Future made in Australia legislation

Thanks Mr Speaker.

Well in spite of that contribution by the Member of for Flynn, we are maintaining our support for this legislation and for Australia's future.

And I say to the Member for Flynn that he should go to the high purity alumina factory in his electorate that is employing hundreds of workers that will benefit from Production Tax Credits.

He should go and tell the workers there that it's a waste of money that they should just be shut down.

Because at the heart of this bill are objectives that are at the very heart of the government that I'm proud to lead.

Making more things here in Australia.

Making our nation a renewable energy superpower.

Making our economy more resilient and more secure.

Making it easier for companies to invest in new projects and create new jobs, particularly in regional Australia.

Making the most of our natural resources and making the most of our people's potential.

And making sure that we seize those opportunities and share them with people and communities in every part of our nation.

Mr Speaker

Today and every day our government is working to help Australians who are under financial pressure.

Everything we're doing on cost of living:

We're boosting wages at the same time as we're delivering tax cuts - making sure that Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn.

We're making sure that they benefit from energy bill relief.

We're making sure they benefit from cheaper childcare, from cheaper medicines, from fee free TAFE.

What we've been about is delivering economic security for people in the here and now.

But because we are a Labor government, in the finest of Labor traditions, we always have our eye on the medium and long term as well.

How do we secure our future economic development?

How do we anticipate the big changes ahead and shape them in the interests of Australians?

Building economic security for the long term by investing in the next generation of jobs and opportunities.

Delivering reform that holds no one back, and driving progress that leaves no one behind.

And that's what our vision for a Future Made in Australia is all about.

And of course this Bill doesn't stand alone.

It builds on the work we've already done.

Our National Reconstruction Fund, investing in manufacturing across our economy.

Our 500,000 fee free TAFE places - Building up the skills of our workforce.

Our investments in universities and science and cyber capability.

The new jobs and expertise in our defence manufacturing program which will particularly benefit South Australia and Western Australia.

And our comprehensive plan for cleaner, cheaper energy for all Australians, driving advanced manufacturing and opening up opportunities.

Making our future here in Australia depends on our workers and skills and education and research and infrastructure.

Government has a vital role, but we also have an important responsibility in all of this.

Private investment is absolutely essential too.

What we're about is how do we facilitate to maximise private investment in job creation in industries of the future in order to benefit our economy.

And that's where our new investment framework in this legislation is so important.

Something that those opposite don't seem to understand.

Production Tax Credits pay on success. If you don't succeed, there is no cost in a reduction of revenue.

That is why it has the support of everyone in Western Australia, it would appear, except for the LNP members - the Liberal members over there in the federal parliament.

Certainly the state WA Liberal Party support it.

I know the Nats as well, and I know that the Member for Hinkler in his heart of hearts will support Production Tax Credits as well, because he understands more than the nongs who sit on their frontbench who say no, Mr Speaker, about industry.

And that is probably why he sits up the back, because he has some knowledge of industry.

But this is quite extraordinary that the Leader of the Opposition went to Western Australia a short time ago and sort of hinted that maybe there might be a bit of movement there.

At the same time as the Shadow Treasurer was saying no - this is billions for billionaires as far as they are concerned as well.

Having no understanding of the benefit that this could give.

This is about government not replacing private investment, this is about government being a catalyst for investment.

Unlocking the private capital to build new projects, create new jobs and drive growth and prosperity.

And doing so in a way that better aligns our national security with our economic security.

Just as the US, UK, Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada and so many nations around the world are doing safeguarding themselves against the next global shock - whether its conflict, a pandemic, a cyber-attack or another international energy crisis.

Mr Speaker

This bill recognises the global economic reality.

The investments other advanced economies are making in their industrial base.

The commitment that 92 per cent of the world economy has made to net zero, including 97 per cent of Australia's trading partners.

In order to reach their goal, these countries will need more clean energy, more solar power, more wind power, more batteries and storage, and more of the resources, critical minerals and rare earths that all this technology depends on.

In other words, the world needs what Australia has.

That presents our nation with a choice that will define the future of our economy.

We can choose to carry on as we are, to stay in our lane and be satisfied with our lot and watch the world move past us.

Or we can actually move forward.

We of course can continue to extract our resources. We'll continue to export them.

But where possible, why wouldn't we want to add the value and create the jobs and make the products before they sell them back to us at a premium price?

How is that controversial in this Parliament in 2024?

We can remain the last link in the global supply chain with all the risks that carries in a more uncertain world.

Or we can aim for something better.

We can make things here.

We can add value here.

We can turn the resources the world needs into the products that the world wants.

We can build an economy where manufacturing is every bit as strong as mining.

Where Australian researchers and innovators can commercialise their ideas here and turn discovery into industry.

And in doing so, we can bring a new generation of secure, well paid jobs to our regions and to our suburbs alike.

Because if you look back to the creation of the car manufacturing industry under John Curtin and Ben Chifley and their vision for national reconstruction after the Second World War, there is an economic multiplier effect.

But importantly, Curtin appointed Chifley as the Minister for Reconstruction at the height of World War Two - That's vision.

That's making sure that you look forward and plan for it and invest in it.

Because the truth is that there is an economic multiplier effect with all of this.

It's always more than the sum of the parts.

It's an ecosystem of jobs and skills and innovation in small businesses.

This is where we want a more diversified economy and a more decentralised economy, where workers and communities in every part of the country share in this opportunity.

And that's the purpose of the community benefit principles in this Bill.

Making sure that new investment in new projects flows into local jobs and apprenticeships and supply chains.

Strengthening regional centres and, as I said at Garma earlier this month, bringing new economic empowerment to remote Indigenous communities.

So that new energy projects and new defence and security projects across Northern and Central Australia bring new careers in construction, renewable energy, the care economy, technology, infrastructure and resources to First Nations people.

Overcoming entrenched disadvantage, delivering new self-determination and creating intergenerational opportunity.

Mr Speaker

Our vision for a Future Made in Australia is about every part of Australia.

Securing Gladstone's future as a global hub for clean energy and green industry.

Expanding medical manufacturing in Victoria.

Revitalising the Upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia as a producer of green iron, steel and cement.

Reenergising the Hunter Valley with new jobs in technology and manufacturing.

Workers across WA extracting critical minerals, but also processing and refining them and turning them into products.

Because that's what Australia can do that other countries can't.

We had that combination of resources, skills, workers, space and sunlight to co-locate those links across the value chain.

Cutting transport costs, cutting energy costs, cutting emissions both here and abroad.

Creating a new comparative advantage that gives Australian manufacturing and Australian workers the capacity not just to compete, but to succeed.

We are in that position.

Those opposite want to just talk Australia down.

I want to build Australia up to seize the opportunities which are there.

And this bill is at the heart of our government's vision for a stronger, more prosperous, more resilient and more diversified Australian economy.

It reflects our confidence in Australian workers, our respect for Australian scientists and innovators, our belief in the boundless potential of our regions and our resources.

Our support for the Australian private sector, our determination to work with business and industry to bring jobs and opportunity to every part of our country.

To make the most of this moment and to make more things here.

Above all, this Bill speaks for our unwavering determination to shape the future, not wait for the future to shape us.

That is where the choice for those opposite is crystal clear.

Because you can't build a future with negativity.

You can't shape change if you're afraid of it.

You can't create good jobs if you're opposed to fair pay and conditions.

And you can't pretend to be for Queensland or Western Australia or growth or investment if you're against the jobs and investment this legislation will deliver.

Mr Speaker

Over the past two years it's become clear that the biggest threat to Australian jobs and investment is not international uncertainty, it is not changes in the global economy.

The biggest threat and the greatest risk to Australia's future are the Liberal and National Parties.

They voted against the National Reconstruction Fund.

They voted against Energy Bill Relief.

They say fee free TAFE was a waste of money.

They attacked the CSIRO.

They call Australian manufacturing a graveyard.

They bagged Production Tax Credits as corporate welfare.

And a decade after the then Liberal Treasurer stood at this dispatch box and dared Holden to pack up and leave, they still brag about driving the car industry out of Australia.

And now they want to sacrifice a new generation of manufacturing jobs all in the name of their obsession with nuclear power.

Consider the contrast.

This legislation is about unlocking private investment in jobs and industry and energy around our nation.

On that side, the Liberals can't find one single investor for even one of their nuclear reactors.

They talk about picking winners - they are going to pick the winners to have nuclear reactors.

This is about driving the private sector.

They are going to charge the whole lot to the taxpayer even while refusing to tell people how much it will cost to build these reactors or how long it will take - at least twenty years.

And if all that is done, it will deliver a measly 4 per cent of the energy that Australia needs - costing at least three times over.

The cost of construction, the cost of higher energy bills, but importantly as well the opportunity cost.

The jobs, investment, energy and certainty Australia would miss out on right now.

The price our nation would pay for turning away from our unbeatable natural advantages, to instead go chasing after something that takes longer, costs more, and delivers less.

Mr Speaker

Let there be no doubt about it, this is the decisive decade for our nation's future.

We are in our moment right now and we must seize it.

We have everything that the world wants.

There is nowhere you'd rather be than us with the space that we have, the best solar resources in the world amongst the best wind resources in the world, amongst the best scientists in the world, and the best resources under the ground that the world needs.

The resources that will drive the economy, the global economy in the 21st century.

The only thing that Australia does not have is time to waste.

So with optimism, with determination and with purpose, I commend this Bill for a Future Made in Australia to this House.

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