Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2023. I'm so proud to be part of the Albanese Labor government that is introducing a bill to restore Australian's faith that we can manufacture here in this country.

The last few years have been tough for Australia and for the world. The cost of living continues to rise. We're rebuilding in a post-COVID world. The Ukraine invasion is contributing to the global cost-of-living crisis and supply chains are stretched. We realise manufacturing has been offshore for too long, which has had deleterious consequences for the people of Australia, including our manufacturing industries.

It was very interesting to hear the contribution from my fellow Tasmanian in relation to this bill. On the one hand, yes, he wants to support native forests and the downstream processing of that timber. I, obviously, support that as well. But this is a bill, which he could support, that is going to return Australian jobs and manufacturing back to Australian shores.

This bill is about addressing those issues and driving the economy in the longer-term, particularly with the challenges we're facing at the moment. Geopolitical issues come and go and are ever-present, and climate change is enduring, but these are opportunities not hindrances. We have reached a point in history whereby we must all work together to cooperate and negotiate. This is one of those bills that those opposite should be negotiating and, ultimately, supporting.

This fund is designed to support the evolution, the reinforcement and the diversification of Australian manufacturing. Through the federal election campaign, I visited many businesses and industries across my home state of Tasmania. I was told, day after day, that the state and those businesses were desperate for the support they needed to bring back some of our industries that have left Tasmanian shores. What we need is manufacturing back on our soil, in our factories and in our workplaces. That's why we're investing in 180,000 fee-free TAFE places across the country, so we can develop those skills.

This bill and this fund are designed to help Australia to again be a country of making things. We want to back investment in Australian businesses and Australian manufacturing. For too long, we've outsourced manufacturing when, in fact, we make the best products in the world right here—products of quality that are enhanced by Australian ingenuity.

This fund will be managed independently of government. It's an independent board—expertise and a mix of investment mandate with a laser-like focus to give back to the Australian taxpayer. It will deliver for every Australian business. It will deliver for manufacturing in Australia. We want Australians and Australian businesses to have the confidence to once again invest in Australia, to purchase capital and to back in an Australian workforce to drive productivity and innovation.

I've spoken passionately in the past about climate change and the opportunities presented by a changing climate. My home state of Tasmania is 100 per cent renewable. We are world leaders in renewable energy. So $3 billion within the fund will be dedicated to renewables investment. Three billion dollars out of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund displays a commitment to renewables jobs and a commitment to reduce emissions to meet the targets the parliament supported for 2030, and net zero. It's a commitment to companies like Lion Energy and the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone—very, very important to the Tasmanian economy. There is green hydrogen and solar, and exciting areas for renewables such as in education, investment and innovation in Australia, which is already manufacturing some of the best solar panels in the world. Australia can be the renewables superpower, and we can compete with Europe and Asia in the renewables space. It isn't too late.

We've had nine years, nine very long years, of neglect by those opposite. It was on their watch that manufacturing left Australian shores. They never invested in Australian skills. So, when Holden closed, all that experience of those skilled workers that had year after year of expertise just disappeared. We know the previous Liberal government and Liberal state governments neglected the TAFE sector. They did nothing to bring our universities together with TAFE to ensure that Australians were skilled for the jobs of the future, because they don't believe in anything. We've seen clearly, over the last 10 months, that they're really the 'no-alition', because they say no to everything. We've got a fund that they should be supporting, but again we will see, when this goes to the final vote, that they will vote against it. They're voting against Australian jobs. They're voting against Australian skills. They're voting against the wishes of the Australian people, who gave us a mandate. We went to the election with this, and those opposite are going to vote against it.

Australia can, as I said, compete with Europe and Asia. It's about supporting the manufacture of some of those new energy technologies that come with low or zero emissions, and we can scale up onshore, not offshore. Australia has always been a manufacturing country, and we can be that country again. We can make things here. We can make good-quality things. We should be supporting the industries of the future to make sure that those jobs come back to Australia.

I can vividly remember, many years ago now, when those opposite let Holden close its doors here in Australia. It was a sad day not just for car enthusiasts; it was a sad day because we saw those jobs going offshore and those skills being lost from manufacturing in this country. But we as a government are supporting and we will invest in businesses, in renewable energy and in new technologies to make sure those manufacturing jobs come back to our shores. We need it in my home state of Tasmania. We need it right across this great country of ours.

A renewables future is what the world is about. We need to take advantage of that. We need to back in manufacturing. We need to back in Australian jobs. We need to back this in because it's not only good for our economy but also essential to the social fabric of our communities to have Australians working. Let's advance. Let's support. Let those opposite and around the chamber think for a moment about what this will mean for our economy and for the Australian people. So I'm asking you, I'm urging you, to support this legislation and back in advanced manufacturing in this country. To those who are destined to vote against this bill, I want you to reflect on that while you still have the opportunity—what this is going to mean for our country.