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Industry welcomed new statistics showing strong support for other manufacturing sectors receiving similar assistance from the Federal Government as the automotive industry, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said today.
The Essential Research report found an average of 62 per cent of people believed other manufacturing industries deserved similar Government assistance to the automotive sector while 79 per cent agreed Australia should be an economy that “makes things”. Read survey here.
AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said it was interesting to see a strong consensus for Government to support other manufacturing industries facing pressures – like food and grocery – to safeguard jobs and investment.
“Food and grocery is Australia’s largest manufacturing industry – four times larger than the automotive sector – employing 312,000 people including half in rural and regional areas,” Ms Carnell said.
“The reasons why Australian food and grocery manufacturers are under so much pressure include the rising cost of labour, energy, water, transport and high global commodity prices as well as the strong Australian dollar making imports cheaper. This along with weak consumer spending and supermarket price wars means manufacturing return on investment is under real pressure.”
Ms Carnell said: “Industry is calling on the Government to get behind the food and grocery manufacturing sector in the upcoming Federal Budget process.
“Industry is not looking for huge hand-outs but we are asking the Government to support a range of initiatives to improve the competitiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the $108 billion sector.”
In its Budget 2012-13 Submission, AFGC is calling on Government to:
- Establish a Supermarket Fair Trading Code of Conduct and a Supermarket Ombudsman.
- Introduce accelerated depreciation provisions for manufacturers to purchase new plant equipment to improve productivity and energy efficiency commencing in 2012-13.
“To encourage investment in Australia, Government needs to provide tax incentives to encourage business to take advantage of the high Australian dollar to invest in large-scale plant equipment upgrades (accelerated depreciation of assets) to improve efficiency and reduce energy use,” Ms Carnell said.
Ms Carnell said the Government should also appoint a Supermarket Ombudsman.
“This would help create a more level playing field for primary producers and manufacturers in their dealing with Coles and Woolworths,” Ms Carnell said.
“Australia and New Zealand has the highest levels of supermarket concentration in the world, delivering significant market power to major supermarkets and making it increasingly difficult for suppliers to negotiate reasonable trading terms and compete with the growing levels of private label products.
“Australians and our political leaders overwhelmingly want a local, value-adding food and grocery manufacturing sector – they don’t want to be reliant on imports for our food supply.”
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More information: Brad Watts AFGC Director Media and Corporate Affairs 0437 379 818 |
