Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been a really difficult time in our country for so many people, and it continues to be for so many people. In my community in Melbourne we are now emerging from lockdown and we are very much hoping for brighter times ahead. But what's concerning me as we emerge is that there is a gap where we should have leadership. The gap where the Morrison government has failed to have a vision for how we rebuild our country coming out of this pandemic is something that I think is very concerning for my community and for our country as a whole.

As our community reopens, people want to be able to look to the future with confidence. They want to know what their jobs will look like. They want to know what our country will have the capacity to make and what our industries will look like. They want to know that their kids and their grandkids will be able to get good jobs—the sorts of jobs that lead to the security that lets them start to build their own families and to buy their own houses. But what they have been seeing around them, even before the pandemic hit, as a consequence of the Morrison government's failures, is the rise of insecure work. We see the gig economy, where people are working two or three jobs just to try to make ends meet, where low wages are standard and where people work without entitlements—no holidays, no sick leave. It is insecure work. This is a problem across sectors, but it's particularly a problem in industries that employ a lot of women. They are sectors that we've praised as being at the front line of this pandemic, but they are where workers, such as retail workers, our aged-care workers and people working in early education and disability care, are actually working in very insecure and difficult conditions. These are people, as I said, whom we have praised for being on the front line of the pandemic but whom we are not protecting with the types of secure jobs and conditions that they deserve.

People also see the consequence of wage stagnation. We now have the weakest annual growth in wages on record. We have 85,000 fewer Australians in apprenticeships and traineeships than we did when this government came to power. We have a manufacturing base that has shrunk and thousands of manufacturing jobs that have been lost. These are things we could and should fix so that all of us in our community can lead a good life. As we emerge from this recession, we should take the time and the opportunity to make the economy and our society stronger, to make it more inclusive and more sustainable than it was before the pandemic. Labor is up for the challenge, and our track record shows that we can deliver. Unfortunately the track record of the Morrison government shows that it is not up to the challenge.

The pandemic demonstrated just how important it is that we make things here in Australia. We've had supply chains disrupted. We know that at the start of the pandemic there were concerns about whether we would be able to source enough PPE, because we just don't make those sorts of things here in Australia. We've lost whole industries. In fact, we rank dead-last in the OECD for manufacturing self-sufficiency, and yet this government goaded the car industry to leave our shores. I've spoken with local manufacturers in my electorate about the impact of that decision, about the impact of manufacturers packing up, being told by the government, 'Hey, if you can't do it alone, get out.' What they've told me is that it wasn't just the big manufacturers—it wasn't just Holden or Ford. It was all their suppliers, who were part of a complex chain that meant there was work at a number of local businesses but also that there were skills tied to that work. That's what we've lost. People who run manufacturing businesses in my electorate have said that has been a huge loss to the capability of our country, and it has obviously a huge loss to employment and to the prospect of people having good and secure jobs in our country.

I've been talking about manufacturers in my electorate because they have been working through this pandemic and they are ready to step up and emerge on the other side and deliver on the brighter future that we should have. They're ready to embrace the opportunities that are there. Some of the manufacturers and industries in our community include Lovitt Technologies, who I visited earlier this year, who manufacture components for the world's biggest aerospace companies; Leeson Group, in my electorate, who produce solar technological innovation to accelerate the energy network's transition from carbon to renewables; and Australian plastic recyclers, who are doing great things to change the way we recycle plastic in this country. Then I have all the people tied to training and skilling people up, like Melbourne Polytechnic, which is creating job pathways for people to learn skills and get on with apprenticeships. There's our health precinct, where we're doing amazing research at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre at the Austin, and with La Trobe University, just next door. All of these industries and organisations would absolutely benefit from a government that was supporting their efforts and looking at the big picture of how we recover from this pandemic. They need a government that's on their side and that is interested in and has a genuine plan for what this country looks like going forward.

I'm really proud that an Albanese Labor government would rebuild our nation's manufacturing industry. We have a comprehensive plan that would create jobs, boost vital skills, bring the industry expertise that I was talking about back on shore and supercharge our national productivity. Our plan, A Future Made in Australia, is a blueprint for local manufacturing jobs and skills. It includes investing in a national rail manufacturing plan so that we're making more trains in Australia. It includes a defence industry development strategy so that we leverage defence investment in this country. It includes an Australian skills guarantee, and this is really important. As I was saying, we've lost 85,000 traineeship and apprenticeship position since this government came to power. Those are young people who don't have a pathway into secure work. Those are older people who are looking to retrain and reskill but can't get access to the skills and apprenticeships that should be there. Our skills guarantee would give apprentices, trainees and cadets a foot in the door when it comes to work on major projects, and it would ensure that one in 10 jobs on major federally funded infrastructure projects are given to apprentices, trainees or cadets.

When I talk to people in my electorate at the moment, they're both excited about coming out and worried about the future. They want to see a pathway to skills and a pathway to good jobs. They want to know that we in this country will take advantage of the opportunities that are before us. It's a line that we've used often in this place, but that's because it's true: the biggest opportunity in front of us—the opportunity that, unfortunately, this government is letting pass on by—is the world's climate emergency.

The world's climate emergency should be Australia's jobs opportunity. Instead, this Morrison government is letting it go by, producing a pamphlet, not a plan. It isn't a plan; it's a scam. It's a political cop-out from a government that is prepared to have the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, lead its plan and that doesn't have a plan for us to take advantage of the jobs and industries of the future. They've really given up. What I've been talking about is an absence of leadership in this entire space of skills, training and future employment and industries. Their attitude towards how we tackle the climate crisis really highlights the gap, the lack of leadership and the opportunities that this country will miss out on because the Morrison government isn't doing the work.

Again, Labor would do the work. We have a plan to support 10,000 new-energy apprenticeships. Apprentices who chose to train in new-energy industries would receive up to $2,000 on commencement and $2,000 a year for up to four years afterwards, including on successful completion. This will help to increase the uptake of apprenticeships in these areas, as well as retention and completion. This could happen across industries including rooftop solar installation, large-scale renewable projects, energy efficient upgrades to homes and businesses, green hydrogen, renewable manufacturing and relevant agricultural activities. There are so many opportunities here for this country, but we are going to miss them because this government isn't serious about tackling climate change. They've come to some sort of half-hearted commitment to net zero with absolutely nothing behind it. It is just not good enough.

Labor also has a plan to invest in a $10 million new-energy skills program. We'll tailor skills training to the specific needs of new-energy industries. What an idea! There's opportunity to have here, and there's a role for government to back that in and help it develop.

Labor is really clear that the future for Australia should be strong. There should be good, secure jobs for everyone in our country who wants them. There should be a pathway for young people to know that they will have a career, that they can be retrained into a new job and that they will have the type of work that means they can lead a good life—that they can buy their own home, have their own family and feel safe and secure. That is not what we are getting from this government at the moment. What we have from this government is an absence of leadership and a lack of vision for the future, and opportunities are just passing us by.