Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What impact will the Future Made in Australia legislation have on Australian industry, workers and communities? And what stands in its way?

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

I thank the member for Macquarie for her question. At the heart of our Future Made in Australia legislation is a clear vision, a pretty simple proposition: we want Australia to make more things here. We want to be more resilient as an economy and we want more jobs to be created here. We can make things here. We can add value here. We can do more than dig things up out of the ground, export them, wait for value to be added, wait for jobs to be created and then import them back. We can build an economy where manufacturing is every bit as strong as mining, where Australian researchers and innovators can commercialise their ideas and turn discovery into industry.

Our plan reflects our confidence in Australian workers, our respect for Australian scientists and innovators, our belief in the boundless potential of our regions and our resources, and our determination to work with business and industry to make the most of this moment in this critical decade. Above all, our plan speaks for our unwavering determination to shape the future rather than have the future shape us.

Those opposite oppose a future made in Australia. They've called Australian manufacturing a 'graveyard', and the Leader of the Opposition even made the extraordinary statement, 'Everyone loves the thought of Australian made but they're not going to compete with China.' Well, I tell you what, Mr Speaker: I back Australia. I back Australian workers. I back Australian business. I back Australian innovation. I back the capacity of Australia to not just compete with the world but to win, whether it be miners in the Pilbara or the workers in Gladstone, or the Illawarra or the Hunter Valley, we can win. And that is what we want to do. We want to take Australia up the value chain; they want to talk Australia down.

We have the best solar resources in the world. We have enormous space in this country of ours. We have the critical minerals—everything under the ground that will drive the global economy in this century. We have the skilled workers. We have the great universities and TAFEs. Also, of course, we have our own people, with the diaspora that has connections with the entire world. The only thing our nation does not have is time to waste, which is why we are getting on with the job.