Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022. The Liberal Party has always believed a government's role is to minimise interference but maximise initiative. We as a nation are at our best when we as policymakers give private industry and individuals the opportunity to be the best they can be, whilst providing a helping hand but only when necessary. It is not our job to get in the way of Australian businesses' day-to-day goings-on, to impose unnecessary bureaucratic red tape or to own part of the personal property they earned through their own hard work. That is what the Liberal Party believes, Deputy Speaker Goodenough; I can guarantee you that. But I can also guarantee that that is not what those opposite believe. They are too arrogant to believe that individuals have the capacity to create opportunity without government holding their hand during the process. In fact, they are so arrogant they tell people what they need instead of listening to what they want. This typical top-down approach that the Australian people are unfortunately becoming all too familiar with, with the Albanese government since they've come to power, is riddled throughout this bill we are debating. Typical Labor—all focus on the politics but useless with policy.

In Australia, we build things. We build them well. Our manufacturers are some of the best in the world, and I am incredibly proud of that. Our exports are lauded for their quality and reliability, making Australian-made products a sought-after commodity right across the globe. Our manufacturers create jobs, providing financial security for hundreds of thousands of Australian families right across the country. Manufacturing at home is a key part of our nation's ability to ensure we protect our sovereign interests from threats abroad.

During the last term of parliament, as the Minister for Defence Industry, I led with the passionate belief that if you can't build at home you cannot defend your home. Never has this mantra been more important than in the geopolitical environment we currently find ourselves. Right now our manufacturers are being threatened with rising cost of living, rising electricity prices and rising inflation. I am genuinely concerned about the direction in which our economy is going and the impact it'll have on our ability to build on Australian soil.

Now is not the time to play politics with our manufacturing sector. Sadly, this is what we are seeing with the inexperienced industry minister. With power prices forecast to spike by 56 per cent over the next two years, many businesses across the country may be pushed to the brink. I am particularly concerned about the impact this is going to have on our fabulous Australian defence industry.

The coalition understands how important manufacturers are to this country. That is why, when we were in government, we introduced valuable programs that created opportunities for hundreds of businesses right across the country such as the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, known as the MMI, and many initiatives to support our incredibly important critical minerals projects. Labor, on the other hand, have used their first eight months in power to prioritise their union mates and have decided to forge ahead with radical industrial relations legislation that will leave our industries in a devastated position. Never has there been a more inappropriate time for that focus.

The October budget was the perfect opportunity for our Prime Minister to assure Australian manufacturers that the government still had their back, but instead he used it as an opportunity to spitefully wipe out key features of the coalition's industry policy. We saw next to nothing in the budget to begin the rollout of the National Reconstruction Fund. The Labor Party are happy to redirect the MMI funds, but they have failed to roll out their own program, creating a void that is no doubt being felt by industry right around the country right now. You only need to review the large number of successful MMI applications to see the geographical spread and the very important mix of industries that we have been supporting.

The coalition provided $2.5 billion to create the MMI program to support our sovereign manufacturing capability, to empower over 200 projects right across Australia, with money going to, for example, the Forager Food Co. in Tasmania, for a freeze-drying and processing facility; Sealite in Victoria, for automating electronic circuit board capability; Sun Cable in the Northern Territory, to improve solar array manufacturing; Techno Plas in South Australia, to improve food packaging; and First Graphene Ltd in Western Australia, to support an optimisation and automation project. Industry invested significant funds to prepare for the application process of the MMI. Some went as far as building up their own infrastructure or capacity in key areas to make their submissions more competitive. Other businesses had begun to roll out their programs because they had received a commitment from our government that they would receive financial assistance with their project. They were told their application was successful, and they had begun operating accordingly—quite reasonably, I would say. Then there is a change of government, and the first thing the minister does is put a halt to funds that were assessed by independent experts and the department. It shows a complete lack of understanding of how delays such as these can significantly delay or damage critical manufacturing projects.

Never has a lack of industry experience by the Labor frontbench been so clearly on display as in this pathetic approach to support our nation's manufacturing capability. The National Reconstruction Fund is a very, very poor funding model. The National Reconstruction Fund is another attempt by the Labor Party to realise their ideological obsession of government ownership over what rightfully belongs to private industry. Instead of a competitive grants program, as offered under the coalition's Modern Manufacturing Initiative, Labor has opted for loans and acquiring equity. We know, from similar schemes rolled out by previous Labor governments, that equity and loans schemes are less accessible than grants, and manufacturers may struggle to meet return-on-investment thresholds or, indeed, be able to put together the detailed business cases in-house.

Our approach was funding projects to help to build scale and capture income in high-value areas of manufacturing where Australia either has established competitive strength or emerging priorities. Labor's approach is to roll out a process that excludes certain industries with small margins or disrupted supply chains, risks crowding out private investment opportunities and will uproot manufacturers who are unable to meet their loan agreements with the government. There is a better way to manage this process, and Labor have utterly failed to grasp this point.

Perhaps the biggest shame this bill highlights is that our fabulous space industry is not a priority for this Labor government. As a former minister for science and technology, I know how devastating this news will be for many new and existing businesses that operate within the space sector. Under our leadership, the government proudly supported funding to locally design, develop, manufacture and deploy specialised space products, equipment, systems and services for export to international markets to support national and international space stations. Our Prime Minister and the inexperienced industry minister, however, have sent a very clear message to the space sector that while they are in charge the industry will suffer—space does not matter to this mob. We are yet to understand the basis upon which this shift in focus was made.

Times are difficult and they are not going to improve anytime soon; we all know that. Interest rates are up; inflation is up. Right now our manufacturers need our help to ensure that they can navigate the strong headwinds currently caused by our faltering economy. It is time the government put forward a sensible plan to deliver support for our manufacturers that will assist them now, not in 12 months time when Labor finally decide to roll out their own fund. Our manufacturing sector is growing. There is no denying that. But, as COVID demonstrated and as we've talked about in this place many times, we need to ensure that our manufacturing sector diversifies so that we don't get caught out with many products that are not made here in Australia. We must support our existing and new manufacturers before it's too late. Let me tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker, this bill is not the answer.

See this speech in context