Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is an historic day. Today, in this place, we passed the National Reconstruction Fund. This is the largest government investment in industry since World War II. What does the National Reconstruction Fund mean for Australia? Jobs, jobs and jobs. And not just any jobs: good jobs, secure jobs and well-paid jobs. They're Aussie jobs, jobs that our kids can be proud of and jobs that will exist in the year 2100.

The pandemic taught us how fragile our supply chains were, and we discovered how much of our essential goods were made overseas. We saw skills shortages across the world and supply routes were unreliable. I particularly remember when the rail network between WA and South Australia was flooded and the shelves were bare in WA. And now we have the war in Ukraine. In addition to this, WA has been addicted to the boom-bust cycle of commodities, but we're now at a time when Australia must become a more advanced and diversified economy.

I started my career in steel capped boots on a mine site, and I'm proud of the innovation that has been created in the mining sector against Australia's harsh outback conditions. However, the National Reconstruction Fund will take us further, and it makes sense that we should add value to what we mine. The people of Swan tell me that they want to see more things made in Australia: if we can make it here, we should.