Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am really excited about this National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022 because I am passionate about Australian industry, including manufacturing, and I know how important this opportunity is for my community of Chisholm.

We have two universities, we have medical technology and advanced manufacturing businesses, and incredible work is being done on renewable energy. I am proud of my community and the inventive, innovative ideas they bring not only to our suburbs but to the nation and the world. I am so very happy to be part of a government that is backing ideas, backing making things here, through the establishment of the National Reconstruction Fund.

Something that really strikes me when I visit businesses and talk to people in my community is how excited everyone is about the National Reconstruction Fund. People are excited about it because they know it is good for our nation's future. My community wants a government that supports good, secure jobs and sovereign capability and has a vision and plan for what our country can look like as we rebuild after the very worst of the pandemic.

We get one chance to rebuild our nation after the very worst parts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We must seize it. It is, genuinely, really disappointing that those opposite lack the vision, imagination and conviction to support our country at this time by backing the National Reconstruction Fund. I wish that this could have been bipartisan, and I'm really baffled as to why the coalition won't support our communities. Then again, maybe that's my fault for being an optimist, given that their record shows nothing but contempt for the automotive manufacturing industry in this country, and there's been a terrible decline of manufacturing on their watch.

Our communities very quickly saw what happens to a country when there is no sovereign capability in manufacturing, when supply chains were disrupted through border closures during the earlier parts of the COVID pandemic. This was a moment for our country to reflect and to do what was needed, to make sure we could be resilient and self-sufficient.

This side of the House, the now Labor government, learnt those lessons and is implementing the change we need. Those opposite learnt nothing and now oppose the government doing something which will make our country stronger. We were elected on a mandate to drive the transformation of Australian industry and revive our ability to make world-class products in Australia.

Debate interrupted.

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