in your vehicle. It will help pull it you out.

It is in the Petrie electorate's best interests that companies like Evolve do well. The more successful Evolve become, the more jobs are created locally. This is why I support the coalition government's move to repeal over 10,000 acts and regulations. Cutting red tape and slashing the compliance bill for businesses will provide economic benefits for the Petrie electorate. Of course we need to abolish Labor's the crippling carbon tax, another hurdle that Australian manufacturers have had to jump over—a tax that overseas manufacturers do not have to pay that our manufacturers do. We know—and I say this to those opposite—that a lot of those Labor members said before the last election that the carbon tax would be abolished. They put it on their printed material. They said on their printed material that the carbon tax would be scrapped. There was nothing about an ETS; they just said it would be abolished and scrapped. Yet they come into the House and continue to support it.

I also call on the Queensland state government to eliminate the payroll tax for SMEs or raise the threshold to $10 million plus. Why should any company that employs people have to pay a tax to employ them? Of course, I understand that the Queensland state government was left with $80 billion of Labor's debt and is currently paying about $450,000 an hour in interest. It makes it very difficult to abolish taxes when you have been left with that debt.

Finally, I would like to say congratulations to Ty Hermans and his entire team for the great work they are doing. I personally thank Ty for employing local people in the Petrie electorate. As their business continues to grow, I would love to see their entire manufacturing base moved into the Petrie electorate. Local people in my electorate are willing to work, but they just need the jobs to get going. It is great to have a local and successful entrepreneur like Ty providing jobs for locals in Petrie. Well done to the Evolve Group.