Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Under the Australian procurement statement we have supported the Buy Australian at Home and Abroad initiative, and this week we were pleased to announce that Peter Beattie would be the resources sector supplier envoy in relation to that. We have also had industry participation plans to work through. These are ways of ensuring that when we are a purchaser, when government is tendering, that we can leverage that purchasing power for the creation of an Australian Industry Participation Plan. We also have the Enhanced Project By-law Scheme, which does the same sort of leveraging when people seek particular arrangements, as well as the Supplier Access to Major Projects program, which leverages against government decision-making procurement and procurement directed at Australian suppliers. We understand that in this period of change we need to stay very strongly engaged with manufacturing. I believe manufacturing has a future in this country. It will require a government that values jobs and values manufacturing to work with it, and we are such a government.

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