Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Having been a member of this House for six years, I've seen my fair share of legislation pass. There's been some great work done in my six years here: legislation to support 10 days of paid domestic and family violence leave, which is something that I was particularly proud of, legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and legislation to establish the Net Zero Economy Authority, just to name a few. But, like many of us, my own engagement in politics and advocacy extends beyond my six years here.

I spent the best part of a decade as the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and, before that, I headed the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, this country's largest union with now around 350,000 members. Throughout my time working with the ACTU, with the ANMF or as a nurse before that, I was always involved in fighting for a fairer Australia and a more just world. It's a pursuit which many have taken up before me and, of course, many will take up after me, because political and social change never exist in isolation. They build off generations before you and have the potential to impact generations after.

To be able to make this change on the streets or in this House, you need to have an eye towards history. It's my view that every piece of legislation we consider in this place must be viewed within the broad sweep of history. To be able to make effective policy today, you learn from the past—from past mistakes and successes. And, as an elected representative, you must have an eye towards the generations to come. How will your policy impact future generations in 2040, 2060 or 2080? It is within this broader framework that I wholeheartedly speak to support the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and commend the Treasurer, the Minister for Industry and Science, the Prime Minister and the entire Labor government for its work in this space.

The 20th century, in many ways, was a golden age for Australian jobs and manufacturing. The governments of Chifley and Curtin played a key role in supporting our nation's reconstruction in the post-war period. The role of the state, aided and abetted by foreign investment, supported a healthy economy and a strong jobs market, an economy where things were made right here in Australia. It was an era of secure employment and decent wages and one where the fruits of our collective labour were shared equitably. The flow-on effects of the federal government's industry policy helped build our nation both literally in the infrastructure it produced and also its population. The flow-on effects of our strong economy contributed to the creation of things like the PBS, our public education system and our strong social safety net.

But, in the 1980s, we saw a change in our attitude to making things in this country. The government in those years—a Labor government, I might add—did foresee the negative impacts of deregulation. That government attempted to soften any of those changes that might have affected particularly workers with the advent of the social wage—Medicare, superannuation and protected bargaining. The global shift towards neoliberalisation, with its relentless pursuit of deregulation, privatisation and the dismantling of protections for workers, decimated our capacity to manufacture in Australia under the Howard years. It was a global trend, but it did actually peak under the Howard government when we saw the closure of countless factories, the offshoring of jobs and the erosion of our industrial base.

I grew up in working-class Richmond in Melbourne. It was a hive of manufacturing activity. We had shoe factories. We had textile and clothing factories. Skipping Girl Vinegar was there, and that wonderful and famous neon sign is still glowing to remind us of the glorious past. Vickers Ruwolt was just up the road from where I lived, making massive machinery for other industries. There were bakers, chocolate factories, soccer factories and shirt factories. Everywhere you went, there were factories around where I lived. That's all gone. It's all disappeared. For years and years, those factories stood there like ghosts. Now, they are gorgeous apartments. The whole suburb has changed with gentrification.

But once a pillar of our economy and a source of secure employment for many people, manufacturing was left to wither under the false promise that the market alone would provide. The result has been the hollowing out of communities, the loss of skilled jobs and a growing dependence on imports. It's left our economy vulnerable and our sovereign capability weak. Sovereign capability refers to a nation's capacity to independently produce and sustain the critical goods and services necessary for its security and wellbeing. It's about having the resilience to meet our needs, especially in times of crisis. According to the OECD, Australia was ranked last on manufacturing self-sufficiency compared to other member countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a harsh spotlight on how the loss of our manufacturing abilities from decades of neoliberal policies exposed the vulnerabilities in our sovereign capability. In 2020, as borders began to shut and supply chains slowed, we as a nation experienced shortages of medical supplies such as masks, vaccines and PPE. It quickly became evident that the offshoring of manufacturing had left us precariously dependent on global supply chains.

I am going to pause for a minute to talk about something else that happened over the last few decades. That is climate change, a topic that is very important to members of my community of Cooper. There is now scientific consensus that emissions from human activity are contributing to a changing climate. Despite many of those on the other side having their heads in the sand, it's not hard to see scorching heat across our summer, tropical diseases heading southward and a longer bushfire season. From north to south and from east to west, we're seeing extreme weather events just about every single week: floods, fire tornadoes and drought. Labor listens to the experts and understands the need to transition our economy away from one that relies on fossil fuels to one that is clean, green and energy efficient. Australia is actually ideally placed to benefit from the global transition to net zero due to our comparative advantages, capabilities and trade partnerships. There is a role for government to create a positive environment for investment, and the private sector is responding, but the government needs to do more. Did those opposite do this when they were in government? No. They could barely land an energy policy.

It is within this historical context—the loss of manufacturing, the loss of sovereign capability, delays in climate action and the opportunity to become a clean energy superpower—that the Labor government puts forward an option to the Australian people, an option for change. It is an option for stability and sustainability over a decade of climate denial and failed energy policies. It is an option for sovereignty and capability over a mismanaged COVID response. It is the option for a future made in Australia over the option of zero industry policy. It is the option of the Albanese Labor government over the Morrison-Turnbull-Abbott failure. In May 2022 the Australian people made their choice. They chose a future made here. They chose action on climate change. They chose investment in renewables. They chose jobs in manufacturing. They chose a Labor government, the Albanese Labor government. Today that government is delivering on those commitments.

The Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 is truly a landmark piece of legislation, one that takes into account the historical context and present-day challenges that I've described while also setting up our country for generations to come. This is a piece of legislation that combines action on climate change, support for working people, investment in communities and security in our manufacturing and energy supply. It is legislation that maximises the economic and industrial benefits of the global transformation to net zero and secures Australia's place in a changing global, economic and strategic landscape. It recognises that our future growth prospects lie at the intersection of our industrial, resource, skills and energy bases, and our attractiveness as an investment destination. It combines our comparative advantages in renewable energy with our traditional strengths in resources and manufacturing to build new opportunities, including in critical mineral processing, green metals, clean energy technologies and low carbon liquid fuels.

It delivers on key elements of the government's Future Made in Australia plan announced by the government in the 2024-25 budget. It's a plan that is the single biggest investment in action on climate change in this country. It's a $22.7 billion investment. Add to this the $20 billion that we have allocated to Rewiring the Nation, the $67 billion of clean energy private investment that will be opened up with our Capacity Investment Scheme and much, much more, and you have the biggest industrial policy that this country has ever seen.

What does the legislation do? It provides the framework and imposes rigour on government decision-making and substantial public investments. It has three key components. They are: embedding the government's National Interest Framework to help identify sectors where Australia has genuine comparative advantage; establishing a robust sector assessment process to understand and remove barriers to private investment; and establishing a set of community benefit principles that will make sure relevant Future Made in Australia investments create strong returns for local communities, workers and businesses.

The National Interest Framework is a game changer. It will prioritise investment in industries under two broad streams: the net zero transformation stream and the economic security and resilience stream. The net zero transformation stream will identify industries that can make a significant contribution to achieving net zero. The economic security and resilience stream will identify sectors that are critical to our resilience, that are vulnerable to supply disruptions and that require support to unlock sufficient private investment.

As you can see, Labor is doing the work to address crucial challenges that we face as a country—challenges that no other party in this parliament is capable of addressing—because in the Australian Labor Party we are not just about slogans; we are about action. We're a party of government, a party that is about getting things done. You see, Labor doesn't waste the precious time we have in this place by going about throwing personal insults or jibes at individuals who are doing their jobs. We don't waste the parliament's time pulling stunts and moving motions without doing any of the complex work and the hard slog that needs to go into seriously changing the laws in this country. We take the time and we make the effort to help bring about real change, and that is what this bill delivers. It's been painstakingly written, with all the consultation, legal advice and genius that go into these things, and I commend the Treasurer and his team for the long, hard hours that have gone into drafting this bill.

As the Speaker knows, the Labor Party is the party of working people, so a key part of this legislation is ensuring that the public investment, along with the private investment it attracts, flows to communities in ways that benefit workers and businesses. That's why a set of community benefit principles will be applied to the government investments. The principles will ensure that investments:

I started this speech by outlining some of the key pieces of legislation that I have been proud to witness in parliament, and today I am happy to add another bill to that list: the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024. It's a bill that takes into account the history of this country. It learns from the past to make change for the present and will set us up for the future. Whether it be action on climate, support for working people, energy sustainability or sovereign capability—however you look at it—this is truly a wonderful piece of legislation by the Albanese Labor government, and I commend it to the House.

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