Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak today on the government's current engagement in developing a strategy for electric vehicles in Australia and implementing a fuel efficiency standard. The Parliamentary Friends of Manufacturing, which I co-chair with my parliamentary colleague the member for Wright, and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union yesterday hosted a discussion on the relationship of Australia's heavy vehicle manufacturing industry to the government's plans and what a sustainable transition for the industry might look like, including workforce and supply chain issues relating to Australia's future sovereign industrial capabilities.

I've spoken in this parliament about how the Ford factory in my electorate, which closed in 2016, was more than just an icon of Australian car manufacturing. It was a job creator and a supply chain innovator. Losing these manufacturing plants marked a huge shift in the economic direction of this country because those opposite presided over a policy which chose demolition of industry rather than the transition of industry. And, just as they failed to produce a single coherent manufacturing policy that would safeguard Australia's sovereign capability, thankfully—through ineptitude, rather than purpose—they failed in their attempt at destroying Australia's vehicle manufacturing industry.

What has been lost in the narrative over the last decade is the fact that Australian workers in skilled trades continue to make high-quality heavy vehicles. Our domestic bus, truck and trailer industries are currently responsible for approximately 15,000 direct jobs and as many as 34,000 indirect jobs. It is these workers and the communities which they support that mustn't be left behind as we transition.

Our economic lifelines depend on a strong local industry capable of designing, building and maintaining heavy vehicles and developing innovative emission-reduction technologies. Manufacturing low- and zero-emissions vehicles mean strengthening the very same economic opportunities and industrial capabilities that allow us to tap into global markets and global automotive industry supply chains.

At the same time, Australia is a key source country that can supply the world with the critical minerals needed to power new technologies. This leads us with a choice. We either end up being a quarry or a nation that is innovative or in command of a future made in Australia.

In this spirit, I want to pay tribute to former Victorian state secretary of the AMWU, the late Frank Cherry, a giant of the Labor movement, a tireless activist and a champion of the working class. Wherever there was a struggle to improve working conditions, wherever there was a fight against political oppression, wherever there was a place even beyond Australia's shores in which injustice reigned and prevailed, the AMWU stood in solidarity.

Vale, Comrade. You can be proud of your contributions and for proving that a struggle worth fighting for makes a life worth living.

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