Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a pleasure to rise and speak on matters of economics, business and manufacturing. As the member for Blair, who is in the chamber, would well know, our electorates mirror each other greatly. The member for Hasluck and I serve on the Economics Committee together and I like the idea of a clear vision. However, I disagree with her on the notion that the government is actually providing it. One of the things we know that business needs is cheap, reliable energy. As the member for Riverina quite clearly pointed out in his contribution, that is one thing we're not getting from this government.

I'll say this: it's wonderful that the Labor government, through this motion, has finally decided to recognise the importance of local manufacturing and that it is a vital component of the Australian economy. As with many things with this government, it is important we don't just hear the words but we see the deeds. Last year's budget was the right time to address these spiralling costs, workforce shortages, ongoing supply chain issues and rising energy costs yet they did nothing in that budget to address these issues. Labor's budget failed to properly establish their vision for industry. All it did, really, was redirect funds from programs that the previous government had set up.

This failure to provide substantial support to our manufacturers is in stark contrast to the real measurable actions that the previous coalition government took to support industry in Australia. The coalition provided some $2.5 billion to create the Modern Manufacturing Strategy. This support bolstered our sovereign manufacturing capability and empowered over 200 projects across Australia. In addition, we reduced the small business tax rate to 25 per cent and expanded the instant asset write off, which significantly improved cash flow by allowing businesses to write off assets more quickly—in a cash flow manner rather than depreciated over time.

Additionally, through JobKeeper and other measures, the coalition government helped businesses keep their doors open through COVID. These measures allowed businesses to focus on their core competencies of growing their business, developing services and products for the Australian community and, importantly, bringing manufacturing capacity back on shore that was previously offshore. I know one of the issues businesses now face is a workforce shortage but that is something that will resolve itself over time as we focus on building a skilled workforce.

I have said to the business community that one of things that has lacked in the past 20 or 30 years is the willingness of our business community to engage with our schools and our TAFEs to build an experienced, dedicated, trained workforce. There has been enormous focus on sending our school leavers to university, which is fantastic for those who wish to pursue that career path—terrific. But we also need boilermakers, welders, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, diesel fitters, all of those skilled jobs that we need to develop and maintain a manufacturing industry. We need to ensure that we encourage those at school who have the skills and talent in the area to pursue those career opportunities.

As a result of the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, looking across the electorate of Forde at the great local companies that benefited from that fund, Merino Country in Shailer Park received over $400,000 to adopt new technologies for sewing machine and garment production to support international expansion of their wool clothing business. ATP Science and its new factory of Meadowbrook received over $1 million to build and expand their production line of high-quality protein products. Under our Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority grants, Holmwood Highgate at Loganholme received over $1 million to enhance their manufacturing capability for high-quality liquid storage and transport vessels for aviation and defence industries. Frontline Manufacturing at Meadowbrook received over $700,000 to purchase equipment that allows them to manufacture metal plates for armoured fighting vehicles. These are just some of the examples of the support we provided. (Time expired)

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