Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government's plan to reduce emissions will protect jobs and generate new opportunities for industry, and is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She is a great advocate of manufacturing on the Central Coast and she knows how important it is that we bring down emissions while strengthening our manufacturing sector—businesses like Borg, Sanitarium, McCain and MasterFoods, in her electorate and on the Central Coast.

That's what our plan for net zero emissions by 2050 does. It supports our traditional industries. It supports manufacturing. It makes sure that we support those traditional industries but also capture the new economic opportunities that are emerging, because customers' demands are changing. With it, we need to deploy the technologies, shape those technologies, to ensure that our manufacturers are able to provide their customers with what they want. More than a million Australians are now working in manufacturing, substantially more than before—80,000 more than before the pandemic. In fact, the last time we saw a slashing of jobs in manufacturing was when those opposite were in government—one in eight. I'll come back to that.

This plan is the right plan. Our plan is the right plan for Australia. It does focus on the technologies that matter for our manufacturers: clean steel, clean aluminium, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage—essential technologies, which those opposite vote against, regularly. Seven times, they've done it. It focusses on supporting our farmers who provide the food for our food manufacturers. Our manufacturers are well-positioned to use our unique industrial advantages combining innovation, material resources, abundant clean energy and our skilled workforce.

But I am asked about alternatives. We understand that there is a choice here. There's a choice between, on the one hand, technology, and, on the other hand, taxes. The last time those opposite were in government, they imposed a tax—a carbon tax—on all Australian manufacturing and, indeed, on all Australians. We saw one in eight jobs in manufacturing lost when they were in government, in places like Kurri Kurri, where saw the aluminium smelter shutting after the introduction of the carbon tax. It's only now that we're establishing a new business there, with jobs and a gas generator at Kurri Kurri, supporting affordable, reliable energy, that great strength of the Hunter Valley region.

Those opposite don't even have targets, let alone a plan, when it comes to 2030. The only plan Labor knows is how to destroy jobs and how to destroy manufacturing in this country. We understand the need for a strong economic plan to reduce emissions and provide jobs for all.