Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This legislation, the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022, is about nation building, economic security, national security and job security. But, most importantly, it's about reducing Australia's reliance on other countries. COVID exposed the vulnerabilities and extreme risks that arise when nations become too dependent on global markets and just-in-time imports. For Australia, as an island nation, the risks of reliance on overseas imports, overseas markets and overseas services, including overseas call centres, are even greater than they are for most other countries.

Cutting Australia off from the rest of the world right now would cripple Australia. As an example, 90 per cent of our petroleum fuel comes from overseas. Only a few months ago, the AdBlue crisis almost brought Australia's trucking industry to a standstill. That would have also crippled the nation. It was only because of the $29 million government investment in the Incitec Pivot plant in Queensland that we were able to get through—again highlighting that the very problem we faced could have been resolved, were we manufacturing much more here in Australia. We have the capability to do so and we have the industry able to do it.

So many of Australia's essential goods and services which are currently sourced from overseas could easily be manufactured, or at least provided in part, within Australia. Certainly, if a crisis did then arise we would at least be able to get through it. The ability to make things in Australia will bring peace of mind to Australians, create economic growth, encourage innovation and increase export opportunities. As, quite rightly, highlighted by other speakers, this legislation will support investments in seven key areas of Australian industry through loans, equities and guarantees. Those seven key areas are: renewables and low-emissions technology; medical science; transport; agriculture—where, again, we could add so much value; forestry and fishing; resources; and defence capabilities. In particular, we already have a very strong defence manufacturing sector here in Australia. It has proven that it can compete with the rest of the world, and so we should do everything we can to support growing that sector. It is much better to have our products made here in Australia than to be reliant on other countries for them.

Australia not only has the natural resources which we can add value to by turning into finished products but, through the CSIRO; our universities; our existing defence industries, which I mentioned just a moment ago; our medical sciences sector; and so many other research institutions, Australia has significant world-leading research and development capabilities. Yet too many Australian ideas and human expertise are lost to overseas countries. Across the world, the leading economies all have strong manufacturing sectors. In China, manufacturing accounts for 39 per cent of their GDP; in Ireland it's around 35 per cent; Japan and Germany sit at around 20 per cent; and in Russia it's now 14 per cent. In the USA and the UK, where it has fallen to 12 and 10 per cent respectively, both governments have committed to rebuild their manufacturing base. Both countries see the importance of having a strong manufacturing centre and have made it a national priority for their countries.

In Australia, sadly, manufacturing has plummeted to a paltry 5½ per cent of GDP, after having reached a high of around 30 per cent half a century ago. From 30 per cent we're down to just over five per cent. This highlights not only the foolishness of how we allowed manufacturing to slide in this country but also that we were able to manufacture so well in times gone past. In fact, in the post-World War II years, state and federal governments on both sides of politics drove a manufacturing agenda by investing in manufacturing, investing in skills training and boosting the manufacturing workforce through immigration. They focused on a manufacturing nation, and did so by making those appropriate investments.

In South Australia, where I come from, the Liberal Playford government of the day grew the state by investing in manufacturing, particularly in Adelaide's northern suburbs. The satellite city of Elizabeth was established as a centre of manufacturing, including being home to the iconic General Motors Holden plant, which we talk about so often in this place. South Australia's economy grew on the back of manufacturing. Sadly, in 2013, the now opposition drove GMH out of South Australia, out of Australia, and then spent a decade dithering over submarines. No decision was ever finalised in their time in government, after nine years. Both of those actions did widespread harm to South Australia's manufacturing sector, where industries could no longer survive as a result of the lost contracts, and therefore the skilled workforce was also gradually lost to South Australia.

With advanced technology in use today, the argument that Australia cannot compete with overseas cheap labour is simply no longer credible. As I pointed out, countries like Germany, Japan, Ireland and other European countries are all proof of that, because they have strong manufacturing sectors. In my own electorate, only a few weeks ago, Tindo Solar, which was established in 2011—so it's been there for over a decade now and is Australia's only solar panel manufacturer—opened its new plant in Mawson Lakes. It's growing and it's competing in one of the most competitive areas of manufacturing, and it's doing it in Mawson Lakes in Australia with Australian conditions.

The reality is that manufacturing adds to the country in so many ways, and I want to highlight this particular point: there's another very important reason why rebuilding Australian manufacturing is so important. Not everyone has the opportunity or the desire to go to university, but those people still need a secure job. Manufacturing industries offer employment opportunities to everyone, including new arrivals with little education and limited language skills or those people who, for whatever reason, never ended up with a university degree. They are people who, over the course of their employment, not only find security but learn new skills, make friends and build their own self-confidence.

In summing up, I've listened to the debate of members opposite, and they're clearly all talking from the same talking points because you see the same irrelevant arguments being put up. It truly is bewildering that they are not supporting this legislation. The reality is that in recent times coalition governments have not backed manufacturing in this country at all, and, in not doing so, it is actually a betrayal of what the Australian people want and expect governments to do. I suspect the truth of the matter is that they don't want the Australian economy to grow over the next few years because that would be a tick for the Albanese Labor government. They want the Albanese Labor government to fail and therefore they are trying to block legislation which they know is in the national interest and which will be a feather in the cap of whichever government was to promote a rebuilding of Australian manufacturing.

Regrettably, what they are really doing is putting their political interests ahead of the national interest, and they should hang their head in shame for doing that. Those members opposite who come into the House and argue against this legislation should think carefully about what they are actually doing. Ultimately, what they are doing is betraying the will of the Australian people, who I know want us to rebuild a manufacturing base in Australia. This legislation begins that task, and I commend it to the House.

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