Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In respect of the ministerial statement on industry and manufacturing, I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

In her ministerial statement on industry and manufacturing, the industry minister stated, 'For too long successive governments have tinkered at the edges when it comes to manufacturing policy.' I agree, but it's a real shame that this government plans to keep tinkering around the edges, persisting with its delusion that corporate investment will be enough to create a sustainable energy sector and its refusal to take responsibility for all of our welfare by properly investing in the industries of the future. It's a shame this government continues to be captured by its donors in the fossil fuel industry, jeopardising the future of our young people, our economy and the planet. Either this government has no vision for the future or it can see the future its irresponsible policies will create and it simply does not care. I'm not sure which one is worse.

With the welcome end to the Trump administration, Australia will be even more of an outlier in the fight against global warming and the climate catastrophe. If we do not act now, we will not only be condemning humanity and the planet to the terrible consequences of the climate crisis but also be facing increasing hostility on the global stage for our irresponsibility, and our trade relationships will inevitably deteriorate. We should not be climate rogues when we are so well placed to lead the renewable energy revolution. Australians are not climate deniers, and our leaders need to wake up to that fact. An industry and manufacturing plan that does not address climate is no plan at all. A gas-led recovery is no recovery at all.

This government sees our beautiful environment as a quarry. It sees our workers as mere cogs in the wheel of the economy. This government is basing its industry and manufacturing policy on backward principles. It thinks that the economy and the society we live in should be designed according to what's good for big business and financial markets, not people, not communities and not nature. It thinks deregulation, corporate welfare, tax cuts for big business, the wise invisible hand of the private market and 19th century fossil fuel sources are what will take us forward. Well, they will not. They will do quite the opposite, and we won't let you take us backwards. Encouraging unsustainable industries now means locking in an even deeper climate catastrophe.

So what would a real manufacturing plan look like? A really future focused industry and manufacturing policy would be based on principles of collectivism, environmental justice and social justice, where workers have agency and the ability to have a real say and control in their workplaces and enjoy the value of the goods they produce, and where communities lead the planning for their renewable energy future to transition their local economies to suit their needs and make the most of their strengths and local expertise.

As an engineer, I have been trained to solve problems. I know that Australian manufacturing can help us bring a clean, jobs-rich future. The prospect of remaking manufacturing using innovation and advanced technology whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability is quite exhilarating. The possibilities are endless, and we certainly have the expertise to make this happen, but what has really been lacking is political will. There is no shortage of sustainable projects that the government could directly invest in that will help us create the safer sustainable world we want to build for future generations. Rather than exporting climate-destroying fossil fuels, we should be exporting our sunlight and wind as green hydrogen or zero-emissions processed minerals and resources. We should implement a jobs-rich manufacturing revival by investing billions in green industry programs to support the shift to clean green manufacturing. We should modernise and expand Australian manufacturing by promoting manufacturing processes of the future, including green steel hubs in Queensland and New South Wales, as well as green aluminium.

The future of work is in diverse models of ethical, cooperative workplaces. Researchers from Western Sydney University, Newcastle university and my previous uni, UNSW, are exploring the exciting opportunities presented by social enterprises and microfactories. By supporting alternative models of production and workplace organisation, we could enrich our industrial and manufacturing landscape. We should put in place new government procurement policies that prioritise Australian products in Commonwealth funded projects and ensure that our supply chains are sustainable and ethical. We could invest in renewables research and development and set a course to become a renewables powerhouse and attract 21st century industries like data centres, battery and carbon-fibre manufacturing. As fossil fuel production ends—and we know that it will—we can create enough good, secure, well-paid jobs to more than cover for those that will be lost. A just transition for workers in dying industries is essential, and the government is abrogating its responsibility to these workers by not planning and not investing in the wholesale shift to sustainable energy.

When I imagine the world that we could build together, I see a place where country is respected and cherished, where we care for each other, and where our TAFE and uni is fee free so that we can nurture, encourage and champion the brilliant ideas of our people to fruition.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor has also welcomed the fact that the government has finally, at long last, put forward a plan for Australian industry and manufacturing. We've seen seven years of neglect under this government, where it has not put forward any serious commitment to Australia's manufacturing sector, and this is very sadly an agenda that the government has recycled.

Australia has always been a country that makes things. We're very good at it. People see the Australian Made logo here and overseas, and they know that what we've made is of good quality. But the coalition neglected Australian manufacturing and, in fact, worse than that, goaded General Motors Holden into leaving Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how important Australian manufacturing is to us. When the need for personal protective equipment and hand sanitiser increased, our local manufacturers did indeed answer the call. Shifting their production, they started producing materials that we needed here. I want to say that we are all, as Australians, incredibly grateful to all those manufacturers that have kept us safe. But this is no thanks to the Australian government.

When I asked the department of industry in estimates what they had done in this space, they said they'd put the call out to Australian manufacturers to see what they could do. And, yes, indeed, Australian manufacturers responded. So what did the department of industry then do? They passed that information on to the Department of Health, which is all well and good. However, the Department of Health is there to make sure that we've got a supply, that it meets the quality standards and that we've got enough supply, but actually it was completely agnostic, as far as I can tell, as to whether any of the products that were acquired by Health were actually manufactured in Australia. So for all that talk from the Commonwealth government, from the Morrison government, about their support for Australian manufacturing and those who've dug in deep to get supply happening in the context of COVID, when I asked the department of industry, 'Where's the record of what Australian manufacturers and suppliers have done?' they said, 'Oh. You would have to ask the Department of Health, but generally their tenders are for the product itself, and I wouldn't expect they would necessarily know whether the product was made in Australia or not.'

It has taken a global pandemic, not just on this front but on many other fronts, to expose the failures of the government with respect to supporting Australian manufacturing. When the government announced their manufacturing plan, I wasn't and Labor wasn't surprised to see the six areas identified in the plan as being priorities. They are priorities, and indeed they were priorities when Labor put them in our plan, A Plan for Australian Jobs, back in 2013. These were certainly priorities and remain so seven years later when the government has finally announced them as their priorities. So, because of this neglect, it's not so much a plan as it is a reversal of bad policy decisions, the biggest of which, of course, is the research and development tax incentive, which was a backflip of astronomical proportions. It'd be gold at the Olympics. This government would have you think that it's a $2 billion investment in research and development and not, as we know it to be, a reversal of a proposed $1.8 billion cut. It's not new money. It's not new investment. Under this government, Australia's R&D investment has fallen below two per cent of gross domestic product. All of this is at the same time as universities, which do much of this research that also supports our manufacturing sector, have had much of their research budgets massacred by the impact of the loss of international students here on Australian campuses.

It is not just the tax incentive that the government's backflipped on; we have a government that got rid of the instant asset write-off and then brought it back. They got rid of the loss carry-back and then they bought it back. They got rid of Commercialisation Australia, and now again the government talks about how important it is to commercialise Australian research and products. So it's no surprise to me or anyone else in the Labor Party that they would scrap Labor's manufacturing plan and bring it back some seven years later.

This government's great at its big policy announcements, big headlines and great photo opportunities, but they lack the follow-up. They really do lack the follow-up. All of these are areas of priority within a manufacturing plan that should have been sustained, maintained and not put forward as some new invention now.

My good colleague Clare O'Neil MP said in the other place, 'They are all froth and no beer.' They have spruiked their $1.5 billion plan for manufacturing for all the cameras, grabbed headlines and photo opportunities but the details—it's all in the details—show only $40 million of the $1.5 billion plan is being spent this financial year. That's less than three per cent of funding slated in the budget for this program for Australian manufacturing being spent this financial year. That is at a time when we know that many Australian manufacturers have experienced a crisis in demand, an impact on employment supply or, in some cases, a desperate need for support to scale up because of an increase in demand as a result of the changes in trade dynamics. It is absolutely woeful that this is the state of the government's agenda. Our economy needs stimulus now, and our government should be providing it, not just the macrostimulus of JobKeeper, JobMaker, asset write-offs et cetera. This manufacturing policy is completely devoid of any commitment to the parts of our manufacturing economy that should be supported with bespoke policies in different ways.

Labor have always supported the Australian manufacturing industry. We consider manufacturing in this country to be a critical part of our economy and the creation of well-paid jobs. That has always been our commitment and our vision. It's not something to just trot out when you need a headline for economic recovery; it should be an embedded part of an economic agenda always. We want to keep presenting strong policies that would see well-paid, highly skilled manufacturing jobs right around our country—in our metro areas and in our regions.

One really good opportunity that this government isn't delivering on is to get behind Australia's national rail sector. There are billions of dollars slated for future public transport, which the Commonwealth has finally got around to changing its agenda on and is willing to support, but why not leverage off procurement to support that? Billions of dollars are being invested in public transport projects: Western Sydney rail, Melbourne metro, Perth METRONET and many more. Eleven thousand new railcars will be required in three decades. We want to see rolling stock manufactured here in Australia. It would see some 659 full-time jobs, boosting our GDP by up to $5 billion.

These are the kinds of plans that we need for Australian jobs and Australian manufacturing: plans for jobs in places like Maryborough, Newcastle, Dandenong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Perth; plans to stop job losses; plans for better cooperation and coordination between the states to create a strong and stable industry for the future; plans for federal funding for rail projects, leveraging real local jobs and a local industry. In a manufacturing agenda for this nation we more than a press conference and a photo opportunity. We need a plan that delivers real investment where it is needed—and quickly.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.