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

This budget has been yet another disappointing one for the manufacturers of Australia, as this hapless Labor government continues to fail them and break their promises to the Australian people. One year on, Labor have been all words and no action when it comes to supporting manufacturers. They are all excuses and no solutions when it comes to addressing the pressures industries face each and every day. Labor are all spin and no sincerity. With flawed policies, they continue to rush through without proper industry consultation. It has been one year since the election of the Albanese government and their policy scorecard remains woefully empty on the industry portfolio.

After promising the world to Australia's industrial sector before the election, the Albanese government has given our manufacturers an atlas in this budget. Manufacturers are still in limbo, dealing with rising costs, soaring inflation and the Albanese government's go-slow on manufacturing. Worse still, the budget has cut critical programs that Aussie industries have come to know and were utilising to their benefit. Politically motivated reviews cost our manufacturers time they simply do not have. Each lost moment puts them behind their international competitors. Like a bad sequel, the modern manufacturing initiative delay saga continues with endless reviews, which even ABC Fact Check have said were not needed. By the assistant minister's own admission, these reviews have added three to four months delay to critical defence, food and space projects as part of the MMI collaboration stream, with many projects yet to be funded. So, Minister, will you now provide a concrete time line for these businesses? When will they receive the money they were promised? Will you provide an ironclad guarantee that these outstanding grants will be honoured by the end of this financial year? And will you apologise to these businesses for the uncertainty you have created?

The successful Entrepreneurs' Program was also cut in the budget. In this government's ham-fisted attempt to insource industry expertise to the Public Service, the measure will instead cost 200 existing industry experts their jobs, as we learned in Senate estimates. Again, we see the tell-tale signs of a bad Labor government cut, with government websites noting that all applications submitted to the Entrepreneurs' Program prior to closure will be assessed and honoured if eligible. So, Minister, will you confirm that this commitment will be honoured without a lengthy three-to-four-month government intervention?

We also learned from this budget Labor's war on the space sector continues, with whole programs cut after the government ripped out millions of dollars from programs in this critical sector that supports defence and agriculture outcomes, just to name a few. Minister, could you please outline how you believe it is reconcilable that the Prime Minister specifically named the space industry as a critical sector in opposition but, now in government, this budget has stripped sector of crucial funding yet again?

When Mr Albanese announced his plan to create the National Reconstruction Fund as part of his opening speech at the 2021 ALP annual national conference, he made some bold promises. He promised that the NRF would support a nation that can stand on its own two feet. He promised that the NRF would see us export our Australian-made products to the world. He promised that we should not have to rely on other countries when it comes to protecting and providing for our people. Words are not enough. Well, one year on and, rather than standing on our own two feet, our manufacturers are up against the wall, suffering because of this government's failure to deliver on its key election commitments once again in this budget, commitments to bring down power prices and deal with the issues that our manufacturers need resolved. The only solution they offered to industry before the election was the NRF and they are yet to commit to a start date. So, Minister, when will the NRF fund its first project? Will you commit to genuine consultation with industry and not just with your union paymasters? Why have you still not seen fit to conduct inflationary modelling on this $15 billion off-budget funding vehicle?

Energy costs are spiralling and the only answer this government has given so far is to ruthlessly review and cut coalition programs that were working. One year on, and rather than standing on our own two feet, because of Labor's policies, Australia's copy paper industry has shut down. Because of Labor's policies, the cement industry is at risk of offshoring. Under Labor's watch, Australia's forestry industry is on life support, as they continue to be besieged by bad Labor policies. Under Labor's watch, more than a dozen large building companies have closed. This budget provides such little comfort for industry struggling with the cost of everything going up.

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