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

My question is to—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Just a moment, Senator Polley—

Opposition senators interjecting—

Order! Senators on my left! Order! I had called Senator Polley—

Senator Canavan! Order!

Order! Senator Canavan, I've called you twice. Order!

Opposition senators interjecting—

Order on my left! I had invited Senator Polley to ask her question. Senator Polley.

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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Industry and Science, Senator Farrell. I refer to the Albanese Labor government's recent announcement of our plan to rebuild Australia's manufacturing capabilities, to prepare for opportunities of the future and ensure A Future Made in Australia. How is the Albanese Labor government already working to deliver A Future Made in Australia and create more well-paid, secure jobs across our country?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for her question. I know she's got a great interest in manufacturing. This policy is not only A Future Made in Australia but also of course a future made in Tasmania. The Albanese government's Future Made in Australia plan is another part of this government's agenda to rebuild Australian manufacturing after a decade of neglect by the Liberals and the Nationals. We've established the National Reconstruction Fund and the Industry Growth Program and are developing the Battery Breakthrough Initiative and the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund. We've also announced production tax incentives for critical minerals processing, and we're consulting with industry experts, workers and communities about how to develop a green metals industry here in Australia.

This is a government that will leave no stone unturned in supporting our Australian manufacturers to create secure, well-paid jobs across the country and in Tasmania. We're establishing the framework that will help industry to grow, to respond to the market and to meet the future needs of Australia and our many trade partners. A Future Made in Australia is about making things here and shipping them everywhere. It's about forming partnerships with the private sector, attracting investment and rewarding success. Being a country that makes things matters. It adds value to our natural resources, it makes our lives easier and it ensures that we have access to the things that we need when we need them. But, perhaps most importantly, it delivers secure, well-paid jobs that are the lifeblood of many regional communities. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, a first supplementary?

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

Thank you, Minister, for outlining everything that the Albanese Labor government is doing to strengthen the nation's manufacturing capability and to deliver new secure, well-paid jobs across the country, including in regional Australia. How will the Future Made in Australia plan ensure that all Australians share in the benefits that will flow from a thriving global competitive manufacturing sector? We on this side want to know about that, even though those opposite don't.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for her very fine first supplementary question. One of the key announcements on budget night was that our Future Made in Australia agenda will be guided by the community-benefits principles. Those principles are how this government will ensure that workers, businesses and communities share in the prosperity created by our investment in Australian manufacturing. We want to ensure that we create safe and secure jobs with good pay and conditions, that we build a skilled and inclusive workforce by investing in training, that we engage with communities affected by the shift to net zero and with First Nations communities to achieve positive outcomes and, finally, that we strengthen our domestic industry capability to bring these changes about.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Polley, second supplementary?

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

Thank you, Minister, for outlining how all Australians will share in the prosperity created by our investment in Australian manufacturing. This is at odds with the Liberals and Nationals, who oversaw a decade of inaction towards Australian manufacturing. How is the Albanese Labor government putting workers first in our policies surrounding domestic manufacturing and the great benefits it will bring not only to Tasmania but to the country?

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again I thank Senator Polley for her very fine second supplementary question. One of the key differences in the approach taken by this government compared to the previous government is that we are taking a calm, methodical, rigorous approach to supporting Australian industry. On their watch, the total number of manufacturing workforce jobs in Australia shrank by 100,000. Many of those were skilled workers in the car industry in South Australia, which the Liberals and the Nationals ran out of town. Let's not forget that the Liberals and the Nationals voted against this government's energy price relief, which helped keep manufacturers in business. Repairing that sort of damage, unfortunately, won't happen overnight, but, under this Labor government, it will happen.