James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is on the side of all Australians who believe in the future of manufacturing in Australia to grow and create jobs?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. What a wonderful member for Sturt he is!

Australia will always be a manufacturing nation. That's why our government is unashamedly on the side of our manufacturers and those Australians who work in and believe in manufacturing. This morning I hosted a manufacturing roundtable. We had a number of representatives from industry there, our researchers were there and major manufacturing businesses were clearly there today. It was a very productive discussion on what we could do to support manufacturing businesses into the future, to make sure that we are working with our competitive strengths as we build a future for manufacturing in this country. There was a real confidence around the table that Australia's best years of manufacturing are ahead of us. Currently, manufacturing supports about 850,000 jobs in this country and contributes about 5.8 per cent of GDP, and we plan on growing that. The good news is that the value of our manufacturing exports has already grown by around 23 per cent since 2013.

I acknowledge that the manufacturing sector has faced many transitional challenges, including under Labor when one in eight manufacturing jobs were lost. Those transitional challenges are being overcome, and congratulations to our manufacturing industries for what they have managed to achieve through innovation.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is now warned!

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What they're doing is focusing on their need to compete on value rather than on costs. Manufacturing isn't only about production. There are many parts to the manufacturing spectrum: it includes research and development; it includes design; it includes sales; it includes service. What we are seeing is our manufacturing businesses innovating every single day so that they can become more efficient, so that their products continue to be of high value, not just in Australia but right across the world. It's very important, for our manufacturing businesses to grow, that we develop the export markets that they need now and into the future.

We're working very proactively, very positively, with our manufacturing businesses here in Australia. We're making sure that they will have the skilled workforce that they need to produce the right products that they need. Let me say this: under the Morrison government we are making manufacturing great again.