Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister of Industry and Science. What steps are the Albanese Labor government taking to rebuild Australian manufacturing? What are the barriers to the government's Future Made in Australia plan?

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Blair, not just for the question but for being a big backer of Australian manufacturing. Creating secure, well-paid jobs doesn't just happen by accident. It requires learning the lessons of history and having absolute, unequivocal ambition for the future. It takes strong leadership, with a vision for what the country can look like, and governments that work for all Australians. We have a big job to do in making the transition to net zero. We're playing catch-up after 10 wasted years under the coalition.

We need to urgently mobilise manufacturing, to make things here, to get us to net zero. In doing so we can cut emissions and grow blue-collar jobs. That's what a future made in Australia is all about, and it's at the heart of tonight's budget. Instead of shipping off our ideas to another country and importing their products, we can seize new ideas and create great jobs: groundbreaking new solar technology not made anywhere else on the planet, like what SunDrive reckons it can do in the Hunter; hydrogen electrolyser manufacturing by Fortescue in Gladstone; Hysata's work in the Illawarra, producing hydrogen that is crucial in manufacturing green metals and keeping steel manufacturing here in the country; and processing critical minerals and turning them into Aussie made batteries, like those made by Gelion in Sydney's west. Solar, hydrogen, green metals, critical minerals and batteries: we have the people, the know-how and the manufacturing muscle to get it done in Australia.

As I said earlier, time and again we've seen world-leading Australian know-how go offshore. We have know-how that's created jobs and opportunities and competitive edge for other countries. But this government said, 'Enough is enough.' Enough of the failed policies of the coalition, who sent our car makers packing. After the nasty negativity that poured scorn on manufacturers and cold water on their job creation, for all those years, all we've had from those opposite is constant negativity and no plan. At every opportunity they oppose the chance to back Australian manufacturing. They said no to tax cuts that would have helped manufacturing workers. They said no to the National Reconstruction Fund. They said no to energy price relief that would have helped Australian manufacturing.

Tonight's budget will be a budget for every Australian. It will show the difference between a government with a plan, and those in opposition, who oppose everything. We will invest responsibly in Australia's manufacturing future, as opposed to an opposition that mocks manufacturing and calls it a graveyard.