Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition will oppose Labor's Future Made in Australia Bill 2024. The more we hear about this plan, the more it does not stack up. This is a plan for pork-barrelling, not a strong economy. This is a plan for more government, not more business investment.

Australia, of course, has a proud and strong manufacturing industry, and the coalition has always supported it. In fact, the industry was a lot stronger just two years ago under the coalition government. We know that because during the COVID-19 years there were over one million jobs in manufacturing, and right now we hear the Albanese Labor government minister say there are 900,000 jobs in manufacturing, so that's a 10 per cent fall in manufacturing jobs in two years alone. Yet the government have this new bill. They somehow want to make a future around it and get it going, but they forget to tell people that 10 per cent of the jobs have already gone in the last two years. How many more of those 900,000 jobs are currently struggling because of the inflationary environment and the decisions that the Albanese Labor government have made over the last two years. In order for manufacturing to continue to grow, and for those businesses that are currently engaged in manufacturing and the people that they employ, requires strong economic management, which is not what we're seeing from the current Labor government. It requires economic management that gets back on track in getting the basics right.

When I talk to manufacturing businesses in my own electorate—and I do get around and talk to quite a few in Narangba and Clontarf—they tell me that the No. 1 issue in order for them to be competitive is affordable and reliable energy. The Prime Minister promised before the last election in 2022 that energy would be cheaper and lower under his government. What's happened is we've seen anything but that. He particularly made the commitment to consumers—to mum and dads and to households—that their electricity bill would fall by $275. That has been completely abandoned by the government. We never hear the Prime Minister or the Minister for Climate Change and Energy talk about that at all anymore. They've completely abandoned it, despite promising it almost a hundred times publicly before the last election.

What's even worse than the fact that for most households energy has gone up by a thousand dollars, is that for businesses it's completely doubled in many cases. For manufacturing business in particular, their energy bill in the last two years under the Albanese Labor government has doubled. In some cases it hasn't quite doubled, but it has gone up very significantly. So it doesn't surprise me at all that if 10 per cent of manufacturing jobs have gone in the last two years under this government, that would be one of the main reasons. Yet the government come in here, and say that, 'We've got a plan to make energy more affordable.'

One of the first things the Prime Minister said today in his speech on this very bill was that Australia is going to be 'a renewable energy superpower'. What does that mean? The government continually says, 'We're going to be a superpower. We're going to be up there with the United States or perhaps China.' People think a superpower is generally a military term, but Labor say we're going to be 'a renewable energy superpower'. How come businesses' bills have doubled? Some superpower. All we're doing is putting employees out of jobs and manufacturers out of business. We've lost 10 per cent of them under the Albanese government. So it's a throwaway line that the Labor Party and this Prime Minister use around being a renewable energy superpower. It means absolutely nothing.

Their plan around being renewable energy superpower is buying Chinese manufactured solar panels and Chinese manufactured wind farms, and closing down Australian mined coal and gas and not considering the option for Australian mined uranium, when other countries around the world are considering that as well.

When they were in opposition, this government came in here and banged on for 10 years that, 'We've got to do more for climate change.' Yet they won't consider modern nuclear power. The Deputy Prime Minister had the audacity to come here yesterday and act like the class clown when he said, 'The coalition in relation to AUKUS was a thought bubble.' Give me a break. It was the Leader of the Opposition and the former Prime Minister who got AUKUS running.

So we're going to have eight modern nuclear powered submarines around the country, but we can't have seven modern nuclear power sites on land. And they say they're for climate change, yet modern nuclear power has zero emissions. It's alright to buy Chinese-made wind farms and it's alright to buy Chinese-made solar panels. According to this Prime Minister—for the kids in the gallery—we're going to be a renewable energy superpower. It's just outrageous and it's not truthful.

He also said we're lowering the cost of living, when the manufacturers that I speak to tell me anything but. The cost of doing business is going up considerably, and when the cost of doing business goes up, have a guess what happens. It's all passed on to the goods and services that every one of us goes out and buys. The people I represent in Petrie and people in other electorates around this country go out and buy these products that businesses sell. It's all passed on. It doesn't matter if you're ordering a parmigiana down at the local tavern, buying clothes for work or a car, paying your power bill at home or whatever it may be. If the cost of doing business goes up, which is what we're seeing under the Albanese Labor government, the cost for consumers goes up. We're not a renewable energy superpower, whatever that means. This government is not lowering the cost of living. Australians know that in the last two years the cost of living has gone completely through the roof—completely. So, when you hear the government speak, you're got to take what they're actually saying with a grain of salt, because this government has broken election promises and can't be trusted.

In order to get manufacturing going well and to reverse the 10 per cent of job losses that have already happened in the last two years under this government, we need affordable and reliable energy, and the coalition has a plan for that. That includes renewables as well as modern nuclear power and gas.

You also need a plan to make sure that workplaces are flexible. The difference between us and the government is we don't govern and make legislation for our union donors, because they don't donate to us. Unions represent about eight per cent of the private sector, yet the government—particularly the Leader of the House in his new role and his previous role—legislates for unions and what they particularly want. When you're doing that, you're only legislating for eight per cent of workers in the economy. What about the other 92 per cent? They've just got to wear the extra cost, because not every workplace has the same rights that some of the unions operating within the Labor Party have.

We also see opposite a government that increases regulation. Right now, the Assistant Treasurer, the minister that I shadow, by regulation, is about to put more regulation on accountants and bookkeepers right around the country. That's just one example. At the stroke of a pen, there will be a whole lot of new regulation, so when people are doing their tax or whatever, once again, that's additional cost. It's the same with manufacturing. In order to improve manufacturing and to get it back, we need affordable and reliable energy, which the coalition has a plan for; flexible workplaces, so not just legislating for unions; less regulation, which is absolutely key; and an incentive based tax system.

In my electorate, a lot of the manufacturers are small and family businesses, middle-sized businesses, perhaps with 50 employees or 100 employees. They're businesses like Packer Leather. It's a family run business, pretty well the only manufacturing business left in Australia that manufactures kangaroo leather for RM Williams boots, Sherrin footballs, kangaroo cricket balls and Akubra hats. They also do a bit of work with rabbit leather and cattle. What happens there? They're being taxed more, so their costs have gone up.

It's even simple things. Often family businesses have super funds, self-managed super funds. Perhaps they've put money into it, and now the government's come in and said, if you've got $3 million in your super or if your business premises is owned in your super—they promised before the last election they wouldn't tax it. Now they're going to double the tax rate on super funds over $3 million and put in unrealised capital gains. There might be a building that this manufacturer owns within their self-managed super fund that they bought 30 or 40 years ago for $2 million. It's now worth $10 million. It's a family owned business. This government is saying, 'We want to tax you on everything over $3 million.' So, if the building is worth $10 million, $7 million will be taxed—and not when it's sold but right now, so it's an unrealised capital gain. So you get manufacturers that have been in business for a long time asking: 'Why do I bother? Why am I here working hard, when the government just wants to hit me?'

That's what this government is doing, and a lot of Labor governments have done this over the years. It often takes the Liberal-National coalition to come back in and reduce regulation, reduce tax, make sure workplaces are flexible and not just governed for unions, and make sure energy is affordable. If the government is completely serious about making sure manufacturers do well, that's an agenda they could implement.

Soaring energy prices are a pain for manufacturers all around the country. I mentioned Packer Leather, but it is also the case for other companies, like East Coast Bullbars in Clontarf, in my electorate. For everyone out there who has a Toyota HiLux, a Mazda BT-50, an Isuzu D-MAX, a LandCruiser or a Land Rover: often the manufacturers will sell you a steel bullbar imported from overseas. In my electorate, in Clontarf, you can buy an aluminium bullbar that's manufactured in Clontarf. Again, they've told me that their energy bill has gone up under this government—not good for manufacturing.

For AJ Plastics in Geebung, in the federal seat of Lilley, since December 2022 their electricity bill per month has increased significantly. It hasn't quite doubled, but it's gone up significantly. They're a small manufacturing company, and the bill had been about $460 a month but is now $750. That all adds up. It's all additional costs. That's an increase of around $3,600 per year for another manufacturer up in Brisbane. And this small plastics manufacturer said that they've noticed the hit. This is happening all around the country. It's not just in my seat and the neighbouring seat up in Brisbane; it's all 151 seats around the country.

Productivity is at a 60-year low under the Albanese government, too. And you wonder why your prices have gone up! It's because productivity is down by almost six per cent under the Albanese Labor government. And when productivity is down, if the wages are up—wages are going up, because people can't cope with the cost of living—here's the business ticking along, and wages are up and productivity is down, and we're producing less at a higher cost. And we're wondering why we're all paying more! That is what is happening, in reality, under the Albanese Labor government.

Often that's the case, because we have a Prime Minister and a Treasurer with very little experience in the private sector. I mean, before I came into this place, I'd never had a government job, never worked for a politician. But in the case of the Treasurer and the Prime Minister, all they've had is government jobs—that's it. I think the Prime Minister worked in a bank for 12 months. So, how would he know or be able to consult on what's best for manufacturing? He gets all his information from union donors, and they're writing the rules, and under this Future Made in Australia Bill, they'll be the ones who win.

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