MAKING IT FOR QUEENSLAND

Our plan will grow manufacturing across Queensland in traditional and new industries, making new products in new ways, creating new jobs

Queensland manufacturers are entrepreneurial, innovative, and globally recognised. Our well-established industries, highly developed supply chains and globally significant research and development capability make Queensland an attractive place to do business.

As an industry, manufacturing contributes more than $20 billion a year to the Queensland economy and supports around 165,000 jobs. It reaches across different sectors, different regions and different markets.

From rail manufacturing, food processing, craft brewing, meat processing, aerospace and medicine–manufacturing is both an industry in its own right and a critical strength of Queensland's economy. Manufacturing is also an important part of the supply chain of many industries such as agriculture.

With almost a third of manufacturing taking place in regional Queensland, prioritising this sector will deliver widespread benefits across our state.

Increasingly, economies around the world are pursuing opportunities to harness research and innovation to generate new industries and new jobs. We want to see Queensland industry make and grow more products, add more value to existing products and compete in an increasingly complex world.

Attracting Manufacturers to Queensland

Through the pandemic Queensland's manufacturers stepped up and adapted to meet the challenges of the health crisis, quickly retooling to fill gaps in global supply chains for PPE and other essential products for our front-line workers.

We want to maintain that momentum– encouraging Australian companies to bring back manufacturing done overseas and invest in Queensland.

To do this, we will continue to support the adoption of leading-edge technologies and practices. We’ll also work with manufacturers to place a greater focus on local supply to reduce inputs from
overseas and shorten supply chains.

Attracting new businesses to Queensland will continue to strengthen our regional manufacturing base – particularly in agriculture and food processing – creating new and diverse job opportunities across the state.

It also builds Queensland’s supply of high value goods and services, strengthening our ability to respond to future pandemics.

Powering Regional Development

The Queensland Government wants to lift productivity and build the international competitiveness of the manufacturing sector and emerging industries by developing growth precincts to attract
private investment, streamline approvals and drive growth.

We will foster growth precincts across the state where businesses, workers and technology can come together to build skills and innovate, access new market opportunities, build on the individual
strengths of our regions and create jobs. This includes partnering with industry to create dedicated precincts to embrace emerging opportunities, as well as developing next generation regional plans that can support economic growth.

This builds on our existing $13.5 million Manufacturing Hubs Grant Program to grow advanced manufacturing capability in the Cairns, Townsville and Rockhampton regions.

Adopting Leading-Edge Technologies and Practices

By combining leading technologies and practices with our competitive strengths, we will create high-skill employment opportunities and world leading businesses.

We are already working with industry to increase adoption of leading-edge technologies, develop a highly skilled workforce and improve access to domestic and global markets.

The Queensland Government will build on this work by encouraging our key industries to innovate and adopt new technology and practices that makes us globally competitive.

Much of this new technology and innovation can be sourced from local start-ups, entrepreneurs and researches. Through the Advance Queensland initiative a strong network of innovation has been built across the state.

Highlighted Action to Date

Throughout the pandemic, the Queensland Government has continued to partner with industry to address critical supply issues.

The Queensland Government has worked closely with local suppliers and manufacturers to ensure Queensland can readily scale-up to bolster supplies of PPE when required.

On 19 May 2020, the Queensland Government announced up to $50 million would be redirected to help Queensland manufacturers make essential goods such as PPE, health consumables and devices.

This builds on strong foundations. Together with industry, we are already implementing the Advanced Manufacturing 10-year Roadmap and Action Plan to support businesses in adapting to Industry 4.0.

Through the Queensland Government's existing $755 million Advance Queensland program, we have identified several priority and emerging industries and have developed a series of roadmaps for each industry. Each roadmap will build our competitive strengths, diversify our economy and create the knowledge-based jobs of the future.

For example, the Agtech and Logistics Hub in Toowoomba will focus on the growth of the agricultural industry through the development and adoption of innovation and technology. The Hub will provide a central place for agribusiness, start-ups, small businesses, training providers, researchers and the supply chain to collaborate on solutions to industry challenges.