Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion today. It seems to me that Senator Patrick has drafted this motion in a way that makes it quite broad and talks about a range of issues. But at the heart of what he spoke about tonight there seems to be support for our manufacturing industry—which, of course, I support and the Labor Party supports—and support for Australian jobs that rely on exporting and manufacturing. So this motion does give me an opportunity tonight to maybe find out a little bit more about the way Senator Patrick's decided to draft this motion, but also to talk about some very important issues for Far North Queensland and Queensland more generally.

We know that the Queensland economy is a diverse one and that it is reliant on a range of industries, including resources, the exporting of raw materials, and agriculture, and that those are industries that create thousands and thousands of jobs in regional Queensland. This also gives us an opportunity to talk about the manufacturing sector, and I'm going to take that opportunity to talk about some of the manufacturing workshops that I've visited in Far North Queensland. It also gives us a chance to talk about more trade opportunities for regional areas. We talk about trade in very general terms sometimes, but we don't often get the opportunity to talk about what the government is doing or not doing to increase trade in regional areas.

I want to start today by talking about the manufacturing sector. It's an industry that's very dear to my heart, having worked with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and having been a member of that union for many years. My father was a printer at Fairfax and came from good manufacturing stock. It is an industry that has changed over many years, has transitioned and has seen many advances in technology to change the way that jobs are created. I will say this to Senator Patrick: I'm sure that he is listening to every single word that I'm saying, and I think it is important to point out to him that the manufacturing sector at the moment, particularly in Queensland, wouldn't be the same if it weren't for the advocacy of groups like the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. We know that when things are made in Queensland, when they're made in Australia, we create good, secure jobs. We want to see more things made in Queensland. If it weren't for the advocacy of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, we wouldn't have seen the return of trains being built in Maryborough. We wouldn't see the defence of manufacturing in the regions in the way that we do.

I want to remind Senator Patrick tonight that, when he is considering the policies that should be taken forward, if he wants to improve the situation when it comes to exporting raw materials, we need a good, strong union movement if we want to advocate for jobs in manufacturing sectors. To be quite frank, it is Liberal governments that send contracts overseas to build trains. It is Liberal governments that send contracts overseas to build buses and ferries. We need to have advocacy delegates always on the frontline, making sure that we keep manufacturing jobs here in Australia.

I thought I might also take this opportunity to talk about not only the relationship that Cairns has with the manufacturing sector but also the deep roots in agriculture that make Cairns an ideal location for an export hub, which was a fantastic announcement by the Palaszczuk government. We know that Liberal senators have a—what's the word Senator Patrick has used in his motion—propensity to come in here and talk about the Queensland state government and what they're not doing, but they don't talk about the very good announcements that are being made and the very good advocacy of the local member, Michael Healy, that is happening in Cairns. The Cairns export hub was announced the other week. It will essentially support the multimillion-dollar investment to boost jobs in Far North Queensland and enhance the region's reputation as an agricultural export hotspot. The decision was going to be between two fine locations in Queensland—Toowoomba and Cairns—but the Premier and Minister for Trade, Annastacia Palaszczuk, decided that both of these regions, on a merit base, needed this investment. I'm very grateful she did consider Cairns, with the unique place that Cairns has in our Pacific region and the opportunities that could be opened up by having a Cairns based export hub.

This is a fantastic announcement. The hub will be built near Cairns Airport. It will generate 70 new jobs and allow North Queensland fruit and seafood industries, along with a range of other industries, improved access to international markets. In turn, it will have a flow-on benefit to regional communities. I am reluctant to adopt the language of Senator Patrick because I do see the value-add happening in regional Queensland and places like Cairns. I see it through investment in projects like the Cairns export hub.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that the sugar industry is a very fine example of the production of raw materials, the exporting of those materials and the products that are made. The manufacturing sector in Far North Queensland has a proud history when it comes to the production of sugar. I was very lucky to be able to visit MSF Sugar only a week ago and hear from them exactly what opportunities they want to see in the future and what things are holding them back. MSF have been in Far North Queensland for 124 years. That is a very proud history. But they cannot, at this moment in time, expand in the way that they want to because of this government's complete lack of energy policy. It's very unfortunate that, after so many years, a proud sector like the sugar industry in Queensland is not able to grow and create more jobs because they can't get the certainty from this government around energy policy. We know that it is possible to build renewable energy sugar plants from these facilities, and they've done that in the Tableland Mill. But MSF Sugar want to do more energy generation, and they're not able to do that because of the back and forth, the ifs and the buts and the what-ifs around energy policy. In terms of this motion, I certainly hope that the government takes this opportunity to consider what energy policies could help the manufacturing sector in Far North Queensland, what policies could help create more jobs. On that note, I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

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