As the advocacy voice for manufacturers in the south-east of Melbourne, The South Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) is pushing for land and tax reform for manufacturers.
Association Comment Honi Walker, CEO SEMMA
SEMMA has been working with a range of education and training organisations to ensure that manufacturing is at the table for important discussions on skills.
The Alliance has also been leading new supply chain opportunities for manufacturers in defence, infrastructure and the new renewables sector.
While SEMMA has met with the Victorian treasurer and a range of ministers, its requests have not been attended to. Because of Victoria’s debt of $178 billion, the government must look at what levers to pull in order to raise money.
For manufacturers, a base tax rate would be a huge incentive to invest and to stay in Victoria.
In the past 12 months, we’ve seen the cost of doing business in Victoria rise. These things are all relevant when you are trying to do business, grow and innovate. They are also relevant when you want to hire apprentices, or even keep your current staff.
If we don’t develop better policies to support the engine room of the economy (manufacturing), we could have less SMEs, reduced competition and be stuck with higher prices for longer. How long can we sustain this cycle?
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), a number of Australian businesses entered insolvency last financial year, with firms in the construction and hospitality sectors most heavily impacted. While manufacturers have some buffer, the trickle-down effect is only a matter of time, as we are in a per-capita recession.
We need new policies to support manufacturers and the entire supply chain. We need to enhance our local capabilities and make sure our local content is more tightly regulated. We need to enforce our anti-dumping laws.
We need to be more strategic about our skilled migration policies and we need to cut red tape so we can bring in the skilled migrants that we need – engineers, mechanics, welders. We’ve done it before, like Snowy Hydro. Why not now?
And we need to encourage more women into these roles. We need to embrace the culture of change now or we risk stagnating for even longer. We need to be open to flexibility in our workplaces.
We also need a suitable mindset to rebuild our country after COVID-19. Victoria has been the slowest state to rebound. And that’s because we are the highest taxed state in Australia and it’s because we have overspent on infrastructure projects, while other states are working hard offering incentives to attract our best and brightest (companies and individuals) across the borders.
Our energy supply is another issue that keeps manufacturers awake at night. We need a consistent, uninterrupted base load. This is policy malaise. The National Reconstruction Fund has to do more for more SMEs in manufacturing if we are going to meet the needs of the new renewables sector, defence, housing and infrastructure.
SEMMA will be releasing its Manufacturing BLUEPRINT in 2025. In it, we will provide policymakers with our vision for not just Victoria – but Australia’s manufacturing future. We know what manufacturers need and want – therefore it’s up to us to guide our policymakers towards the future of manufacturing.