Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cunningham not just for the question but for being a champion of Australian manufacturing. We know that Australians want their country to be a place that makes things. Strong economies have strong manufacturing capabilities. Our Future Made in Australia plan is about being able to mobilise Australian manufacturers to make the things that will reduce emissions and generate strong jobs along the way, from new-generation solar panels that can be made in the Hunter and electrolyser manufacturing in Gladstone through to the making and recycling of batteries in outer suburban Melbourne.

But if you want to regenerate and revitalise manufacturing, you need a committed government that will work with industry and back manufacturing workers. That's why we have set up the National Reconstruction Fund and the Industry Growth Program and are pushing for a future made in Australia. But we're also backing manufacturing workers, because, from 1 July, they will be getting a cost-of-living tax cut. We want every manufacturing worker to earn more and keep more of what they are earning. From 1 July, a manufacturing worker on $63,000 will be $1,357 better off.

We are also backing manufacturing by investing in our industrial heartlands. I visited the Illawarra last week with the member for Cunningham, where there's excitement about offshore wind development and where renewable projects will generate thousands of blue-collar jobs—

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