TRANSCRIPT: Rheinmetall NIOA Press Conference, 15 November 2019

E&OE

Subjects: Rheinmetall NIOA; regional jobs; Australia bushfires

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

Take two of name. How do you spell it. 

JACKSON NIOA:

Jackson Nioa – J A C K S O N, N I O A – Director of Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

[Indistinct] questions?

JOURNALIST:

Yeah. So, tell us what we’re doing here today? Just talk to me.

JACKSON NIOA:

Today marks a fantastic milestone for Rheinmetall NIOA Munitions. We are opening our office here in Maryborough and we’ve also brought on our first full-time local employee as project manager for the build. So it’s a really fantastic milestone for us and we’re looking forward to, you know, starting working in the local community.

JOURNALIST:

How long until we get everything else up and running? I guess the factory and everything?

JACKSON NIOA:

We’re expecting to start construction first quarter next year. We’ve already released construction expression of interest for head contractors locally, also called for local sub-contractors. So we’re already engaging with the local community and local businesses and we’ll see construction starting early next year.

JOURNALIST:

I guess looking long term, when the jobs start flowing for the factory, is this where the people will be coming in for interviews, that type of thing? Or?

JACKSON NIOA:

This will be our local headquarters as we start the construction out- out at site. And this will be our base for the next two years as we get up and running out at [indistinct].

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

[Indistinct].

JOURNALIST:

How many people will be employed in this building?

JACKSON NIOA:

So we’ve had our first employee start within the last few weeks. We’ve already- we’ve advertised recently for another office administration assistant. We were really pleased with that result, we had over a hundred applicants for that role so we’re really excited to see people wanting to come and work with us in the local community. By end of next year, we expect that we’ll have around 15 employees based out of this office.

JOURNALIST:

And how many employees are you expecting in the actual factory itself?

JACKSON NIOA:

Once we’re fully operational from 2022 we’ll have up to 100 employees out at the plant.

JOURNALIST:

And how is the- is the factory build been started yet, or?

JACKSON NIOA:

We’re in finalisation of the construction documentation and we’ll have construction starting early next year.

JOURNALIST:

Yep. Anything else you want to add, or you can tell us that we haven’t sort of mentioned?

JACKSON NIOA:

I don’t think so. It’s all good.

JOURNALIST:

Alright. Thank you. Next.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Llew O’Brien, Federal Member for Wide Bay …

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

This is live by the way.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

So, ready to roll?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

Yeah. I’m good.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Well it’s absolutely fantastic to be here today at this most significant event for Rheinmetall NIOA, and I obviously welcome my good friend, colleague and boss – Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Michael McCormack – who has been so instrumental in achieving what we have so far with this wonderful, new, innovative industry coming to Maryborough. When I first spoke to NIOA and Rheinmetall about this project, the next conversation I had was with Michael McCormack and I flagged this with him and told him what a fantastic project this was and how well developed the application was.

And it went through a very competitive process in the Regional Growth Fund, which you cannot do without having a strong economy. And I think that’s what we’ve got to acknowledge here, that the reason we’re bringing a new, innovative industry to Maryborough in regional Queensland is both because the National Party in Canberra pushed hard, and don’t stop fighting until we achieve results like NIOA Rheinmetall in Maryborough.

But also because we’re part of a team that manages the economy and that we can actually balance the books and have the $28.5 million required to get the business case over the line to create 100 jobs ongoing for many decades to come.

So I’m very, very proud to be a part of this. I am excited about our first local employee – Jeff Crabtree the Project Manager – being recruited, and there’s going to be many more in the not too distant future. I look forward to the first sod turning out on the actual site when we can start to see some earth being moved around and some construction started, and I’m sure that’s going to be a moment that the whole town is looking forward to.

This is a boost for Maryborough, it’s another big investment, such as we’ve done with sugar and hardwood here in Maryborough to get this economy up and going.

JOURNALIST:

When are we looking at that sod turning, do you think?

LLEW O’BRIEN:

So, as Jackson said before, we’re hoping to see some movement out there in the first quarter of next year.

JOURNALIST:

And tell us about the work that’ll be done out there.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

I think that’s probably technical stuff that I’ll throw over to Jackson to give you the good lines.

JOURNALIST:

We might ask someone after, we can do it, and it’s alright.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Yeah.

JOURNALIST:

Next one was about the contracts – is that probably- yep, okay.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Any of those ones. Yeah.

JOURNALIST:

How many jobs in construction?

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Was it two-

JACKSON NIOA:

[Interrupts] Roughly around 250. I think.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

So there’s going to be- there’ll be approximately 250 jobs throughout construction of this project, which will be a boost, immediate boost to the local economy and those people will be spending money at the shops, at the supermarkets and driving our local economy which it desperately needs at the moment. Unfortunately, industry is under attack from our state Labor government, their policies are designed to deindustrialise and deagriculturalise our State, and the Commonwealth is having to step in to stop it. And this is the sort of project that we’re fully behind to make up the slack where the State Labor government has let us down so badly.

JOURNALIST:

We’ve heard a lot of rumours about hold up and power issues – obviously we’ve moved through that?

LLEW O’BRIEN:

I’ll defer to Jackson on that one. Yeah.

JOURNALIST:

That’s all I’ve got then.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Righto.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:

Do you want to just fire away?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Yeah. This building is synonymous with Maryborough. This building has had many guises; it’s been an army drill hall; it’s been a bank; it’s been a courthouse; it’s been a newspaper office; it’s been here since 1884 serving this community, so it’s got a history steeped in tradition - Maryborough tradition. And for the here and now, and indeed for the future, it’s going to be Rheinmetall NIOA’s headquarters for this amazing, remarkable, fantastic build, where the projectile forging plant is going to make such a difference for this community, for this region, for our nation. And I commend this family company, this wonderful enterprise for doing what they're doing to aid to youth unemployment, to aid to economic growth in and around Maryborough, to make sure that those young people who don't have a job now, certainly have a future, to make sure that we build on our export markets in defence industry. We're spending hundreds of billions of dollars on defence industry and I know how important this is for our Minister, for our Government and for our Nation's future. And Rheinmetall NIOA is coming to, certainly, this investment with a $28.5 million Federal grant. We're pleased. I know Llew O'Brien has put so much into ensuring that not only was the money available, available for the future of Maryborough. Llew O'Brien stands for jobs. Jobs means more trade, more activity, more employment and better prospects for Maryborough and the entire region.

I commend Rheinmetall NIOA for starting this project off, this milestone moment today with the opening of this administration building. As I say, in this landmark building here in Maryborough. But not only that, it's not about the building, it's not just about the plant, it's about the people who are going to staff it and making sure that we get that construction phase with 250 employees, making sure that we've got the 110 or so people who are going to be working in the plant when it really fires up in 2022 of course. The first projectiles will be off the plant, off the factory floor in 2021, all things being equal.

But we welcome Jeff Crabtree as the first employee, indeed as the as the project manager. He's an engineer. He comes here with a wealth of experience. This has been a very competitive process to get the right project manager. And I know Jeff who has really invested in this community too is the right person for the job. Rheinmetall NIOA are the right company for the job. And Llew O'Brien he just gets on with job, making sure that Maryborough is looked after for the here and now and for the future.

So well done to all concerned. This is the first in a number of steps along the way to ensuring that we have this defence industry as part of regional Queensland, as part of regional Australia. We back – as Liberals and Nationals – we back these sorts of projects, we back these sorts of grants because we know that companies like Rheinmetall NIOA are going to make the best use of that money to create jobs, to create opportunities and to create hope for the future. So well done to all concerned, it's a real red letter day. I've been here a number of times. Llew keeps updating me on a weekly basis of how well this is going. And I very much look forward to coming back next year helping to turn the first sod and getting the plant construction off and under way.

JOURNALIST:

Tell us about what the project might have- what impact it might have countrywide as well.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well what it's going to do, it's going to ensure that we have a manufacturing industry right here in Maryborough. And when you have manufacturing here in Australia, you make sure that you've got those people with those sorts of skills being able to have gainful employment. You have the ability for those sorts of people to work in regional Australia, and we want regional Australia to have the brightest future possible. We want manufacturing to have a future here in Australia. All too often, all too often we see these types of industries, these types of factories, these types of plants looking elsewhere, looking offshore for their future. But well done to Rheinmetall NIOA, they've seen a future in Maryborough. They've seen a future in the youth and the people around here who they know they can turn into very, very good employees to make sure that we've got a manufacturing future in regional Queensland. I know Llew O'Brien has been absolutely instrumental in making sure that this plant has established here and I know the future only looks bright.

JOURNALIST:

Flow-on effects, transport, that sort of thing from a project like this. There will be a lot of that won’t there?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

It ticks every box. And I know that when you build a factory such as this, a plant like this in regional areas, it only grows side industries as well. The direct and indirect flow-on effects of this are enormous and that's why we're investing $28.5 million in just this particular facility. We're doing that right around the nation, not just in Queensland but in other states and territories as well because we want to see a future in regional Australia. Llew and I experience it every day of the week. We live in regional Australia. We're proud of regional Australia. We want to make sure that regional Australia has a bright future because when the regions are strong, so too is our nation. And certainly when it comes to defence industry as I say, our nation is spending- our government is indeed spending hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into defence industry. I know how important this is, not just for our defence capability, but indeed for our regions because many of the factories, many of the plants, much of the manufacturing is being done in regional areas.

JOURNALIST:

Any further plans for the region?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well look I’ll pass that onto Llew, I’m sure he’s got lots to say about that.

LLEW O’BRIEN:

Well, absolutely. We have got a number of projects that are in the pipeline. In 2018, in the budget, we announced $800 million for an upgrade of the road at the Bruce Highway, a bypass of Gympie. Now, the final design is being completed; the acquisition of the corridor has occurred. We're now waiting on the state government to actually start it. There are a number of projects throughout Wide Bay; Bells Bridge intersection is another one that will eliminate a bottleneck and a really poor safety- an intersection with a very poor safety record. Unfortunately, once the- again, the money was committed for that, $14 million through the Federal Government in 2017, and we're waiting on the State Government to start construction on that.

There are so many good things that we have in the pipeline for this region. We just need the State Government to start doing the job they are employed to do and actually building this infrastructure.

JOURNALIST:

So you've given them the money for that. You just- what do you say to them, to get it happening quickly, or?

LLEW O’BRIEN:

I say to the State Government, I say to Bruce Saunders and Annastacia Palaszczuk, get on with the job that you were elected to do. And I'd say to the people of Wide Bay; I’d say to the people of Maryborough, don't listen to what Bruce Saunders says. Watch what Bruce Saunders does that, is how he's to be judged, and at the moment, the Palaszczuk government is a bottleneck to progress.

JOURNALIST:

Can I ask you about- we’ve got a few fire questions.

Just wondering if you're going to visit any of the fire affected areas here today?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well I was here on, I was certainly here on Sunday down at Noosa, and looking at the fire control centre there. Visited again there yesterday making sure that I also get up to Yeppoon. I know, having spoken to Michelle Landry at length, there are a number of fires burning there. Of course, our thoughts are with those firefighters who are out there both full time and volunteers on the fire front spending many, many hours on their feet putting out these fires and our thoughts are certainly with them.

We've got the most professional people using very good equipment. And you know, I know and I commend what has been done in the past to ensure that we have the right fire equipment, both trucks and pumps, et cetera. It's going to be a battle, not just for the here and now, but certainly this summer. It's going to be a long hot summer. The drought- of course, the drought conditions have not helped this situation but we've got the very best people available. We've got the very best people making sure that they're there to support our rural and regional communities and those other communities which are very much fire prone at the moment.

Of course, some people have lost homes, some people have indeed lost family members, and our hearts go out to them. But if people see certainly those miscreants starting fires, then they should contact Crimestoppers. Fact is arson can be deadly; arson ruins lives. We can always replace properties; we can always replace houses; we cannot replace lives. And so if people in those fire prone areas are urged and encouraged, indeed told by authorities to leave home, then do so. Your life is worth much more than trying to stick around and clean gutters and do those sorts of things. The fact is if authorities tell you to leave, then do so immediately. But in the meantime, have a plan. Make sure you have a bag of clothes and take your medication with you.

I spoke to a pharmacist yesterday and she said if you are speaking at any time in the next few days to the media please tell people, encourage people to make sure they take their medication with them. And if people aren't able to gather it up in time, please go to your local chemist. They can provide you with three days of medication without a script. But the fact is, make sure you take it with you. You know, your life’s worth far more; it's far more precious than sticking around trying to scramble for some possessions that you probably won't need anyway. Make sure that you follow the authorities’ advice.

JOURNALIST:

Anything that the government will be doing in the Wide Bay area for the fires?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well obviously, we listened to our State authorities as well, and if they request emergency assistance and if they put the necessary calls in for Federal assistance, then that Federal assistance is forthcoming immediately. Of course, we've asked the Defence to go into the worst affected areas at the request of State Governments. Of course, we're very pleased that our friends from New Zealand have also helped, and obviously interstate crews are there on the scenes of the worst affected areas. And we will continue as a Federal Government, as a Commonwealth, to provide and render that assistance that it is requested by the State Government.

JOURNALIST:

It's been a harsh start to the fire season. Are there any plans as the season continues?

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Well, we’ll obviously continue to work to do what we can where and how possible. Generally speaking, we know that many of these fires are started by us, by people who for whatever reason decide to deliberately lit fires. And that's why I urge and encourage anybody who sees suspicious activity to report it to Crimestoppers when they see it happening because we can't afford to have people lose properties, indeed lives, because of the actions of others.

JOURNALIST:

Okay. Good.

MICHAEL MCCORMACK:

Thanks.

JOURNALIST:

If we could just go back to the fuel factory runs.

JOURNALIST:

Tell us about the type of work that the facility will do.

JACKSON NIOA:

The facility is a $60 million state of the art artillery shell forging plant, so we will be taking raw billets and forging 155 millimetre artillery shell cases.

JOURNALIST:

Okay. Any contracts have been issued at this point?

JACKSON NIOA:

Currently we have orders for the plant, first orders received for export, really fulfilling the Federal Government’s export policy and developing our sovereign industrial capability. And those orders will be to the German army through our partner Rheinmetall.

JOURNALIST:

The types of jobs – are they varying?

JACKSON NIOA:

We’ll have all types of jobs starting here at the project office with our project team, our head engineers, our admin support, and then when we’re out on site fully operational, we’ll have a range of people out on the production floor, production engineers, operators, machinists, as well as a fully staffed head office out at site.

JOURNALIST:

You talked about how many jobs in the construction before, didn’t you? Yep, okay. How many long term jobs?

JACKSON NIOA:

Once we’re fully operational, having up to 100 full time jobs working at the plant, and they’ll be jobs for decades to come.

JOURNALIST:

And we’ve heard some rumours about hold ups and power issues; obviously we’ve moved through that?

JACKSON NIOA:

We are fully engaged with all stakeholders, but today marks an important in terms of the project going forward. We haven’t received any delays to the project, and this represents a really positive milestone for the project going forward, and we’ll continue to work through with the project starting construction early next year.

JOURNALIST:

Raw materials, is that going to be locally produced [indistinct]?

JACKSON NIOA:

We’re looking into Australian steel production at the moment. We’ve had a team with a specialist out from Germany evaluating all options for Australian steel manufacturing, and we’ll continue to look into that, and our intent is to be able to do and use raw materials locally.

JOURNALIST:

I did ask before actually, flow-on effects from the factory, not just the jobs- the people you’re employing, you know, transport and everything like that.

JACKSON NIOA:

Yeah. We’re already seeing the benefits flowing from our investment, and the support that we’re receiving through the regional growth fund. That’s already seeing local businesses in this region, to even get the project up and running. We’re already seeing great interest in applying for the roles that we have – over 100 applicants for recent roles. And we’re already running tenders for local businesses to be able to form part of the construction, and we’ll continue to do so, so local businesses will have every opportunity to be part of this project going forward.

JOURNALIST:

Thank you very much.

Shane Manning