Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

AUSTRALIAN SYNCHROTRON: FUNDING
1642 COUNCIL Wednesday, 1 June 2011
innovation-intensive, high-technology,
high-value-added, high-wage, high-skill manufacturing
sector.
The industry assistance and grants provided by the
Bracks and Brumby governments over their 11 years
have facilitated this transformation. The development
of the Australian Synchrotron is one example of this
transformation. As a consequence Victorian
manufacturers now have a competitive advantage and
must continue to develop that advantage in cutting-edge
capabilities, including the utilisation of advanced
manufacturing processes, materials and technologies in
areas such as scientific and medical instruments,
specialist engineering and aerospace industries.
Let us now have a look at how the Australian
Synchrotron has engaged with industry. The Australian
Synchrotron has contributed to not only the Victorian
economy but also the national economy. It has done
this by providing services to commercial users and
promoting collaboration between science and industry.
As I said earlier, it is not common knowledge how
much work the synchrotron does with industry, but it
does a lot, hence my moving of this motion today. I will
outline some of the things the synchrotron has done
with industry. The Australian Synchrotron has linkages,
either directly or via its users, with at least 88 individual
companies, and 30 of those companies are involved in
linkage grants that mention the use of the Australian
Synchrotron.
Commercial companies that have used the Australian
Synchrotron include small and medium enterprises
such as Aximill, Techniques Incorporated, global
biotherapy leader CSL Ltd and other successful
biopharmaceutical companies. More than 60 tours of
the synchrotron have been conducted for a wide variety
of industry sectors, with groups coming from Agilent
Technologies, Hospira global pharmaceuticals, Wacker
Chemicals Australia, Amcor, Siemens Australia,
Phosphagenics Ltd, the University of Queensland,
St Vincent’s Hospital, BASF and Telstra operations.
The synchrotron’s business development activities
include active participation in and support for initiatives
and organisations that facilitate interaction between
science and business, including by hosting or
organising visits and events. For example, in May 2011
the Australian Nanotechnology Alliance, which focuses
on economic growth in Victoria and Australia, held a
networking event at the synchrotron that attracted over
70 industry participants. There are numerous specific
examples of the manufacturing sector benefiting from
the cutting-edge techniques of the Australian
Synchrotron, which plays a key role in that space, but I
will not go through all of them given that we are
running out of time. However, I will convey to the
house a particularly relevant and symbolic example.
The saying ‘Living off the sheep’s back’ conjures up
the image of an Australian economy that lacks
technological know-how or lacks the will to value-add
to our natural resources — the old quarry mentality, if
you like. It is highly symbolic that the perhaps
soon-to-be-closed Australian Synchrotron has come up
with a method of value-adding for sheepskin. The
problem with sheepskin is that it cannot be used in a
variety of commercial applications because of its lack
of strength. By using Australian Synchrotron tools
essential to this problem, scientists are studying the
nanoscale structure of sheep leather.
The benefit of this is that based on a better
understanding of the molecular properties making up
sheepskin, new treatment and processing strategies
have been developed to increase its strength and
commercial applications. The annual return from this
change potentially amounts to an additional
$118 million per year for the Australian industry. That
is a lot of money and I would have thought on its own a
pretty good reason to keep the synchrotron open. There
we have it: the Australian Synchrotron solving one of
the most intractable problems in our economy — that
is, how we value-add to our natural resources.
As can be seen from the examples I have cited, the
Australian Synchrotron is a significant contributor to
the Victorian and national manufacturing sectors and to
industry as a whole, and therefore to our economy.
Many of the techniques used and developed by the
Australian Synchrotron are vital in continuing to
develop the Victorian manufacturing sector’s
competitive advantage in cutting-edge capabilities and
technology. The failure of the Baillieu government to
commit ongoing funding for the synchrotron — —
Mrs Peulich — What have you been doing for
11 years?
Mr SOMYUREK — Funding the synchrotron. The
Baillieu government’s failure to commit ongoing
funding for the synchrotron puts further pressure on
Victorian advanced manufacturing sector by potentially
depriving industry of a major tool for research and
development. The development of advanced new
products and processes is one of the keys to
maintaining and growing Victoria’s manufacturing
base, and the synchrotron has a significant role to play
in those developments.