Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the bill that is before us today, the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024. I come from a very proud manufacturing electorate, the electorate of Bendigo, which has been manufacturing for many decades. It is a place of much innovation, going back to the harvester. People remember and know the Sunshine Harvester dispute because that is how we have the living wage in this country, but that particular piece of farming equipment was first manufactured in my electorate before then being manufactured in Ballarat, and then its manufacture was moved to Sunshine in Melbourne. So manufacturing in my electorate goes back well over a century.

This bill and the Albanese Labor government's commitment to A Future Made in Australia have many in my electorate excited—excited by the opportunities it presents and excited by the commitment of this government to reinvest in and commit to manufacturing and to being a country that makes things again.

As those on my side of the House have recognised and said in their speeches on this bill, this particular bill looks to unlock private investment in future industries, bringing new jobs and opportunities to areas across our country—particularly to the regions. It's all about maximising economic and industrial benefits from the global transformation to net-zero, and securing Australia's place in an changing economic and strategic landscape, while at the same time helping to secure the supply chains that we have, ensuring that we will build a stronger, more diverse, more resilient economy that is powered by renewable energy, and creating more secure, well-paying jobs and a future made in Australia.

This bill recognises that our future growth prospects lie at the intersection of industry resources, skills and energy if we are to remain globally competitive. Specifically, what we want to see with a Future Made in Australia and the supports identified in this bill is: to promote safe and secure jobs that are well-paid and have good conditions. We want to develop a more skilled and inclusive workforce by including investment in training, skills and development and by broadening the opportunities for workforce participation. We want to see an engagement in collaboration to achieve positive outcomes with local communities such as First Nations communities—communities that are affected directly by the transition to net-zero. We want to see strengthened domestic industrial capabilities and stronger local supply chains. We know that supply chains are under pressure and continue to be under pressure, and it's not just in areas identified by other speakers like in medical supplies—it's in our housing industry and it's in our heavy metal manufacturing industry. Our supply chains continue to be under pressure with increasing fragmentation and global commendation.

New opportunities in clean energy industries will also be present into the future, and we need to be ready to tap into those and to make the best of those opportunities. Australia is ideally placed to benefit from the global transition that is under way, owing to our natural resources, our capabilities, our competitive advantages and the base of manufacturing that we already have in our trade partnerships. Key to unlocking those opportunities is being able to better facilitate private investment and to respond to those opportunities. This is something that comes up a lot in my electorate. Many manufacturers that I have met with over the last 10 years have raised their frustration—they've got a great idea, they want to expand, there's new equipment, they need to expand their plant to introduce new equipment, but they struggle to get access to capital. It comes up over and over again. That is why they are looking for the future opportunities, not just in this bill but in all of our commitments towards local manufacturing.

I want to take a moment to outline for the House the local manufacturing superstars that I have in my electorate. I want particularly to draw attention to Hofmann Engineering. Most people know them as being a Perth-based manufacturer—they are also in my electorate of Bendigo. They are going through their own transition. Some of their current work is for heavy metal manufacturing and refurbishment of machinery used in coalmining, and they acknowledge that it is an avenue of income for them. But they are diversifying and looking to tap into clean energy refurbishing and manufacturing.

On one of my visits to their facility, they were refurbishing a wind turbine. They are one of the only places in Australia that are able to ensure that our wind turbines are functioning at their full capacity. They spend a lot of time rebuilding and recalibrating poor product that has been imported from overseas and that doesn't really work well in the Australian climate. They're also well placed to take on new work with Snowy Hydro and the opportunities that present themselves in Tasmania with hydro energy. In my electorate of Bendigo, we have the capacity to refurbish, rebuild and manufacture the big gears, gearboxes and machines that are required for hydro energy.

Hofmann is already doing outstanding work for our state Labor government in terms of rail manufacturing, but they see an opportunity in renewable energy, and they are a company that we can all be proud of. Over one in 10 of their employees is an apprentice. They recruit locally, and everybody that you meet in the company acknowledges that it's a bit of that old school job for life. Once they start, they stay, and they enjoy their work environment. They are introducing new equipment, like robotic welders. It's still a fitter and turner who is using that machine, but it's a young fitter and turner who is applying their skills to the robot to do that work.

Another fantastic manufacturer in my electorate who's doing great things is Australian Turntables. Paul Chapman would never forgive me if I did not mention his company and the work that they are doing when we talk about a future made in Australia. They have a unique product. They manufacture big turntables. Whether it be for overseas, for restaurants, for car showrooms or for safer road access to construction sites and mines, they are involved in the manufacturing of turntables. There are also turntables that go into our arts precincts to ensure that orchestra pits and stages move effectively. But what's extraordinary about Turntables is the investment that they make in engineering and skills. Whilst they're a small company, they export a product all over the world. It's a family business, and Paul often talks about ingenuity and thinking forward. He talks about the next opportunity and is excited by the idea that we have a government that is committed to a future made in Australia and is a proud champion of the fact that you have to have that core industry to underpin an economy. As he recognises, and as we recognise, the world is changing. We want to tap into that opportunity.

Both Hofmann Engineering and Australian Turntables are members of the Bendigo Regional Manufacturing Group. I raise the Bendigo Regional Manufacturing Group because it is unique in the sense that it brings a diverse group of manufacturers together around what common interests they may have. For as long as I've been involved in the local community and engaged through my work as the local MP, they have been campaigning for cleaner, greener energy. They have been wanting to be part of the solution. They get that gas is a necessity at the moment, but they are really keen to see that transition and the establishment of a greener fuel to help power their businesses and their industries.

The Bendigo manufacturing community is a really good example of that fracturing that we have within manufacturing across Australia. We have heavy metal manufacturing, as I mentioned. I haven't even mentioned Thales, the home of the Bushmasters; I'd better do that. But we also have building supplies. We have food manufacturing. We have really diverse industries that I have to say have survived the worst of it. They've survived the decades of, I guess you could say, neglect from policymakers and lack of support for local manufacturing. They've survived the continuous challenges that come with the reduction of tariffs that we've had. They've survived all of that, and now they're hoping to thrive and hoping to really look at ways that they can build and grow. Any focus on manufacturing by our government will help regions like mine. It will help and encourage the growth of manufacturing, embedding in the government's National Interest Framework, which was announced in the budget—

Debate interrupted.

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