Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why is the Albanese Labor government taking action to make more things here in Australia? What approaches has the government rejected?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the member for Jagajaga for her question. The Future Made in Australia proposals 'represent an important recognition of the strategic importance of manufacturing, and open up hopeful opportunities'. They're not my words. They're from an open letter signed by 70 Australian economists expressing their strong support for our Future Made in Australia plan. They characterise our plan as an 'important shift in emphasis and vision' that will have benefits that spread through the economy and through society.

What this is about is setting us up for the future—well-paid industrial jobs, supporting regional communities, contributing at the same time to the decarbonisation that's necessary in our economy. That's what drives this government: a vision for an Australian-made future that uses our resources to make more things here, moving up the value chain and creating good jobs as we do, investing in renewable energy and strengthening our economic and national security as we do, drawing on the full potential and aspirations of all of our people and making sure that those opportunities reach every part of the country.

There couldn't be a clearer contrast between this and those opposite. They offer no way forward, just a dead end. They boast about shutting down Australian manufacturing and driving industries offshore. They brag about ending the Australian car industry, costing jobs and skills, putting a handbrake on the industry and cutting us out of global supply chains. What we want to do is make sure that we take advantage of those opportunities—the shift in the global economy to a clean energy economy, the opportunities that are there in areas like green hydrogen and green metals, the opportunities that are there to have advanced manufacturing here in Australia.

That is what we need—to have faith in our people, to have faith in the opportunities and optimism about how we can not just compete with the world, but how we can beat the world. Those opposite don't have an agenda. They just have a vendetta against workers, against manufacturing, against fair wages, against aspiration and against ambition. That's what we've seen from their gibberish that we've heard here across the chamber while this answer is being given. They don't think Australians can make things here. They just want those jobs and that value-adding to occur somewhere else. Well, that's not this government's approach, and that's why we'll continue to provide economic security by having that future made here in Australia.