State Manufacturing Minister David Hodgett came north twice in as many days last week for funding announcements.
At Australian-owned frozen food processor Colonial Farm, Mr Hodgett handed over $1.1 million of Ford transition fund money for a new frozen food production plant at Broadmeadows.
Colonial Farm will use its Ford fund windfall to engage Tullamarine refrigeration experts Oomiak to design, install and commission a refrigeration system for its new $4.3 million plant at Broadmeadows.
This will boost production capacity beyond its existing Hadfield site and generate 25 jobs.
Next stop for Mr Hodgett was the Japanese-owned soft drink company Schweppes, at Tullamarine, where a $17.4 million expansion of its processing capability will create 10 new skilled jobs and increase the company’s plastic bottle manufacturing capacity.
The state government also announced that Australia’s largest biotechnology company, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL Behring) will invest $210 million to expand albumin production at its Broadmeadows site by 50 per cent, creating 190 new high-skill jobs.
Albumin is a protein used in emergency surgery where there is significant blood loss, as well as in treating burns victims.
Premier Denis Napthine did not disclose the government’s “commercial in confidence” contribution to this expansion, but it’s believed to be a major factor in CSL deciding on the Broadmeadows site rather than its other plants in the US and Europe.
Broadmeadows MP Frank McGuire welcomed CSL’s announcement, claiming he had repeatedly called for further government investment in the company.
Speaking at Ford HQ in Campbellfield where he joined Opposition leader Dan Andrews and Broadmeadows and Ford chief executive Bob Graziano to dicuss retraining opportunities for the remaining 220 workers due to be retrenched, Mr McGuire said both federal and state Labor governments have previously contributed about $50 million to underwrite the Broadmeadows plant.
