Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

No political party that actually believes in manufacturing would think that their first order of business was to hammer manufacturing—to cut support to manufacturing. But that is exactly what they did. When they goaded manufacturers from our shores and presided over the depletion of skills, they destroyed the viability of small manufacturers. That's exactly what they did. That betrays their utter lack of belief in Australian know-how and in manufacturing jobs.

But this side gets manufacturing. This side, and the people who sit on this side, get it. They've got families in manufacturing and friends who've worked in manufacturing, or they are MPs proud to show off what's happening in their electorates—like Humes pipes, in the seat of Makin, a concrete pipe manufacturer; or, in the seat of Oxley, PFi manufacturing, with a space industry focus; or Keech 3D Advanced Manufacturing in the seat of Bendigo; or State Asphalt in New South Wales in the seat of Werriwa. All these players are doing great things, but what they need is support and faith. They need faith in manufacturing. When it comes to Australian manufacturing, we want to send this signal to industry and its workers: Australian Labor is on the side of Australian manufacturing and the workers who have a livelihood from it.

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