Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for his question. I was talking about the natural process in the economy where over time some industries will thrive and others will start to contract, and the role of government is to manage the transition. Where there is a role for government to assist growth in jobs and industry, we will do that on my watch. In my press release on my appointment I talked about the fact that, for example, I see a real future for high-value manufacturing in Australia. I am proud to report that manufacturing employment was 957,000 in the November quarter of 2016—an increase of 90,900 jobs, or 10.5 per cent, from the August quarter, and averaging 902,000 over the year, after employing 868,000 people in November 2015. So manufacturing is not dying in this country—quite the reverse; it is getting better and it is going to become more high-value.

We are going to have more advanced manufacturing, including in the automotive sector, where the transition is occurring. We are focusing on more high-value activities. The sorts of activities we are talking about include engineering research and development—all the high-value activities which will then contribute to our role in the automotive supply chains which today are global supply chains. You have to recognise that the assembly of cars is only one component of the industry, and the high-value components increasingly are in engineering research and development. Ford, Holden and other car companies are focusing and concentrating their activities in countries like Australia on that high-value end because they know the potential we have in that sector and the research forces we can bring to bear.