Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) | Hansard source

I'm delighted to talk about Australian manufacturing, and it's worth starting with some facts. Under those opposite, when they were last in power, we saw one in eight manufacturing jobs destroyed in this country. There are graveyards everywhere. In fact, recently I was up at Kurri Kurri, where we're building a new gas generator to make sure that our manufacturers have the affordable, reliable energy they need. What we see there is the former Norsk Hydro site, a graveyard for an aluminium smelter that left when those opposite were in power.

Here's the contrast. We have the unemployment rate on its way to having a '3' in front of it. Over 13 million Australians are in work today, and 220,000 are trade apprentices. We know the enormous role that manufacturing is playing in that. That's the highest number of trade apprentices since the data began—since the 1960s. We have seen strong manufacturing business growth. Indeed, business is increasing. Manufacturing business increased by 3.3 per cent in 2021. We've had 3,300 new manufacturing businesses come into the marketplace. Of those businesses, we've seen strong balance sheets. Manufacturing contributes an extra $13.5 billion to GDP than when we came into office in 2013 and an extra $5.7 billion since the last election. These are the facts. Those opposite like to ignore it. They like to talk down Australian manufacturing. I like to recognise it for the strong, important sector that it is. Australian manufacturing exports are worth an extra $33.7 billion than when we came into office.

Right at the heart of this is our Modern Manufacturing Strategy. It's a $1.5 billion strategy, with $925 million of that now in committed projects. This is all part of a broad-ranging support for making sure we've got an environment where manufacturing can prosper in this country, getting the economic conditions right for business. That includes lower taxes—something those opposite will never be able to do; they don't believe in it—and delivering affordable, reliable energy. Energy prices doubled under those opposite. That's why the Norsk Hydro smelter at Kurri Kurri went: because energy wasn't affordable. We've seen it come down 12 per cent for industry in the last two years. It doubled under those opposite.

We're making science and technology work for industry and for jobs. You've recently seen the announcement of $2 billion to make sure we do see that commercialisation of great Australian research. We're focusing on areas of advantage: food and beverage, clean energy, cyber and defence, critical minerals—the Minister for Resources and Water knows what a great opportunity that is for Australia. In fact, I was speaking with a range of my ministerial colleagues from around the world—from Europe, in particular—just last week about the criticality of critical minerals. The Europeans want to move towards different sources of energy, away from Russian gas. That's understandable, but, if they are to make sure they have control over their own destiny, they need supply chains they can trust in lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper. We can provide that here from Australia, and we are doing exactly that.

On medical technologies: we've recently made a major investment in mRNA manufacturing in this country, in Victoria. We are on our way to being a world leader in mRNA technology and mRNA manufacturing. That joint venture, that partnership, with Moderna is right at the heart of it. This is all about building national resilience for a strong economy.

I spoke about the modern manufacturing strategy, which includes $925 million of funding, and I want to give a couple of examples of that, because they're instructive. They give you a sense of what enormous opportunity there is for Australian manufacturing. Indeed, last week, I was on the Gold Coast, and I got a chance to visit Gilmour Space. In fact, we're investing $51 million in the Australian Space Manufacturing Network, and this business is going to use that network, that platform, to get satellites up into orbit faster than would otherwise be the case. I always used to think that the only countries in the world that could put satellites up into space were big countries like the United States, Russia and China, but Australia is doing it. We are doing it, and we are manufacturing those satellites and rockets right there on the Gold Coast. We are investing $51 million into that fantastic manufacturing opportunity for Australia, where we are showing leadership. We have one of the world's leading technologies in rockets to get those satellites up into orbit.

I was down at Port Kembla a couple of weeks ago. There is $55 million for the Advanced Steel Manufacturing Precinct at Port Kembla, upgrading the plate mill and providing the steel that is capable of giving us the defence vehicles, the armoured vehicles, that we need and the inputs into those armoured vehicles, from Port Kembla—not far from where we are right here today. There is a $55 million investment in that important project.

There is $61 million for the Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Centre. This is all about adapting molecules to mutations—making sure that we can develop the molecule that is a precise, personalised medicine for an individual, to make sure that they have the molecule they need to deal with the cancer they have. We don't just think about breast cancer; we think about the many different variants of it and the molecules we can manufacture right here in this country to deal with that breast cancer. There's a personal element to this for me: I lost my mother almost 35 years ago to breast cancer, and this technology can save lives like hers—lives that are lost way too early. This investment, $61 million in medical technology, is exactly the kind of manufacturing opportunity that combines technology and the intellectual smarts of Australia's very best and smartest with our manufacturing capability.

There is $45 million for Alpha HPA. This is high purity alumina. Up in Gladstone, right next to the Yarwun site, high purity alumina is being produced that can be used in LED lighting and batteries, in a joint venture with Orica and Rio Tinto—who own Yarwun—to make sure we can produce, at lower cost than competitors around the world—including the Chinese—high purity alumina.

Those opposite like to talk a big game on manufacturing, but we need to look at their track record. One in eight jobs were lost when they were last in power. Over 37,000 jobs in manufacturing were lost in their last year in power. Manufacturing businesses' profits fell by over 17 per cent in their last term in office, and they doubled the cost of energy. How did they do that? There were two things they did: the carbon tax and over-investment in the poles and wires. And you know what? They are planning to do it all over again. They've got a sneaky carbon tax they're imposing: a 25 per cent emission reduction requirement on the 215 largest energy users in Australia. Our aluminium smelters, our fertiliser manufacturers and our refineries are going to have this sneaky carbon tax imposed on them. They're going to do it all over again. They've done it before; they'll do it again.

The extraordinary thing is: they're going to do exactly the same thing with transmission. They are going to ask for $80 billion of investment in non-priority transmission projects. These aren't the ones we're investing in, which are prioritised now under the ISP. These are ones that are low-priority projects. Someone needs to pay for that $80 billion, and they have not explained to anyone who's going to pay for it. We know who'll pay for it, because we know who always pays for it under Labor: middle Australia, in their electricity prices. And that is how they devastated manufacturing when they were last in power. That is how they saw aluminium smelters closing when they were last in power. That is how they saw the steel industry going backwards when they were last in power. They're going to do it all over again. Labor just doesn't learn.

We are the party focused on those blue-collar jobs in manufacturing. We are the party focused on the needs of Australians. to make sure that we manufacture in this country the products we need. We have the track record, we have the focus and we are absolutely committed to it.

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