Speech

Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile

 Tuesday, March 14, 2000, Mural Hall, Canberra, 18:30

Rocklea Spinning Mills – an Australian textile industry success story

My Federal Parliamentary colleagues, the Minister for Defence, John Moore, and Minister for Arts and the Centenary of Federation, Peter McGauran, Rocklea Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Gray, ladies and gentlemen.

Thankyou for the opportunity to speak about this remarkable export success story.

All too often Australia’s TCF industries are painted as yesterday’s industries, unable to compete on the world stage.

Well, I’m here to tell you that that perception is a myth.

Rocklea Spinning Mills is a company that’s taken up the challenge … a company prepared to invest in new technology, new, capital-intensive equipment to compete with the world’s best.

Rocklea Spinning Mills is all about value-adding …by taking cotton, wool and other fibres, dyeing them and then spinning them into top range yarns.

Established in the Brisbane suburb of Rocklea in 1948, it now has three mills – the original mill, and two in regional Victoria, at Moe and Bendigo as well as a dyeing facility at Tullamarine.

Rocklea is a major exporter of cotton and blended yarns to the world, filling orders from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan, Europe and the US, and, in a ‘coals to Newcastle’ arrangement, it also exports cotton yarns to China. 

Its yarns are used in a wide range of products from shirts, pants and socks to towels, sheets and fine tablecloths, but also for mattress ticking and mop heads.

Ladies and gentlemen, the notion that this country can’t compete, that our manufacturers aren’t up to it, that we can’t match the rest of the world is an absolute myth. 

Last week I returned from a trade delegation to the Middle East.  You know, the largest-selling car in Saudi Arabia is the Australian-built, left-hand-drive Toyota Camry, and there’s a stack of Holdens sold up there as well.

Tonight, we’re here to celebrate the success of Rocklea’s ‘Colana’ yarn – a 70% cotton/30% fine wool mix that’s making its mark across the world.

The latest export order for ‘Colana’ has come from the big, high-quality US  mail-order-clothing supplier, ‘Land’s End’.

The order is worth $500,000 and is the first sale of ‘Colana’ in any quantity to the US, a market that’s traditionally been anti-wool.

You don’t need me to tell you that the US is the world’s largest single market for high-quality clothing, and the success of ‘Colana’ could not come at a better time for Australia’s wool industry.

‘Colana’ is already being sold under the Polo Ralph Lauren label, and the yarn is also being sold to sock makers whose socks are sold under the prestigious ‘Viyella’ label at Marks & Spencers in the UK.

Lightweight ‘Colana’ socks are now being trialed by the Australian Defence Forces, and I’m told they’re performing well under the tropical conditions. 

I’m wearing a ‘Colana’ shirt tonight.  It’s extremely comfortable.  And the waiters here are also wearing ‘Colana’ shirts, so you might like to ask them what they’re like to wear when taking your next drink.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are members here from both sides of the House tonight.

There’s one thing that we all agree on, and that is, we must take every opportunity to value-add our primary products.

Australia is the world’s leading producer of wool, and among the world’s leading exporters of cotton.

The success of Rocklea Spinning Mills clearly shows that we can also be a leading producer of top-quality textile yarns.

Thankyou again for the opportunity to address you, and congratulations to Rocklea Spinning Mills.

ENDS