Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I have many questions for the Minister for Industry and Science, who is not joining us today. I'm disappointed; as a minister in cabinet I never missed an opportunity to sit on the other side of this Chamber and answer detailed questions from the then opposition about our appropriations. I'm pleased the Minister for Resources has joined us, but I also understand that she doesn't speak to the minister for industry, so maybe they can't even be in this Chamber together.

This budget was a missed opportunity for the government. It was a missed opportunity to support industry and business to tackle spiralling costs, workforce shortages and the supply chain crisis. Instead, the government chose to forge ahead with radical industrial relations legislation, facilitating a spike in industrial disputes and paving a path for thousands of job losses. Mark my words: this will have a devastating effect on industry. Has the minister for industry provided any information through the budgetary process about extra support that industry will need to deal with a heightened risk of industrial disputes and potential job losses that this industrial relations bill will incur? I ask because this legislation will make a bad situation worse.

The industrial relations bill will cause mayhem for industry and business when combined with the ideological scrapping of the Australian Building and Construction Commission and the funding cut they handed the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. With union paymasters running rampant across the country and no proven oversight and dispute resolution in sight after these important bodies are abolished, has the minister for industry been consulted by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations about this legislation and how the budget might provide better security to industry in light of these changes?

While manufacturers across the country struggle with rising power prices, Labor's focus is making it more difficult for industry to employ and keep workers and grow their businesses. In that context, did the minister for industry consult any stakeholders prior to the budget in relation to power price spikes with a view to establishing budgetary support for industries who are dealing with these increasing prices? Frankly, I see absolutely nothing in the budget to genuinely assist industry with these inflationary pressures.

This budget also took active steps to spitefully wipe out key features of the coalition's industry policy. We provided $2.5 billion to create the Modern Manufacturing Strategy. This support sought to bolster our sovereign manufacturing capability and empowered over 200 projects across Australia. Despite promising over and again that their National Reconstruction Fund would reinvigorate manufacturing in Australia, we saw next to nothing in the budget to roll out this program. Let me make that clear: Labor has chosen to spitefully redirect the Modern Manufacturing Initiative's funds without having rolled out their own National Reconstruction Fund.

Additionally we saw the minister conduct politically motivated reviews into already committed funds issued under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative—funds which had already undergone independent assessments by subject matter experts and the department. The government has displayed a callous lack of understanding for how these delays may have damaged these projects. I'd like to get this on record: can the minister confirm that round 3 of the Modern Manufacturing Initiative has indeed been cut? If so, can he please provide a list of projects that had already engaged with the department about round 3?

One of the key pillars of this new manufacturing strategy was our strategic decision to bolster Australia's capabilities in the space sector. We support funding to locally design, develop, manufacture and deploy specialised space products, equipment, systems and services for export to international markets and to support national and international space missions. The government chose to effectively wipe out the coalition's efforts to develop our space industry by removing it as a priority area. The space industry and the Australian public are yet to understand the basis on which this shift in focus was made. The Labor Party was gutless in explaining why these grants weren't paid out, but responses to questions in Senate estimates paint a clear picture. The minister must confirm why and on what basis space is no longer listed as a priority area.

The minister must also identify the reasons why the food and beverage industry is no longer a standalone priority in our national manufacturing strategy at a time when in the last nine months we've seen a 27 per cent increase in the cost of operations across the food supply chain. Our growers, our food processing plants, cold storage, logistics network—no-one in the food supply chain is immune to Labor's economic mismanagement.

The government must address the critical issues affecting our manufacturers, not tinker with a proven model. With power prices spiking and industry hurting, now is the time to act.

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