Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too agree with the member for Fowler. Small- and medium-sized enterprises are fundamental to the Australian economy. They contribute significantly to job creation and economic resilience. So does the preparation of a skilled workforce, with appropriate training available to everyone. Small- and medium-sized enterprises need skilled workers just as large ones do too. Skilled workers can, and do, create small- and medium-sized enterprises of their own. All they need is opportunity, and that's precisely what the Albanese Labor government is giving them.

Nine out of 10 of the new jobs of the next decade will require post-secondary qualifications. Almost half of them will come through VET pathways. When we came into office in 2022 Australia was experiencing the biggest skills shortages in more than half a century after years of coalition neglect and worse than neglect. We have already created more than half a million free TAFE positions, on their way to filling the shortages across the areas of need. And we have created a manufacturing sector fit for 21st-century purpose. Now, we're committing to at least 100,000 free TAFE places every year. Many of those workers will be going into and later creating new manufacturing enterprises and new manufacturing jobs across Australia. Labor has provided them, and all of us, with a $400 million Industry Growth Program, a program we created to support emerging manufacturers everywhere, including in the electorate of Fowler. The program directly links with the National Reconstruction Fund with a $15 billion investment—that's the largest investment in Australian history in living memory. The Liberals and their friends don't like to talk about that. Perhaps it's because they are embarrassed. This is a direct encouragement of homegrown Australian business, providing finance to support projects that drive high-value industry transformation.

The Industry Growth Program invests in small businesses across the National Reconstruction Fund's seven priority areas: resources; transport; medical; science; defence capability; renewables and low-emissions technologies; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and enabling capabilities. It's a declaration of faith in our country and the capacities of our people. We encourage small and medium enterprises everywhere in Australia to apply for this funding, which will help them to commercialise and grow their ideas. The program also provides an advisory service to give them access to the experts who can work beside them to help them plan that growth. The expert advisers are available in every state and territory. Innovative SMEs aren't shy. More than 1,100 have already signed up.

Matched grant funding, from $50,000 to $5 million, is also available for SMEs looking to grow. All of this is part of our determination to create a future made in Australia, by Australians, for Australians, and that's why we created the free TAFE positions that are already changing the lives of more than half a million Australians and will do so for years to come. That's a thought that never seems to have occurred to the Liberals. Even today they scorn it—a great policy they won't match.

The Albanese government believes in all of Australia. It's why we're building a stronger, more diversified and more resilient economy. It's already happening in the less than three years in office. If only the Liberals had played a part in this during their nine years, we would be much further along the way. Thought bubbles like their absurd nuclear pipe dreams won't do the trick.

Everywhere, except in the coalition party rooms, people understand that there's a global movement towards net zero. This is a global transformation which stands to provide enormous economic and industrial benefits to Australia. Our Future Made in Australia plan is a plan, not a pipe dream. It's already at work, creating secure, skilled and well-paid jobs. But the Liberals have never been particularly interested in secure, well-paid jobs, although I know many Independents are, like the member for Fowler. The Liberals never saw a pay rise application they liked, and they have repeatedly acted to weaken the power of Australian workers to advocate for improved conditions. We know that our future growth prospects lie in the intersection of Australia's industrial, resources, skills and energy bases. They all have to be strengthened and brought together.

I absolutely agree with the member for Fowler on the importance of small and medium-sized business enterprises, and I speak from direct and personal experience. There's a world of opportunity out there, and the Albanese Labor government is working for all Australians to ensure that we open up all of them.

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