Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Right at the moment I feel as if I'm standing at a fork in a road. The low road would take me down the path of doing the tit-for-tat, going backwards and forwards, having the cheap political shots. I'm actually not going to do that tonight. I'm going to take what I believe is the high road. I'm going to correct the record where it needs to be corrected, but I'm going to concentrate my remarks around the contribution that has been made by members such as the member for Higgins, the member for Bennelong and the member for Dawson, who have spoken very positively and proactively about the future that Australia faces and the opportunities that are available for all Australians, given where we are at this point in time.

Just to respond to a couple of comments that were made by those opposite—I say this really for completeness only—firstly, in relation to car manufacturing, Mitsubishi announced on 5 February 2008 and Ford announced on 23 May 2013 that they would be closing their manufacturing operations here in Australia. I'm not going to go down the path of pointing out which party was in government at that point in time. I will just leave that there. I say that purely for completeness.

In relation to the manufacturing priorities that this government announced and included in the budget, what I can say about that is that we did consult very widely. We looked at where Australia's comparative and competitive advantages were and where we needed to make sure that we had capacity and capability for our strategic needs into the future. I have had the opportunity to look at the 2013 plan for Australian jobs. It does mention defence at one point. It doesn't mention recycling that I can find. It does mention clean energy as a related policy that is already in one of the appendices to that document. Space is mentioned very briefly under an infrastructure heading—I can find that on page 45 of that document. I guess the important point for me, though, in terms of today's debate, is that at this point in time, if those opposite are saying that they have already announced these initiatives, I would encourage them to just get on board. This is too important an issue for the constant backwards and forwards, the cheap political point-scoring.

We are at a point in Australia where we have an opportunity to recreate manufacturing here, to modernise it, to look at how we can develop the jobs of the future and how we can build on the very strong base that we have, whether that is with trade, with industrial relations, with our deregulation agenda, with the $7 billion that we are pouring in to skill Australian for the future, or whether it's looking at how we use science and technology as an enabler. The $1.5 billion manufacturing strategy that has been announced has the opportunity to deliver not just over the next four years but over the next decade. I think it is incumbent on all senators and members in this place to look at what the opportunities are and to see how we can make sure that we are creating the opportunities that Australians are looking for and need.

The feedback that I have received from industry—it's a broad range of industry stakeholders—is that they see the manufacturing strategy as a once-in-a-generation at least or once-in-a-lifetime lifetime opportunity for them to build their businesses and to be part of the future in those clear national manufacturing priorities that we have announced. So stakeholders are engaged. They are looking forward to how we roll over this strategy. But let me be clear: we are not going to be rushed into announcing how this money is going to be spent without doing the due diligence, without making sure we are consulting and getting the right advice to make sure that the money is targeted and is going to deliver exactly what is needed now and into the future. This is a very positive time for us. I commend the bill the chamber.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:30

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