Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House declines to give the bill a second reading, and:

(1) notes:

(a) the failure of billions of dollars of the Government's Future Made in Australia spending to meet the standards and processes laid out in this Bill and the significant integrity concerns around these investments;

(b) the Government's Future Made in Australia policy has been criticised by many eminent economists including the Productivity Commission's Danielle Wood; former Productivity Commissioner Gary Banks; Australian National University visiting fellow Steven Hamilton; and University of New South Wales' Professor Richard Holden; and

(c) this policy does not make up for the Government's failures on economic management that are driving up the costs of manufacturing and have caused a tripling of manufacturing insolvencies since June 2022; and

(2) calls on the Government to get Australia's economy back on track and back to basics by fighting inflation and reducing wasteful spending, reducing complexity and red tape for business, supporting affordable, reliable energy, and delivering lower, simpler, fairer taxes".

The coalition will oppose this bill. The more we learn about this plan, the more it simply doesn't stack up. This is a plan for pork-barrelling, not the Australian economy. It's a plan for more government, not more business investment. It's a plan for more inflation at a time when Labor is already making its homegrown inflation worse. This country has a proud and strong manufacturing industry and history, and the coalition has always supported it. Indeed, at a very personal level, I spent much of my career before coming into this place working in our manufacturing sectors—in the steel industry in aluminium smelting, in refining and in food processing. I learned, from working in all of those sectors for decades—

those opposite should show some respect—that this is an incredibly important sector for this nation. I was proud to work with this sector as industry minister, saving the Portland smelter, saving the Viva Energy refinery down in Melbourne, and saving the Ampol refinery in Brisbane. These were important issues we took, and we saw, as a result, a strong sector during that time. Sadly, since then, we've seen some big steps backwards. We've lost a refinery in Kwinana. We're losing businesses at a rate of knots in this country right now—19,000 insolvencies, record levels of insolvencies we are seeing in this country right now, businesses small and large. We see Nickel West leaving in Western Australia. We see serious questions about lithium mining over in Western Australia right now, and those opposite should pay attention to what is going on right now in the manufacturing sector in this country.

The message I would convey to all—and this was the main thing I learned in my decades working in these sectors, before politics, was that you have to get the basics right. You have to get back to basics and get those basics right. And what are they? Affordable, reliable energy. You cannot run an aluminium smelter unless you have affordable, reliable energy. It's the same with an aluminium refinery and with any metal processing or food processing. Affordable, reliable energy is not negotiable. Flexible workplaces—you have to be able to allow workers and employers to sit down together and work out what is good for the employees and good for the employer at the same time. If you cannot do that, you cannot compete. These are tough industries, and they go to other countries if we are not able to remain competitive. If we do, it's good for workers and it's good for employers. That means we have to have a tax system, too, that is right for these industries.

The policies we have seen from those opposite on energy, on industrial relations, on red tape and on approvals are all making Australia a less attractive place to do business. As I said, we see insolvencies up and productivity down. We've never seen a drop in labour productivity like we've seen since those opposite came to power: over five per cent. The truth is that that affects everybody's prosperity. The results are clear: our standard of living, our real household disposable incomes, have fallen by eight per cent since those opposite came to power. The real wages of working families, based on the employee living cost index, are down nine per cent.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wages are up four per cent.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take the interjection from the member opposite. In the latest data that came out today and in the last week, we have seen nominal wages rise—and they're crowing about it—4.1 per cent, but guess what the living cost index for employees did at the same time. That went up 6.2 per cent. This is what happens when you don't get the basics right. As for the MIA bill, the only thing being made in Australia right now is inflation. This MIA bill is more about spin than it is about delivery.

Economist after economist has criticised this policy, and I will come back and talk more about some of the comments that have been made about it, but, every day, we hear more about the dodgy processes, the lack of economic scrutiny and the double standards that have already applied in this program. This is a slogan in search of a policy. The government cannot solve the cost-of-living crisis by throwing hard-earned taxpayers' money around. That is not the way to do it. The Prime Minister might want to pick winners. He might think he's got the answers and he knows how to pick winners, but Australian families will lose from Labor's reckless spending.

This bill is a demonstration of Labor's wrong priorities. After spending the whole of 2023 talking about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice instead of the cost of living, Australians were hopeful, because we're an optimistic lot, that the next year, 2024, would be the year when the Prime Minister focused on taming inflation, but instead he revealed a plan to spend even more money to make productivity worse and which has failed to gain any support from mainstream economists. Labor has plenty of handouts to lobbyists and overseas corporations, many of whom have other ways to finance than relying on government, but they're keen to hand out the money anyway. But they don't have a plan that is showing any progress whatsoever for struggling families and small businesses. Meanwhile, we are all seeing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis and a cost-of-doing-business crisis in this country.

We are absolutely at the back of the pack when it comes to dealing with inflation. Those opposite want to make international comparisons. I will make the international comparison that matters. Since December last year, we are the only one of the major advanced countries in the world where inflation is going up and not down. We're the only one. Back of the pack! And this hapless Treasurer and government continue to crow and tell Australians they've never had it so good. Well, I tell you what: the Australians I talk to beg to differ. Meanwhile, we are in a GDP per capita recession. We haven't seen GDP per person go up in five quarters. It's a household recession as Australians go backwards.

Since Labor came to power, as I said, prices are up, but the living cost index for employees is up 18 per cent. Personal income tax payments for Australians are up 20 per cent. Real wages, I've already said, are down nine per cent. Living standards—real disposable income—are down by eight per cent. As for household savings, Australians have given up saving. How can you save when the purchasing power in your pay packet has collapsed? You can't because you have to spend that money just to get by every single day. This bill does absolutely nothing to alleviate the pressures on struggling families and small businesses, and we know this big spending agenda will only make inflation worse. Households are going to great lengths to keep their heads above water. They're cracking open the piggy bank because there's nothing else left to do.

These bills expand the role of Export Finance Australia and ARENA and establish a national interest framework that retrospectively underpins the government's Future Made in Australia policy. The accompanying omnibus bill expands EFA's remit to fund domestic industries—it's called Export Finance Australia, but it will now fund domestic industries—and nominates the Minister for Finance as an additional responsible minister. The omnibus bill also expands ARENA's functions from a pure R&D and demonstration to support manufacturing and deployment.

Importantly, embedded in that is the fact that this legislation fundamentally changes the purposes, duties and roles of ARENA. ARENA has always been a research and development agency. This is clear in its remit, the explanatory memorandum and the second reading speech. Labor in opposition opposed even expanding the remit to cover sensible measures like net zero related R&D expenditure, including carbon capture and storage and blue hydrogen. They opposed that when they were in opposition. How times have changed. Now they're expanding that remit even further into deployment and manufacturing and because it suits the purposes of those they're seeking to please. If ARENA is doing deployment, why is the CEFC even needed? That was the role of the CEFC—deployment. If these industries are commercially viable, why do they need government funding?

But Labor's changes are a little more insidious when you look a little deeper. The bill gives the Minister for Climate Change and Energy the ability to boost its funding at the stroke of a pen. That's how it works; that's how it's set up. There's no parliamentary oversight, no scrutiny, just some delegated legislation. And the government can roll out up to $3.98 billion—let's call it $4 billion because it's pretty much that—out the door in an election year. That's how it's structured—no scrutiny. This is a slush fund, plain and simple. That is what's being set up here by Labor. Australians are already on the hook for Labor's inflation. We've seen them spend $315 billion since they came to power, $30,000 for every Australian household. I don't think many Australian households feel they're getting value for money from that. Added into that now is this $4 billion slush fund for an election year. That's what they're planning to do.

The legislation puts the Treasurer and his department in a position to decide whether a sector of the Australian economy deserves investment. It will be up to him. This is the guy who wrote the 6,000-word essay on remaking capitalism. He's going to be capitalism in this country, as far as he's concern. The Treasurer has never run a business and described his private sector career as 'six long, long months'. Those were his words. His private sector career was six long, long months. And he's going to be deciding which sectors in Australia get hard-earned taxpayers' money.

His department will consider the investment against a very narrow set of criteria. They've provided evidence to Senate estimates that key investments for Australia's energy future and sovereign capability—be they carbon capture and storage, gas, blue hydrogen, uranium or nuclear—will not be eligible and have not been considered as part of the framework. It's very clear the criteria here are ideological and based on the Treasurer and the government's biases.

The analysis to greenlight these investments will be guided by a Treasurer who has never worked in business seriously and a department of bureaucrats who, under this government, have made a reputation for failing to understand business. Meanwhile, their Orwellian community benefit principles will entrench union involvement in the workplace and replicate much of the same social procurement policies that have enabled the CFMEU's corrupt conduct to flourish across this nation.

The truth of the matter is that those links, that requirement for union involvement, is part of what we see with everything that Labor is doing here. We have no problem with workers choosing to be part of a union. Choice is what we believe in. What we don't believe in is allowing the construction industry to be controlled by a union that has links to underworld figures and bikie gangs. That's the truth of the situation right now.

This is not the way to build a healthy and productive economy. The Business Council has warned that these procurement rules are at risk of enabling this behaviour, while it risks subsidising businesses Australia would never have a comparative advantage in. The BCA rightly points out that this is important, because there are hard-earned taxpayer dollars at stake. We on this side of the House understand how hard small businesses work to create those taxpayer dollars. They're not created by the Public Service. They're created by hardworking businesspeople in this country—

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And their workers.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And their workers.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lyons is warned.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I accept that interjection. I absolutely accept it. The best path to get back to basics and to get the fundamentals right is to get the fundamentals right. That's the way we should be proceeding here, and it's not the way this is proceeding. BCA president Bran Black has said:

Our competitors (think Canada, the US, and across Asia) are more investment-friendly environments based on old-fashioned fundamentals like … regulation—

like good regulation, that is. He went on:

To reinvent our economy we must, as a point of national urgency, become a more competitive place to do business.

That's getting the basics right.

The Productivity Commission says a billion-dollar commitment to make more solar panels in Australia under Anthony Albanese's Future Made in Australia program should be retrospectively subjected to a tougher National Interest Framework test. It said:

Allowing sectors to bypass the NIF process would undermine its role in disciplining spending.

Yet Labor are already breaking their own rules when it suits them. This is the extraordinary thing: they create the rules and then proceed to ignore them. Key elements of Labor's MIA agenda include the $22.7 billion PsiQuantum contract, which bypassed the National Interest Framework and sector assessments. They haven't taken any notice of it. There are serious questions to answer about the decision to make this investment, with it being increasingly clear that the Minister for Industry and Science's decision to invest in this business was independent of any departmental appraisal, analysis or recommendation. That's how it proceeds. It looks suspiciously like crony capitalism to me, I have to say.

Treasury were not consulted prior to the decision to invest in solar manufacturing, and their subsequent analysis has said that it is not a sound investment. That's what Treasury said. The Productivity Commission was not consulted on the details of the proposed investments prior to their announcements, and we're already seeing that the policy is not effective. The Solar SunShot program has been refused backing by the Treasurer's own secretary, with the main proponent of the policy, who stood alongside the Prime Minister as he announced the initiative, cutting back its staff and replacing their CEO. Already it's falling to pieces. Fortescue—the biggest booster of green hydrogen, which is the target of the program—is scaling back its ambitions for green hydrogen already. It's true it was billions for billionaires, but the billionaire is handing it back. He's decided he doesn't want it.

Labor's production credits are failing to deliver for the struggling nickel industry. I mentioned Nickel West earlier. It's very sad to see what we're seeing with Nickel West right now. What's very clear is that this policy is not making any difference whatsoever.

It's not just the coalition raising serious concerns here. As I said, the Productivity Commission's Danielle Wood, the government's key economic adviser, who was appointed by the Treasurer, has said:

If we are supporting industries that don't have a long-term competitive advantage, that can be an ongoing cost. It diverts resources, that's workers and capital, away from other parts of the economy where they might generate high value uses.

We risk creating a class of businesses that is reliant on government subsidies, and that can be very effective in coming back for more.

I'm sure they'll come back for more. Wood also said:

Your infants grow up, they turn into very hungry teenagers, and it's kind of hard to turn off the tap.

Danielle Wood is not alone. The former Productivity Commissioner, Gary Banks, described the MIA policy as a 'fool's errand' that risks repeating mistakes of the past by propping up 'political favourites'. I think 'political favourites' is generous. He goes on to say:

Seeking to obtain benefits to society through subsidies for particular firms or industries, including in the form of tax concessions, has proven a fool's errand, particularly where the competitive fundamentals are lacking.

Gary Banks likened the scheme to the song 'Hotel California', saying 'many will enter the program, but few will ever leave.'

In response to this, the Prime Minister called Mr Banks 'a flat earther'. Banks is a highly respected former public servant in this nation who has served this nation in an extraordinary way. I don't think he deserved that kind of label. Another eminent economist, Professor Richard Holden, defended Mr Banks, saying that the insult was 'wrong and uncalled for'. He went on to say, 'The PM says all the wrong things.' He's quite right about that. The PM says all the wrong things. Holden said:

His main argument for subsidies is that other countries are doing it. Like a primary school kid telling to a teacher 'but he started it'.

Another economist, Steven Hamilton said:

There are many problems with industry policy and this is a big one. It's why I tend to favour more neutral investment incentives like a lower corporate tax rate or accelerated depreciation.

We've been supportive of accelerated depreciation on this side of this place. Hamilton goes on to say:

I thought we'd learned these lessons, but apparently not. The bad old days are back.

Hamilton then talks about comparisons with the US IRA, saying:

That is a totally different proposition to doing so in Australia. Without a large domestic market, exports are the only way for Australia to achieve scale. But we are so far away from the kinds of markets we could sell into, that shipping costs put us at a distinct disadvantage. No amount of government subsidy is going to get around that.

I could keep on quoting. Even the AMWU—you would have thought they'd been pretty supportive of Labor as the dominant left faction union and a source of talent for Labor in parliament—don't want Treasury to have a central role in the Future Made in Australia. They believe Treasury has 'limited expertise'. That reflects my comments earlier.

We know the way forward for our manufacturing sector. The success we all want to see is absolutely getting back to basics, getting inflation under control and getting the cost of doing business under control—just as it's so essential to get the cost of living under control in this country. That means we have to make sure that we have a fiscal strategy in this country that takes pressure off inflation. Yet the first thing this Treasurer did in his first budget was to get rid of the fiscal strategy that had been in place since the 1990s. It was a fiscal strategy put in place by Peter Costello, and Wayne Swan didn't even get rid of it, but the current Treasurer did.

Secondly, we will wind back Labor's regulatory roadblocks and interventions, which are suffocating business and the economy, stopping businesses from getting ahead. This is in areas like approvals. We know approvals are absolutely essential to having a strong manufacturing and mining sector in this country.

Thirdly, we will remove the complexity and hostility of Labor's industrial relations agenda, which is putting unreasonable burdens on businesses. We see they're moving into the Pilbara. I have to say, the Pilbara is a place where you have the very highest paid and most productive workers in the world. It's extraordinary what's been achieved up there by those businesses and their workers over many years. Labor has said, 'No. We're going to send in the union officials. They're going to make it better.' The most competitive industry in this country and the most competitive mining industry in the world, and the union officials are moving in. Well, we don't think that's the way to strengthen our economy and create higher real wages for workers and create opportunities for all Australians.

Fourth, we will provide simpler, lower and fairer taxes for all, including for small business. Accelerated depreciation is a very key policy for us and for small businesses in this country. Fifth, we will deliver competition policy that gives consumers and small businesses a fair go, not lobbyists and big corporations. Finally, we will focus on delivering affordable, reliable energy to all Australians. This is essential for our manufacturing sector. This is essential for ourselves.

There is a better way. The Labor Party's MIA bill is not the way forward. It will not create a prosperous, strong manufacturing sector that will create jobs and opportunities for Australians across this great nation. That is not the way forward. There is a better way forward. We will continue to put that way forward. That is embedded in the amendment that I have just circulated in my name.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was an interesting 25 minutes that we'll never get back! You would think that a shadow minister would come in here and talk about a bill, talk about a policy and talk about what they would do. But all we had was 21 minutes of self-reflection and carry-on, complaining about other members of parliament. I did laugh when I heard the member talk about his experience in manufacturing. I looked up his bio. He's never worked in manufacturing. So we had 15 minutes of self-reflection and yet the member opposite has never worked in manufacturing. The only time he has done anything in manufacturing is being in a government that watched 60,000 jobs go offshore in one hit. Every single one of them sat there and watched the end of the automotive industry, one of the largest industries in this nation that had produced great cars but also produced many, many great careers for people working in manufacturing.

I get those on the other side have come in with their polished-up fingernails because they have never had any dirt on their hands. They have never worked in a manufacturing process. They've never actually worked in a factory and seen what goes on. I did an apprenticeship in a manufacturing factory.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How would you know? You wouldn't have a clue. I'm from three generations of manufacturers.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At least your scarf's bright. I would probably suggest you sit there and be quiet because, when you talk, you make yourself look silly. So how about you just relax and listen because I'm going to talk about the bill. This is something that is unique because, as I said, we couldn't even get three minutes out of the 'member for Jam Land' on the bill. It is just ridiculous that we can't get the opposition to talk about a bill because they've got nothing to say. The only thing they say now, and that they say consistently, is no. They just oppose everything, because they have no ideas. They talk about getting Australia back on track. Well, let's talk about their record. Let's talk about inflation. It's now a lot less than it was when they were in government. We could talk about rising interest rates. It started under them because, for nine years, they neglected the economy and looked after their mates. They talk about the CFMEU. Let's remember that, for nine years in government, they didn't do a thing. They chased them for having stickers on their helmets and flags up flagpoles but didn't do anything about it. That's because they are an empty, vacuous lot over there that are all talk and no action.

What we did was put together the Future Made in Australia. We actually care about manufacturing jobs. We found problems during COVID, with us being at the end of the line. There were times when people couldn't even get a fridge, a washing machine or plaster to build a home. No wonder we've still got this housing crisis that started back in 2017 that they did nothing about. That was under former prime minister Turnbull. I'm not sure who his deputy was at that time—there were a few at that stage—but that was the first time we started talking about the housing crisis.

So what we've done is be a government that has come in and said, 'We value workers and we value this nation, and we want to build things here.' When it comes to wrapping yourself in a flag, you'll see that lot stand there and talk about our sovereignty and what a great nation this is. But, when it comes to the crunch, Australians know that they will never, ever have Australian working men and women's backs, because they don't. They sat there through their nine years and did nothing on housing, did nothing on Medicare and did nothing on superannuation. They tried to destroy the NDIS and created a headache that we are cleaning up again. They did nothing on lifting workers' wages. In fact, remember they said that low wages were a strategic part of their policies and programs.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A deliberate design feature.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Exactly. That tells you all you need to know about what they think about workers in this country.

We have been the party that has always built a future for Australia, so it makes sense that our party is here to create the Future Made in Australia policy. The legislation before us makes this a reality, with more job opportunities, more industry and more products made here in Australia. It's not rocket science to sit there and say that you need a government like the Albanese government recognising that the opportunity is in front of us and we need to grasp this opportunity. If we don't capitalise on the global gap in industry, the opportunity will pass us by. We have the resources, we have the space and we have the skilled workforce, and there is a global appetite for the products that Australians can deliver.

This policy will maximise the economic and industrial benefits of the move to net zero, making Australia wealthier, more secure and more independent. It will not only secure Australia's place as an ever-changing global economic landscape but cement our place in an increasingly unstable strategic landscape. Like many others across the nation, I have an ongoing professional interest in the success of this policy. As Chair of the House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources, I have been fortunate enough to travel the country and see cutting-edge industries as they mature and thrive. I have seen the ambition that's out there and the need for a suitable level of government support.

I would encourage all members to have a look at our report Sovereign, smart, sustainable: driving advanced manufacturing in Australiaand, yes, Member for Riverina, you can have a signed copy if you pop into the office later.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You promise?

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I promise you that. You will see from what we have documented there that there are possibilities out there and that the people, with some support, can deliver world-beating products from Australia to the world. It's no surprise to me that, in the May 2024 budget, the government outlined its plan to invest $22.7 billion over the next decade to build a future made in Australia.

They say we live in the lucky country, but I'm not sure that that's right, because luck has an element of chance put in it. This country is fantastic because it has been built on ingenuity, hard work and the desire to build a better future for our kids and our nation. Our land is filled with the resources to kickstart industry and one of the most upskilled workforces on earth to make this happen. These strengths also make us an ideal destination for private investors and industry to boost this program. Although the government has a vision and has initiative to get industry off the ground, we are opening the doors for private enterprise and investment to help us seize the opportunity that lies before us.

This plan of increasing Australia's manufacturing capability will build a stronger, more diverse and more resilient economy, and that's what we need to do. We've seen the need for this due to an increasingly unstable and tense geopolitical climate. Whether it's Russia's illegal war in Ukraine, the escalation of violence in the Middle East or rising tension amongst our neighbours, these ever-changing global events put supply chains under pressure. The Future Made in Australia plan will better protect Australians from this global pressure while also creating a source for well-placed jobs that deliver benefits to communities across the country. It's not about cost; it's about the investment. The more we give people better, secure jobs, better-paying jobs and reliable jobs, the more they can invest in the economy and the economy grows. We can't continue with the nine years of shrinking that we saw under the previous government.

So what is a future made in Australia all about? It's about attracting and enabling investment. It's about making Australia a renewable energy superpower, value-adding to our resources, strengthening economic security, backing Australians and Australian ideas with innovation in digital and science, and investing in people and places—all the things that those opposite oppose.

The bills before us impose rigour on government decision-making, giving investors the clarity and certainty they need to invest. Through this, we recognise our combined comparative advantage in renewable energy and traditional strengths in resources and manufacturing, to build new opportunities, including critical mineral processing, green metals, clean energy technology and low-carbon liquid fuels. It's an outrage that we produce the product to make the fuels and we send it over and buy it back. We should be doing it here.

This is an opportunity we have right now before us, as we hit the quarter-of-the-century mark, to say, 'Where do we want our country to go?' We don't want another case like the one where the opposition told the auto industry in 2014 to get lost. Forty thousand people directly lost their jobs, whether for the big manufacturers or for those in the supply chain. It's no surprise that the coalition oppose a bill like this, because they know nothing about bringing manufacturing to Australia. What they do know is how to scare manufacturing off. The decision from the coalition not to back the auto industry means Australia is missing out on increasing global demand for hybrid and electric vehicles. We could have been capitalising on this opportunity. We could have been one step ahead. But instead, because of Abbott and Hockey's decision to force the auto industry offshore, we're two steps behind. A decade of manufacturing neglect has made the work to repair all this much harder. Our government refuses to let that same type of opportunity slip away from our nation.

This is where the Future Made in Australia plan comes in—renewable Australia as a renewable energy superpower, and specifically the technology and resources available to Australia to become a renewable superpower. You only have to go and look at manufacturing in this space to see what ingenuity comes out of this country, what we can build and how we can be world leading. No more do we want to see Pig Iron Bob or John Howard—who was pig iron mark 2, as we watched PV cell technology shipped overseas and then had to bring it back and pay for it. We have the ability here. Whether we look at this or at defence—wherever we look in manufacturing—Australia has a reputation globally for building high-quality, reliable products in niche markets. This is something we should be celebrating and grasping. We should not be sitting there, looking in the mirror and talking for 20 minutes about things that have nothing to do with the bill; we should actually go out there and back Australian workers.

What I've seen through chairing this committee has been thousands of Australians of all different ages, in all different industries, wanting to have a go and wanting to actually get there and do things in this country. The one thing that stopped them has been not getting the backing from their government. Well, that changed. We often say that when you change the government you change the country, and that's what we did. We changed the government, and we now have a government that's out there backing you—every single one of you—to keep and grow your jobs and your businesses and, most importantly, to keep us at the forefront of technology and the ability that we have. No matter where you look, up and down the country, there are people out there who are designing, building and manufacturing things and trying to sell them offshore, when we could actually bring money in. Wouldn't it be nice if we backed our exporters, developers and manufacturers? That's what this is about. We made strong commitments to support workers in this country. We've done that. For the aged-care workers who were treated like nothing under the former government, we gave them a reasonable pay rise to value the work that they do. We do that in manufacturing as well.

Making more things here is the key of this legislation—a belief that we should benefit from the manufacturing and export opportunities that are available here with the resources we have. Currently, with resources, we dig it, ship it and sell it. That's not the way we build a future. We shouldn't turn Australia into a big hole. We shouldn't be importing a finished product back. We should be looking at how we can build it here. Rather than taking a boatload of rock, let's take a boatload of products—high-value products that have been produced here by Australians and are sent overseas, where we can actually make a better financial investment and get a much bigger financial return.

We are adding value to Australian resources by strengthening the country's economic security. It's so important that we build up resilience and security by shoring up and diversifying our supply chains. This will power the next generation of Australian manufacturing with cheaper, cleaner energy, creating long-lasting jobs and opportunities in every part of the country, especially in rural and regional Australia.

A future made in Australia is something that we should be backing wholeheartedly. It's not about politics; it's about backing the Australian workers, designers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs. It's about backing the Australian economy. Rather than sit there and hope for the best, let's put our shoulders to the wheel and get out there and actually deliver what needs to be delivered for a better nation.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024. There are already some remarkable success stories when it comes to being made in Australia, and I want to highlight a couple of those right in my hometown of Wagga Wagga. Indeed, Tim Rose, who is a chemical engineer with degrees in both environmental science and business and has 25 years of industrial operations experience, seven years in re-refining, is responsible for overall group performance and management of Southern Oil Refining in the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics Hub at Bomen in north Wagga Wagga. He also has a plant operating at Gladstone, the Northern Oil Refinery. This has produced 140 megalitres of waste lubricating oil processed. It's about 40 per cent of Australia's total waste produced.

What they do is re-refine this waste and turn it into brand-new oil that can be used—indeed, bitumen as well. About 100 megalitres of base lubricating oil is produced and sold, which is about 40 per cent of Australian demand. Both plants are at capacity, and there's obviously then the need to expand. Forty megalitres of fuels and bitumen are produced, replacing imports. So that is a proud made-in-Australia story—$100 million in product sales. That is tremendous. As the member for McEwen comes and gives me the signed copy of Sovereign, smart, sustainable, I'll just put that where it needs to go.

What we've seen from these particular plants at Wagga Wagga and Gladstone is job creation. The Wagga Wagga plant opened in 2001 with 35 jobs, Gladstone opened in 2014 with 32 jobs, and there are another five jobs at Brisbane. And this is creating opportunities. This is turning waste into a viable, usable product that is environmentally friendly and economically productive. It is a fantastic made-in-Australia success story.

Then we have, not far away, Riverina Oils. In 2013, a state-of-the-art fully integrated oilseed crushing and refining plant was built with a crushing capacity of 200,000 tonnes of oilseed annually, certified non-GM canola. Each year, the plant at Wagga Wagga, north of the city in the industrial estate, has the potential to produce more than 80,000 tonnes of high-quality refined vegetable oil for the food industry and 110,000 tonnes of premium canola protein meal for the poultry, dairy and animal feed industry. I'm certainly very supportive of this. They're looking to increase canola storage bunker capacity at the Bomen site. The development application is being considered. It's a significant project. It's a priority project, and the New South Wales government recognises it as such. Hopefully that will proceed. Later this year, we'll get the go-ahead, the green light, for that wonderful project to enhance further the RIFL Hub. There's the special activation precinct, which is also taking advantage of Inland Rail.

Why do I mention all this? Because it's not just Wagga Wagga—and Gladstone in Central Queensland where there's that wonderful deep port harbour. It's right around this nation that we have ingenuity, entrepreneurship and activity, and much of it was based on the good policies of the former coalition government. I know that I was directly responsible in part for introducing Tim Rose to Ken O'Dowd, the then member for Flynn, which then led to the Gladstone facility opening. I'm pleased to say Ken is in the parliament tonight being applauded and lauded for his work with the Nationals as the member for Flynn for four terms. He did a great job, and Colin Boyce is continuing that great work in Flynn to make sure that it is one of our great industrial electorates in the nation.

When it comes to great industrial electorates in the nation, they need lots of power and they need lots of energy. Sadly, what we have seen from this government since May 2022, is power prices going up and power prices becoming unaffordable not just in Riverina. Mallee, Flynn, Capricornia, Parkes, New England, Cowper, Lyne—I could go on. It is so sad, to the point where this rush to achieve net zero—and you only have to look at what the Institute of Public Affairs says about this—there are many jobs at risk.

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

I can't believe a National is quoting the—

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I am quoting the IPA, because they correctly point out that there are hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk because of the rush to renewables. I'm not against renewables—I'm not—but when you have a government which is putting renewables and the rush to have renewables ahead of everything else that has been sound and safe and reliable and affordable and accessible and available in the past, what we're going to see are blackouts. What we're going to see are shutdowns at aluminium factories and other manufacturing sites. Yet the Labor members come in here and pretend as though they have got these great ideas and great policies and legislative frameworks to put forward proposals that they say are going to have a future of manufacturing made in Australia. The fact is, it's not going to lead to a better future for this nation. It's not going to create more jobs in manufacturing.

The previous Speaker, the member for McEwen, was talking about the coalition saying no, but here we have a government that say no to agriculture. They're saying no to live sheep exports out of Western Australia. And by doing so, they're going to place at risk the jobs of many families who've had that industry for many years. They're saying no to mining. They're saying no to fossil fuels, when we know that coal and iron ore and uranium and other exports that propped Australia up during COVID. Indeed, these exports have led the way for our balance of payments for many years, but the Treasurer, in his budget speech last year, couldn't even bring himself to say 'agriculture' and 'mining' and just said—wait for it—'the things we sell overseas'. He couldn't utter the word 'coal'. He couldn't utter the word 'gas'. He couldn't, for the first time in 25 years of Treasurers delivering budget speeches, mention the word 'infrastructure'.

What we did when we were in government is we had a $120 billion infrastructure rollout.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You didn't deliver much.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear the member for Lyons rudely interrupting and interjecting, but he knows as a regional member that we rolled out phone towers not just to Labor seats. We also built roads in his electorate in Tasmania. We built roads. We built a dam. I know. There was a Dam started and finished—Scottsdale dam—in Tasmania under my time as Deputy Prime Minister. And I'll tell you what: the irrigation farmers in Tasmania were thrilled when it was completed. They were absolutely delighted. But will we see dam building under this Labor government?

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, of course we won't, Member for Mallee. Will we see anything happen in the infrastructure space? We'll see plenty of reviews. We'll see plenty of plans. We'll see plenty of ribbon-cutting for projects that were funded by the previous coalition government. But will we see a positive action plan of rollout, of delivery, by this Labor government? The answer to that is a resounding no. Members on the coalition side understand it, they know it, and they're worried about it.

Moreover, our constituents are very concerned. When the member for Ballarat, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, put in place her 90-day review, we knew that this was just procrastination. We knew it was just Labor being Labor. Don't believe what Labor says it's going to do; believe what Labor does. It's never the same two things, as the member for Forde just said to me a few moments ago before I rose to speak on this bill.

It is an important bill. Whilst the opposition is opposing this bill, it is important that we do talk about manufacturing and things being made in Australia, because it highlights again the sad reality that power prices, energy costs, are going through the roof for industry, for farmers, for households, for Australians. When we have a prime minister who promised on no fewer than 97 occasions before the May 2022 election that there was going to be a power price reduction of $275 reduction off your bill, that hoodwinked many Australians. They're not fooled now. They know, as all Australians do. All Australians who live in the real world know that life is so much more expensive now than it was before Labor came to office. Labor has pushed prices up across the board.

I heard the member for McEwen also talking about housing and how difficult it was for Labor to build houses, but we've got a Labor government which is acceding to the requests of its state governments. In Victoria we've got an administration which is banning conventional gas onshore and offshore. We have the Jacinta Allan government, following on from the Daniel Andrews administration, which won't allow the timber industry. What do you build houses out of? What do you power houses with? It's so difficult to build a house anywhere in Australia, let alone in Victoria. The reshuffle is not going to fix anything. It's not going to put roofs over people's heads. It's not going to bring power prices down. Whilst ever you've got a government that is pushing this manic renewables drive over sensible, practical, available baseload power, you are going to have—

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like nuclear!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't quite hear you, Member for Lyons, but no doubt it was some—

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like nuclear!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, yes, thanks. Absolutely. If we are to get to net zero, let's have a national, rational discussion about nuclear power. We've got uranium supplies—very bountiful supplies of yellowcake. Why wouldn't we have the national discussion instead of producing, as you've done, silly little memes with three-eyed fish from The Simpsons and the like? Why wouldn't we have a national, rational discussion about nuclear as an option? That's the trouble. Labor members knock and mock ideas, but let's have the discussion about having balance, about having options in our power mix. Let's not just go to wind and solar and wholly and solely go down that path, because let me tell you: there is a lot of prime agricultural land at the moment which is being taken up with projects that are then placed under state-significant development approvals et cetera, which are usurping local councils' ability even to look at projects. What they're doing is taking the best available farmland, which, I might add, grows our food and our fibre and puts food on our plates and clothes on our backs, not just for this nation but for many others.

So the coalition is opposing this bill. We've put forward a sensible amendment, as you'd expect. As the shadow Treasurer has just said, this is a slogan in search of a policy: Future Made in Australia. It's an ill named bill, like most Labor policies. Labor's policies on workplace reform through flexibility are just run by the unions. We saw what John Setka did and said yesterday, and this policy is— (Time expired)

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

I'm proud to speak on the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and the Future Made in Australia (Omnibus Amendments No. 1) Bill 2024 because I believe strongly that we should be a country that makes things again. This is about making things here and growing our economy and creating good jobs. We won't be lectured by the coalition, who drove the car industry out of Australia, with all the jobs that were lost in the supply chains and all the small businesses that went to the wall because of the coalition's refusal to support the car industry. In country towns in my electorate of Ipswich, we suffered because the coalition dared the car industry to leave. We won't be lectured by those opposite, who promised a surplus in their first year of government and every year thereafter and failed to deliver one. We're engaging in responsible budget management, delivering surpluses and making sure that we put downward pressure on inflation, and we've almost halved inflation since we came to power.

We know people are still doing it tough, and we're providing cost-of-living help. If those opposite had any integrity on this issue, they would support the cost-of-living measures that we're providing for Australians. We're getting these lectures about picking winners et cetera from those opposite. They're going to spend up to $600 billion of taxpayers' money to provide about 3.7 per cent of Australia's energy needs by 2050. Instead of providing relief now for people and investing in the cheapest, cleanest projects that we can undertake in terms of renewable energy, those opposite want to create some sort of Stalinist utopia: a nuclear energy plant controlled by the government. The party of Menzies has really fallen away. Now they're giving us lectures tonight about the fact that they're opposing legislation which is about a future made in Australia.

We think that's the case because they didn't want to support jobs. Have you seen anything said today about the fact that wages are going up above inflation as a result of the announcements that we've made today and indeed the information that has been provided? Have you seen anything? No, not at all. You get no information from those opposite about investing in Australian jobs. You get platitudes and statements that somehow we're expending $315 billion too much. But it's about indexation support for pensions and a whole range of other things, which, if they were in government, they'd be doing anyway. So the inconsistency is rife and the hypocrisy is rank from those opposite.

What we're doing with this legislation and what we're doing is investing in advanced manufacturing and making sure that we support good, well-paying jobs for people in industries that are critical. My home city of Ipswich grew up on limestone, the coalmines and railways. We now have an aerospace industry that provides so many jobs locally, with Boeing, TAE, Raytheon and a whole range of jobs in the defence industry. We've got advanced manufacturing when it comes to meat processing. There's JBS at Dinmore and Kilcoy Global Foods up in Kilcoy in the Somerset Region. There are a whole range of things and really big numbers of people working in these places. We need advanced manufacturing in places like Springfield and the like. These are opportunities. We've got so many chances here to create a new Ipswich, a new Queensland and a new Australia. That's what this legislation is all about. It's about making sure we've got an economic plan for the future. Those opposite have got nothing in this area. We've got the ingredients, the capability, the resources and the ingenuity. We've got the natural resources to produce new products and research technology. We've hit the ground running when it comes to the $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia initiative. That's real money that we put on the table here. Those opposite claim that it's some sort of Orwellian piece of legislation. It's not Orwellian in any way at all. It's real money for initiatives to assist business.

If those opposite claim that we should be assisting business or let the market run, I say to them that I was in business for 20 years before I got elected to this place and I know how to run a business. I employed people. I know how important it is to create jobs and give good wages to workers. One of the best things I ever did as an employer was tell people they had a job and give people pay rises. That's what helped us, because they were strong, they were productive, they were innovative and creative and they added to our business.

That's what we need to do in this case—create good, well-paid jobs. That's critical. We need to educate our people. Those opposite can't even support fee-free TAFE—500,000 people have taken it up in this country. We need more people in TAFE and more people at university. It's absolutely critical. We need to boost our sovereign capability and create a pipeline of well-paying jobs, especially in outer-suburban and regional electorates like mine.

We need to embed innovation, and we're seeing that. We're backing science, and I've seen that myself in my electorate. It started with our $392 million Industry Growth Program, which just delivered its first round of advice and capital support for small firms to help turn great ideas into growing businesses, supporting everything from battery making through to blueberry farming. It will grow the pipeline of investment-ready businesses for the centrepiece of a plan, which is the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, or NRF, which those opposite can't bring themselves to support, but I know that the businesses I speak to really support it.

This is co-investment. It's about value-adding to our natural strengths and comparative advantages across seven national priorities through a mix of loans, guarantees and equity injections. One local project which I'm looking at is in the Lockyer Valley. It used to be in my electorate. It's now in the electorate of Wright. It's in the Lockyer Valley food bowl, just west of my electorate. It plans to process locally grown vegetables into canned, frozen and dehydrated food, supporting hundreds of local jobs and using renewable energy to power its operations. I understand it's the only prime industry value-added project that's applied to the fund to date. It's something of which I am very proud and I've been working with the local business in relation to it.

Our government has huge ambitions for Australia to be a big player in science and technology. That's why we've released Australia's first National Quantum Strategy, to support an industry estimated to be worth $2.2 billion, directly employing 8,700 people by 2030. As part of this we've partnered with the Queensland government to invest almost $1 billion into PsiQuantum to build the world's first commercial-scale quantum computer in Brisbane in my home state. PsiQuantum will create up to 400 highly skilled local jobs, help crowdfunding and investment in local companies and help open up new digital and advanced tech supply chain opportunities. It's an exciting initiative and it's generated huge interest in South-East Queensland. Those opposite oppose it. They oppose all that opportunity. They're Neanderthals when it comes to this stuff.

Springfield City Group in my electorate are keen to work with the Albanese and Queensland governments and PsiQuantum to establish a quantum tech training centre within Springfield's knowledge precinct. This would be a focal point for local universities, TAFEs and PsiQuantum to attract and retain students and deliver local, high-skilled, well-paid jobs and economic growth in the western corridor, west of Brisbane, while supporting our defence needs, given the proximity to the RAAF base at Amberley. It's a real game changer for our region, and that's why I'm so excited about the opportunities here.

On a related note, we're also working on a national robotics strategy which will deliver and drive an industry that's already contributing $18 billion to our economy. We're looking to support safe, inclusive uptake of technologies like AI. But, to fully unlock the potential of the NRF and areas like quantum computing and AI, we need to tackle the current skill shortages and skill-up the digital tradies for the future. To that end, we've invested heavily in fee-free TAFE, but those opposite can't bring themselves to support it. That's why something like the Quantum Tech training centre is such a vital and viable enabler. I want to make sure people in the outer suburbs in my electorate get access to the tools for success in manufacturing. That's why programs like the NRF and the Industry Growth Fund exist: to support growth of local businesses that can do just that.

Capral, in my electorate, is a world-beating firm and a terrific example of this. It was great to have the Minister for Industry and Science for a tour of their factory in Bundamba last year. Capral produces aluminium for a wide range of products for local customers and for export, from window frames to truck beds. But aluminium is also important in our transition to a net zero future, as it is used in frames and found in solar panels being installed across the country. Another example, just outside of my electorate, in the electorate of Oxley—the Speaker's electorate—is the Graphene Manufacturing Group, based in Ridgelands, a really innovative firm at the forefront of our national critical minerals and Australian made battery industry. It employs more than 40 people and is experimenting in developing batteries that charge 70 times faster and have three times the battery life of lithium batteries.

On this front, the government recently launched Australia's first National Battery Strategy to harness our world-leading expertise and build a battery manufacturing industry, creating more high-skilled, high-paid jobs. The strategy outlines how Australia will drive battery innovation and scale up manufacturing of battery packs and cells and recycling to help our transition to net zero. And recently I visited the Queensland University of Technology's advanced battery facility pilot plant and the Queensland Energy Storage Technology, or QEST, hub at Banyo, in Brisbane, where the Prime Minister launched the battery strategy.

These are some exciting existing examples of industry led energy storage research and a terrific demonstration of our ability to manufacture batteries and innovate in South-East Queensland. Going forward, QUT are keen to establish an Australian battery industrialisation centre in Swanbank in my electorate of Blair, and I'm hopeful that an opportunity will be provided to participate in the National Battery Strategy and for the government to support good projects like this in my community through the Future Made in Australia initiative.

Lastly, medical science is another huge growth area in my electorate. Springfield City Group is working with a range of partners to develop the Springfield BioPark, an innovation precinct dedicated to advanced manufacturing of high-value medicines, like vaccine and blood product. This is an exciting initiative. Recently the Minister for Industry and Science and I visited Southern RNA in Springfield, a biotech start-up dedicated to mRNA manufacturing that's developing a range of life-saving vaccines and drugs. The minister and his department have been working with Southern RNA as part of our RNA blueprint so that we can develop high-skilled jobs and economic benefits for Ipswich and for all of Queensland in advanced medical manufacturing. This is a reality in the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea, and we need to do it in Australia.

This bill is absolutely critical. We had such a wasted decade under those opposite in all the areas I've talked about. They abandoned the field entirely. The Future Made in Australia legislation brings together our policy work in this space. It's an effective, practical strategy for Australia to seize this opportunity in energy transition. This is about unlocking private sector investment to build a stronger, more diversified and more resilient economy powered by renewable energy that creates secure, well-paid jobs. It embeds into law a disciplined and rigorous approach that will govern Future Made in Australia investments.

The package does a number of very important things. It's absolutely critical. This is about harnessing the talents of our people. It's about the incredible natural resources we've got, about things we have an opportunity to make here in Australia. I know this is possible because I've seen it already happening, and I've outlined some of this stuff here today. Right now, despite what those opposite think, the world is moving strongly and quickly towards renewable energy. As the sunniest, windiest continent on Earth, this is our big chance. More than anywhere on Earth, we are poised to gain new jobs, new industries and new skills, if only we capture that with imagination and innovation and create opportunities in our regions and suburbs.

We need a government that is prepared to step up and do its part, to fund apprenticeships, to attract investment and to build infrastructure—unlike those opposite—and to boost industries and back ideas. That's why a Future Made in Australia is good for this economy, it's good for our community, it's good for jobs, it's good for wages and, particularly, it's good for my local community.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like the Sorcerer's Apprentice of 1940, the Mickey Mouse Labor Party has picked up the fabled and treasured 'made in Australia' logo and waved it like a magic wand at their dog's breakfast of policies, thinking the spin of made in Australia will secure public trust. But even the best magician can't fix Labor's policy failures and the resultant economic hardships of hardworking Australians. The 'Australian made' logo represents the pride, trust and hard work of the nation's manufacturers. It is a mark of quality that resonates deeply with Australians, reflecting our commitment to valuing and supporting local businesses and communities, so much so that, in happier economic times, shoppers will pay extra per 100 grams to buy the Australian product.

The coalition is proud of the way we strengthen the Australian made logo in one of our strongest industries, food manufacturing, to compel retailers to show the percentage of Australian made food produce on supermarket shelves. It is profoundly troubling that the Labor Party, given its track record of policy failures and devastating impact on Australian businesses and communities, is exploiting this iconic phrase for political gain. This act of appropriation is a betrayal of trust. When lame duck US President Joe Biden stood in front of slogans on the wall, like 'Future Made in America', you understand where the Prime Minister took his policy narrative from.

Labor's approach to energy policy, water policy, biosecurity, taxation and industrial relations, to name a few, has created an environment of uncertainty and instability, failing productivity and plummeting business confidence. Over the past two years, we have witnessed an alarming rate of business closures: 19,000 businesses have shut their doors. This is not just a statistic. It represents the dreams and livelihoods of tens of thousands of Australians, mostly mum and dad venturers.

Recently, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's latest small business sentiment survey indicated that 57 per cent of regional businesses are looking to close their doors. With many decades in the game surviving the global financial crisis and COVID-19, business owners in my electorate say they are at breaking point. Current and imminent business closures are a direct consequence of Labor's policies, which have driven up inflation, interest rates and operating costs, making it increasingly difficult for businesses, particularly small and regional ones, to survive.

Labors penchant for a government controlled economy and for picking billionaire winners has made our economic climate hostile to enterprise, innovation, growth and opportunity. Labor's energy policies have led to skyrocketing prices, with no realistic solutions on offer—$325 spread over four quarters is not the permanent $275 energy relief promised 97 times before the election. Reliable and affordable energy solutions are essential to support Australian industries and protect jobs, yet Labor's reckless rush to renewables lacks a coherent or realistic transition plan. Instead, we have an energy eyesore, a landscape exclusively of wind turbines and solar panels, supposedly backed by Labor's labyrinth of 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines. The rush is on due to political targets, which will require seven gigawatts of wind and solar to be installed every year, a more than fivefold increase on the 1.3 gigawatts reached in the last reporting years.

Labor's labyrinth and energy eyesore has increased costs and damaged performance and confidence in our agricultural sector and food security, as transmission infrastructure is rammed through communities without care for social licence and with heartbreaking outcomes, particularly in my electorate of Mallee. Marcia McIntyre from Kanya in my electorate has firsthand experience of Labor ignoring her time and time again. The supposed community consultation doesn't count for a thing. Marcia says:

We have put in hundreds of submissions, surveys, pinned maps and been to every single drop-in session. We have been extremely clear at every stage that we will not host wind, solar, transmission, batteries…we just want to grow food and fibre. Only to end up in a tier 1 area! Our community has been completely ignored even though we genuinely and extensively engaged, wasting so much of our time.

Under Labor, 90 per cent of our 24/7 baseload power will be forced out of the system over the next 10 years and is not being replaced by Labor's renewables-only plan. Labor is switching off a reliable system without a reliable substitute. Supposedly we can rely on an unprecedented experimental mix of grid-scale batteries, pumped hydro, and hydrogen. Labor deride nuclear, gas and coal and are therefore jeopardising the very foundation of our prosperity—energy security. In fact, Treasury have confirmed that gas, blue hydrogen, carbon capture and nuclear are not included in Labor's national interest framework.

Labor's plans insult hardworking coal industry families in the Hunter region by pretending that somehow solar panel manufacturing will, firstly, be viable against heavily subsidised Chinese and American competition and, secondly, provide the same number of jobs that is currently provided by the coal industry. It will not, whereas maintaining baseload power and therefore transferable skills at Liddell certainly would.

Recently, billionaire Andrew Forrest stepped back from his ambitious green hydrogen targets, shedding some 700 jobs in the sector and revealing the fragility of conceptual green hydrogen as a so-called solution for Australians, their businesses and the economy. Labor's miscalculation of previous taxpayer money has been wasted on propping up the green dreams of billionaires like Andrew Forrest, doing little to advance our environmental goals. Yet, in this bill, Labor want to double down on corporate welfare for billionaires who are as bad at picking winners as they are. It is imperative that the government reassesses its approach and stops wasting money on unproven technologies.

To make matters worse, Labor's destruction of our future being made in Australia extends beyond energy policy. When you consider tax and industrial relations, Labor's heavy-handed tax policies have stifled entrepreneurship and innovation, placing an excessive burden on businesses already struggling with higher operational costs. The government's $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia announcement in the budget, again, makes no progress on the list of demands our manufacturers are actually making. Manufacturers need better business conditions, not more government intervention. For instance, take Steve Timmis, a producer from the successful Fossey's Gin brand in Mildura in my electorate of Mallee. Steve says:

In the last 12 month period my sector is down about 40 per cent gross revenue. Additionally, our costs rose 20 per cent. Everything has gone up, electricity, wages, super(annuation). That is a 60% difference on where we have been.

I had over 15 employees but they no longer work for me, I ensured they found other jobs before they left. It's a sad decision.

Labor's industrial relations policies have further compounded pressure on business by creating a rigid and adversarial environment that hinders productivity and flexibility. This week, the mining industry says that recent IR changes have handed the mining sector over to the unions, with BHP forced into their first union collective agreement in over a decade. According to CreditorWatch, the overall business failure rate has jumped by nearly 10 per cent over the last 12 months alone. Almost half of the nation's small businesses considered closing down in the past year, and, as I said earlier, more than half—57 per cent—were in regional Australia, where, frankly, there are very few large businesses.

The most alarming situation is the one facing Australia's $150 billion food and agriculture sector, a cornerstone of our economy and a vital part of our national identity. This industry, which spans from horticulture, viticulture, livestock, cropping, forestry and seafood production through to food manufacturing and retail sales, is in crisis. The Australian Food and Grocery Council says the profitability of the food and beverage manufacturing industries is in a downward trend, falling from $8 billion per annum in 2009-10 to $5 billion a decade later. While the sector hopes to double food manufacturing by 2030, it fears imports will see the end of high value added products made in Australia.

Labor's policies under the guise of their Future Made in Australia campaign have unfortunately and most ironically neglected the suppliers to our largest food manufacturers: our food producers. Labor's neglect has manifested in rising regulations, the unfair biosecurity levy, surging energy costs, industrial relations obligations and increased tax imposts, strangling the very lifeblood of the agriculture industry. At the Australian Global Food Forum in Brisbane, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett highlighted how government relations stifle innovation, hinder industry growth and destroy employment opportunities.

Australia has quietly become a food superpower over the past decade. Local farmers have increased their output by more than 90 per cent, as Anthony Pratt recently stated. The Australian food production industry now represents six per cent of our gross domestic product. Over the past 10 years, 1,200 food factories have been built across the nation and food exports have more than doubled, from $29 billion to $59 billion, with beef exports to China growing by 200 per cent. Mr Pratt, speaking at the same 12th annual Global Food Forum in Brisbane, emphasised: 'While tech gets all the love, food provides the jobs.' In a decade, Australia's farmers have produced 91 per cent more output. These achievements underscore the potential and resilience of our food and agriculture sector.

When you consider that the Made in Australia logo has historically been most recognisable in the textile and agriculture industries, the two make for a great contrast. According to the Australia Institute, Australians have now passed the USA as the No. 1 consumers of textiles, buying 56 clothing items per year, notably at a value of $13 on average compared to $24 in the USA and $40 in the UK. Textiles and clothing made up almost 12 per cent of our GDP in 1965 but have now been slashed sixfold to around two per cent. You have to wonder whether Labor's plan for agriculture is to head into the same decline as Australian textiles.

In stark contrast to Labor's failures, the coalition offers a comprehensive and balanced energy strategy that prioritises cheaper, cleaner and consistent power. As a start, we will not spend $13.7 billion on corporate welfare for experimental green hydrogen and critical minerals. Second, we will wind back Labor's intervention and remove regulatory roadblocks, which are suffocating the economy and stopping businesses from getting ahead. We will condense approval processes and cut back on Labor's red tape, which is killing mining, jobs and entrepreneurialism. Third, we will remove the complexity and hostility of Labor's industrial relations agenda, which is putting unreasonable burdens on business. Fourth, we will provide lower, simpler and fairer taxes for all because Australians should keep more of what they earn. Fifth, we will deliver a competition policy which gives consumers and smaller businesses a fair go, not lobbyists and big corporations. And sixth, we will ensure Australians have more affordable and reliable energy.

Our economic plan, with its tried and tested principles, will restore competitiveness and rebuild economic confidence. It is time for Labor to recognise the damage their policies have caused. Australian businesses and manufacturers don't want smoke and mirrors. The magic of effective governance lies in making decisions that benefit all Australians, and that is precisely what the coalition will deliver.

Debate interrupted.