With a goal of increasing Australia’s GDP to 10 per cent within five years, SEMMA’s CEO has noted how the organisation advocates for food and beverage manufacturers.
By Honi Walker chief executive officer South-East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance
Manufacturers and the supply chain have been part of the Australian industrial landscape since the 1830s when the first blast furnace was introduced. We peaked in the 1960s with a GDP input of 25 per cent. Today, it’s below six per cent.
We know that when governments change or are in debt, it can only mean one thing – increased political red tape, raising the cost of doing business.
SEMMA hosted an Industry Roundtable recently with minister for industry and innovation Tim Ayres.
In 2025, South-East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) launched our Australian Manufacturing BLUEPRINT. This is our policy platform that has enabled us to have stronger conversations with policy makers about legislative reform.
Our Five Pillars of Growth – Economic, Energy, Educate, Expand, Evolve – focus on key areas where manufacturing can continue to add value and increase our GDP from 5.9 per cent to 10 per cent in five years. We believe goals are necessary to get results.
SEMMA has been advocating for manufacturers for 23 years and we continue to make our members’ needs known at all levels of government. We are apolitical, bipartisan member-funded not-for-profit organisation.
For manufacturers, SEMMA will continue to advocate for a freeze on land tax, payroll tax and Workcover Premiums for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We will continue to ask the regulators to do their job when it comes to Local Jobs First Content and to toughen our anti-dumping laws.
SEMMA is also known for its ability to connect businesses. Our members do not feel the need to compete and SEMMA’s membership network gives members the complementary network channels enabling them to engage like-minded businesses as sounding boards, build up strong partnerships, and learn from these networking relationships.
As stated, manufacturing has played a foundational role in supporting the Australian economy for many decades. It is time to recognise and acknowledge the contribution of our food and beverage manufacturing sector to the Australian way of life. While SEMMA might be based in the southeast of Melbourne, we have an eye on the national economy and our place in it. In fact, the southeast of Melbourne has recently been acknowledged by a Deloitte Report to be the Manufacturing Powerhouse of Australia.
The southeast region contributes $89 billion to the economy, employing 75,400 people through 3,801 manufacturers. Nationally, manufacturing is the sixth largest industry, generating $137 billion in value-added output and employs 930,000 people. It contributes 12.4 per cent to Australia’s exports and 7.9 per cent to capital expenditure (AI Group 2024).
We believe there is enough manufacturing opportunity to go around, but government policy must help not hinder our smart, secure and sustainable manufacturers. To have your say, join and become a SEMMA member while we keep raising the profile and voice of SME manufacturing.