Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Sterle, who is known throughout this chamber and throughout this parliament as a strong supporter of Australian agriculture, including as the fabulous chair of the RRAT committee, where he does a terrific job.

It is good to see he is not lacking in confidence in that respect! The Albanese Labor government wants Australia to be a country that makes things again. What a revolutionary idea that is, to be a country that makes things again, after 10 years of our manufacturing industry being run down by a Liberal and National Party government that literally dared our car industry to leave this country. We want a country that supports Australian manufacturing and the development of our sovereign capabilities. We don't ever want to be in the same situation that Australia was in through COVID, where all of a sudden we didn't have the capacity to make ventilators, to make PPE, to make all the other things—the RAT tests—that we were caught short on and that is why we need to be able to stand on our own two feet and have greater sovereign capability, and that is exactly what the Albanese government's National Reconstruction Fund is all about.

The National Reconstruction Fund is about transforming the Australian economy. It is a $15 billion investment in securing our future prosperity, adding value to our natural resources and bolstering critical supply chains. The National Reconstruction Fund will provide finance to drive investments in seven priority areas of the Australian economy and, pleasingly, one of those areas is via a $500 million sub fund for value adding in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and fibre. This fund will unlock potential and value add to raw materials in sectors like food processing, textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing. Importantly, it will also invest in agricultural supply chain products such as fertiliser, which would help drive down input costs for farmers right around the country. I can tell you, over the last few weeks, I have been meeting with a lot of farmers' organisations, telling them about the National Reconstruction Fund and how it can help with fertiliser costs and everything else, and they think this is something we should all get behind. (Time expired)