Statements
Manufacturing
Statement
Hon Shelley Payne (Agricultural Region) (6:18 pm): I rise tonight to tell members a story—a story about a toaster. In this era of Trump 2.0 and protectionism, what can we make here, how sufficient are we and does it matter? Members may have seen the notice on their desks regarding private business tomorrow and my intent to talk about the government's Made in WA plan. I do not want to take up the short time I will have tomorrow telling members this story so I will briefly tell it now.
Maybe it will inspire members to look at our plan and bring their own stories tomorrow. Hopefully, we can kick off this term with a bit more constructive input from the other side. One of the biggest bits of feedback I get from constituents is how they cannot stand the fighting and bickering, what a waste of time it is, and they ask why things cannot be more constructive—but I guess then it would not be politics.
I go back to my story. I recently visited my aunt in the United Kingdom. It is always good to step away and get a different perspective. I read the UK Telegraph all week, I chatted with aunts and uncles and listened to their view about the world today. Of course, our chats lead to talking about Trump, tariffs, and what our countries make themselves. My aunt, who is my mother's sister, is of a different generation from me and has a different perspective on life, but a good one to reflect on and think about. My aunt is adamant about buying British-made goods. She told me about her toaster. It is a toaster from her wedding list. She still has the toaster on her kitchen counter. I remember going to her wedding. It was long before I had met my husband or moved to Australia, and my eldest child is turning 23 this year, so that tells you how old the toaster is. It is at least 30 years old. Yes, it is British made—a good old Dualit toaster.
I have, embarrassingly, owned probably close to 10 toasters while my aunt has had only one. She told me that, recently, her toaster was not working properly. She wanted to buy another toaster but wanted it to be made in the UK. She searched everywhere. The only one she could find was the same as the one she already had—it was exactly the same brand and style. Dualit still makes them. It appears that there have not been many advances in their manufacture over 30 years. My aunt called Dualit and ended up taking her 30-year-old toaster in to be fixed. It is now back on her kitchen bench and it is working great. I am not sure how many members have taken their toasters in lately to be repaired—maybe to a repair cafe? I doubt they can help. I certainly have not, but my aunt definitely got me thinking about my toaster. As I was feeling bad about my Kmart toaster, which is nearly ready for replacement, I thought I would have a look around to see which Australian-made toasters I could buy.
When I searched, I came across the Qantas Marketplace. It actually sells my aunt's UK-made Dualit toaster for $398 or 79,000 points. That is more Qantas points than it takes to fly to the UK to buy one myself, but, hey, with the nearly 10 toasters I have had, mostly from Kmart or Target, it is probably good value if it will last 30 years and can be repaired, and I could have saved all those toasters from being disposed of at the tip. But I was looking for Aussie made. The only one I could find was a Roband toaster. It has five slices instead of two. It is more for commercial use. It looks quite similar to the Dualit—industrial stainless steel. It looks like the style of manufacturing has not changed much in 30 years. It was $770. If I still had all the kids at home, I might think about the five-slice Roband—if it was not for the price. This morning my daughter and I were talking about all the toasters we have had, and she mentioned liking the silver one—Breville from Target Country, made in China. She thought it was the best, but I was glad to see the end of that one because it dried the toast out really badly. I was glad that it did not last 30 years.
Perhaps I will forego some Qantas points to get something British made, unless any members can advise me of a non-commercial Australian-made toaster. After more searching, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and learnt that perhaps most of the Dualit parts now come from China and it is only "built" in the UK. I also learnt that there are quite a few people out there having difficulty trying to buy a toaster that is not made in China. Maybe I need to correct myself when I said there did not appear to be many manufacturing advances in the Dualit toaster in 30 years. Yes, there have been advances in the outsourcing of parts, but it still appears to be one of the better options out there. Hopefully, I have given members something to think about for tomorrow and I would love to hear members’ stories and ideas about building WA’s future.
I have another story I could tell members about the shoes my aunt loaned me so that my feet did not get cold on her tiled kitchen floor—British-made, too—and how the British supplier of the rubber soles is closing down and my aunt was having trouble getting availability in the shoes she wanted. A new supplier was found in Poland, but I will leave that story for another day.
