Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to highlight the importance of innovation for Australian industries. Earlier this week Mr Kevin Rudd was elected Leader of the Opposition. In his ‘fork in the road’ comments, he asserted his intention to undertake a program to guarantee the future of manufacturing industries in Australia. The problem is that Mr Rudd is a bit late with his interest in secondary industry. This policy has already been actively pursued by the Howard government. Mr Rudd’s intention is typical of a party ruled by the union movement, which in its dying days needs to spark some appeal among that proportion of the private sector workforce which remains union members—now less than 18 per cent, many of whom work in manufacturing.

Let me make clear tonight what the results will be for secondary industries, who are so reliant upon the potential for innovation, if a Labor government is elected. Despite its new leader, it is the same old Labor Party. It is the intention of Mr Rudd, like Mr Beazley before him, to destroy the role of Australian workplace agreements, against all industry recommendations or, indeed, pleadings. If this occurs, experts agree that productivity in industry will go down.

In 2002, following the introduction of the Howard government’s groundbreaking industry innovation initiative Backing Australia’s Ability, Treasurer Peter Costello in an address on productivity said:

Lifting productivity growth requires continuing attention to fiscal policy, low and stable inflation and low interest rates, which facilitate investment and the roll-out of new technologies.

Rising productivity is not just an economic indicator of the rising standard of living of all Australians; it is also the necessary condition for the uptake of new technologies. We know innovation is accelerated by a rise in the uptake of technology and that this is achieved when interest rates remain low, enabling new capital investment.

Industry experts, such as Kevin MacDonald from Australian Business Ltd in New South Wales, call the Labor policy to wind back Work Choices, as advocated by Mr Rudd, ‘uninspiring and backward-looking’.