Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) | Hansard source

Manufacturing is strong in this country; it's critical to our plan for a strong economy and a strong future for Australia. Our government has now committed over $925 million of funding under our Modern Manufacturing Strategy, with over 185 transformational projects leveraging over $2.5 billion of co-investment. This is driving new manufacturing activity, strengthening our sovereign capability and creating more jobs—and there is more to come. In Mallee alone, two businesses have received support from the Modern Manufacturing Fund round 2. One is Australian Eatwell—and I spoke to Nathan Harris, who was excited to receive $750,000 for non-soy tofu, which is an expansion project for them. And True Foods, a rapidly growing commercial bakery with 200 employees who make wraps and flatbreads, received $1 million.

These kinds of investment by this side of the House have been imperative to see growth in our manufacturing businesses. As we secure our economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to see our manufacturing industry continue to grow even stronger. Our $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy is a plan to do just that. It is based on four key principles. The first key principle is to get the economic conditions right for business, which includes delivering affordable and reliable energy. The second key principle is to make science and technology work for industry and for jobs. The third key principle is research and innovation, with areas of focus like new energy technologies. I am really pleased to say that the government has invested in a very exciting solar-hydro project at Carwarp in my electorate of Mallee. We are focusing on areas of advantage with six national manufacturing priorities including medical products, defence, and food and beverage manufacturing in Mallee. Critical minerals are also very available in Mallee, and clean energy and space. The fourth key principle is to build national resilience for a strong economy, making supply chains more resilient and supporting diversification.

It's all about the government backing our manufacturers to back themselves. It sends a clear signal to the industry, and businesses are very happy about it. We will keep delivering for Australian manufacturers to create new jobs by supporting them to take on new apprenticeships and trainees with our JobTrainer initiative, with up to 350,000 in this budget in total; expanding tax relief; removing unnecessary red tape, which is a very welcome process; delivering a record infrastructure investment pipeline; expanding opportunities in the digital economy; and opening new export markets. This is a critical point for our primary producers in Mallee, who export all over the world. We are underpinning renewed housing construction—and there is so much of that going on in Mallee now. We are locking in affordable and reliable energy that manufacturers can count on, and encouraging them to purchase new equipment they need to scale up by extending the instant asset write-off. All these things are possible because of the coalition government in power. These things have happened because we on this side are very keen to ensure business thrives.

We are backing Australian innovation and ingenuity to ensure that we can secure our economic recovery with Australian manufacturing at its core. We are creating the environment to support rapid growth in Australian manufacturing. We have seen unemployment reach its lowest level since 2008, with over 13 million Australians in work. There are now 220,350 trade apprentices currently in training, the highest level of apprentices in trade training since records began in Australia in 1963. We have seen strong business growth with a number of manufacturing businesses increasing by 3.3 per cent through to 2021, with an extra 3,000 manufacturing businesses since the last election. (Time expired)

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