AMWU Queensland Secretary Andrew Dettmer will announce the expansion of the successful
Manufacturing Matters campaign in front of a who’s who of industry heavyweights at the
Union’s biennial State Conference today.

Those present at the conference on Friday morning will include Treasurer and Minister for
Economic Development and Industry the Honorable Andrew Fraser; Director of Australian
Industry Group (QLD) Chris Rodwell and Minister for Small Business the Honorable Dr Craig
Emerson.

The Manufacturing Matters campaign has been run for the last year and has successfully
encouraged government to better factor locally-made components into its procurement policy.

“Our feedback so far has shown that Queenslanders are really supportive of our push to keep
manufacturing in the state by encouraging the Government to shop locally,” Mr Dettmer said.

“What we plan to develop now is a toolbox so communities can better get behind local
manufacturers to keep jobs in their town.

“Basically, we want to mobilise people to join the fight to keep Queensland’s reputation as a
state that makes things.

“By providing them with information on upcoming tenders and how they can make submissions
to environmental impact studies, we hope to help local communities feel they’re being heard
and considered in procurement decisions.”

Mr Dettmer said that Manufacturing Matters toolkit would break down procurement policy
into layman’s terms and include templates to assist people to make submissions.

It will also layout a timetable for upcoming project submission periods.

The toolkit and further information will be available on the AMWU website from June.