Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024, but, unfortunately, unless there's a change of government, there is to be no future made in Australia. There is simply none. Every time the Albanese Labor government is faced with a challenge or faced with some questions, they come up with the wrong answers. We have a major security issue in this current situation. The No. 1 thing a federal government and a prime minister should do is look after our borders and keep our people safe. Unfortunately, they are failing on many fronts.

Minister Giles, the previous immigration minister, let 152 detainees out and, most of the time, didn't know where they were. Now, the Prime Minister is looking to let Gazan refugees from that war-torn nation into our country without the right checks and balances. There is no chance of having any future made in Australia unless we get our borders, our immigration and our security under control, and we need to keep Australians safe.

The second point is energy. The Albanese policy around energy is a disaster. Electricity prices are going through the roof. This is after we were promised on 97 occasions that power prices would come down if an Albanese Labor government was elected. It simply hasn't happened. This is all due to the reckless race to renewables. It's making power prices go through the roof. The other thing with renewables is that it's an intermittent and unreliable energy source, which simply does not help the manufacturing industry whatsoever. The manufacturing industry needs power 24/7 and renewables cannot provide it. Solar only works when the sun is shining. Wind turbines only work when the wind is blowing. Of course, they are now talking about back-up batteries. How long do they last? Point to me anywhere else in Australia, or anywhere else in the world, where batteries will make manufacturing work? I'd be very interested if someone can do that.

Manufacturing requires a large amount of capital expenditure. It's a huge amount of capital expenditure. So when the manufacturing industry pays for capex, whatever industry they're in, they need to be able to use that 24/7. It's the only way that they can make their repayments. It's the only way they can make their business model work. You simply can't do that with renewable energy. Then I hear those opposite saying: 'We're going to supplement with hydro. When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, we are going to use hydro.' Again, it is a weather-dependent form of energy. There is no energy created out of pumped hydro. All it does is go round and round. You buy it on the margin. That's how it works. We need it 24/7. That's why we need to keep our coal-fired power stations going and have a look at investing in new technology, nuclear technology.

Business is moving offshore. We are losing businesses. I was actually talking to a large-business owner who doesn't want to be named but said: 'Andrew, the situation is that capital is very portable now. We can move it all over the world. We're not going to invest it in Australia if there is this unreliability of energy and unreliability of government.' I said, 'I fully get it.' I'm a farmer by trade. We used to pack tomatoes by hand. We used to pick the colours and the sizes by hand. Then an electronic grader came in. That's the innovation we have in this country. We can have innovation and we can actually make sure that we can develop things and improve. But we can't do that if we haven't got our energy under control. We have a huge resources sector in Australia. There's lots of coal and uranium still in the ground, as well as precious minerals. We need to be mining these resources and using them. We should have the cheapest form of energy any place in the world. That's what we'll do if a future coalition government gets in.

'Future Made in Australia' should be one of the greatest pieces of legislation the government can introduce in the House; however, don't let the title confuse you. This Albanese Labor government continues to confirm day in and day out that it simply is just not up to the job. How can I, in good faith, support this legislation when I know for a fact that the Labor and Greens in coalition with the unions have destroyed manufacturing in this country? This legislation will do nothing for jobs and nothing for the economy. This legislation, put in plain context, is a plan for more bureaucracy, not for business investment. Just last week, the RBA advised the government to stop this fake spending as it is fuelling inflation and hurting Australian. So what does this incompetent Albanese Labor government do? It just keeps spending your money. It would be laughable if it weren't so serious.

Already the idea of this legislation is raising serious doubts about the PsiQuantum contract. This taxpayer funded investment bypassed the National Interest Framework. Can you believe that? It bypassed it. It has some serious questions to answer about the decision to even make that investment. Minister Husic decided to invest in this business independent of any department appraisal, analysis or recommendation. Treasury was not consulted. The subsequent analysis has said that it is not a sound investment. Treasury was not consulted, and their subsequent analysis has said, 'This is not a sound investment.' Millions of dollars of taxpayer' money and a decision made by a minister who has never owned or run a business—great idea, eh?

The cost of energy, the cost of power in this country is out of control. We need to invest in nuclear technology—technology that will create power 24/7. That's what we need to do and that is what manufacturing requires for us in this country. We need better IR laws. Every time a Labor government comes in they change the IR laws and make it more difficult for business. How can business prosper, how can they go forward if they're hamstrung by more and more difficult laws?

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