Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise in this chamber to support the 'Australian Made, Australian Grown' logo—the green and gold kangaroo—and I applaud the longevity and pride Australia has shown through this iconic symbol since its creation, as we've heard, more than 30 years ago. As has just been illustrated by the member for Curtin, the logo is 'Australia's most trusted, recognised and widely used country-of-origin symbol, which promotes authentic Australian brands all around the world'. As we've heard, during COVID-19, our manufacturing sector has taken a hit and has been completely under attack, with a new paradigm for how manufacturing and advanced manufacturing will occur in this country. Whilst COVID-19 has shown the deficiencies in many of our systems, it has been remarkable to witness the manufacturing sector unite, become resilient and turn the corner.

Australia, as we know, is in a deep and painful recession. Nearly a million Australians are unemployed, and 400,000 Australians will join them by Christmas. The government has just released a budget that leaves more Australians behind, instead of investing in social housing, child care and supporting our university students. With this motion, we're talking about a logo that apparently is staying, but, back in July, the government spent $10 million creating a new Australian logo. What happened to that in the speech today? I completely missed that in the member for Curtin's speech. Here's a tip through you, Mr Deputy Speaker, to the member for Curtin. When the minister's office rings you and asks you to put up motions such as this, don't. When you get the speaking notes from the minister's office, don't read them. You are being put in a position. You're the sacrificial lamb today, through you Mr Deputy Speaker. You're the person who is arguing in an alternative universe.

Let's wind back the clock a little bit. We're in the middle of a deep recession. We're in the middle of a pandemic. This government thinks it's wise to spend $10 million on a brand new logo. Let's look at the commentary around this from members of the government at the time. Former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has weighed in on the decision to sideline the iconic Australian Made logo, calling the move a dippy idea and likening its replacement to 'a cross between the coronavirus and bird poo'. That is from a former deputy prime minister of Australia. Mr Joyce said in this place that the 'splotch of brilliance' cost the nation $10 million. Unsurprisingly, people who have been made aware of this believe our marketers have left the train station called 'Whoopee'. Don't take my word for it; that is from members of the government. When the member for Curtin comes up here, that's what they think of her motion today.

There's other commentary I want to talk about of how we got this new logo in the first place. I did a bit of research into this. There is something called the National Brand Advisory Council, which is signed off by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. The NBAC is made up of national business leaders, including mining billionaires and beer barons, and then it all made sense. Who do you think is on this brand commission that allowed us to waste $10 million? Are you ready for it? We know this person has completely outrageous and outlandish taste.

Hence we got to the position today with none other than the CEO of Australia Post, Christine Holgate. What a surprise! The CEO of Australia Post came up with the wacky idea to spend $10 million on a brand new logo that nobody wants and that the government is now not going to use. Can you believe it? Is it bad enough that, in this economic recession that the Morrison government has delivered, where we're seeing complete wastes of money, complete abuses of power, we're now expected to debate a motion in this House ignoring the fact that this government wasted $10 million. Well, I'm calling it out today to the member for Curtin. Don't bring rubbish motions into this parliament, talking about logos that your government has completely wasted. You ought to be ashamed of yourself—through you, Mr Deputy Speaker—that this parliament stands by and doesn't condemn the outrageous abuse of $10 million on an Australian logo that this government simply is not going to use. They're going to waste money and waste time rather than actually, as we heard yesterday from the minister, supporting the manufacturing sector in this country. I say shame on the government. They ought to do better for manufacturing in country. (Time expired)

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