Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering on our national resilience by backing Australia's workforce, our sovereign capability and future manufacturing industry? Why is this important, and have there been any responses?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for that heartland of Australian manufacturing historically—Newcastle. Resilience, good, secure jobs and a future made in Australia are what we have delivered with New South Wales and Tomago Aluminium today, securing the future for more than 1,000 workers directly on the Tomago Aluminium smelter site itself and more than 5,000 jobs direct in the Hunter, helping to contribute to the manufacturing supply chain and the future for the generations of Australians who will work at Tomago in the years to come. I met one worker there who has worked there for 43 years. What he said was that he was so pleased that future generations there in the Hunter will have good-quality jobs in the future.

In a world that is more unpredictable and at risk of disruption, backing Australia's sovereign industrial capability and abundant renewable energy is so important. We reject the idea—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) | Link to this | Hansard source

Nothing upsets them more than to hear that jobs are being protected. Nothing upsets them more. This is the same mob that told the car industry to bugger off. What we think and understand is that jobs are important and that we need to make more things here in Australia. We can't just be at the end of global supply chains. We have the raw materials, the skilled workforce and the renewable energy capacity, as well as the aspiration and the motivation to build for the future. We take that challenge and the opportunity seriously, because what we announced at Tomago today is just one part of that vision.

Whether it's our manufacturing capability at the Boyne smelter, at the Whyalla steelworks, at Glencore in Mount Isa or at Nyrstar in Port Pirie and whether it's our fuel security or investing in our critical minerals industry, those jobs, those industries and those opportunities are in our national interest. That's why Labor is committed to investing in a future made in Australia, to modernising our national energy grid, to securing sovereign capability and our resilience, to backing Australian industry here and now and to investing in jobs and industries so as to set Australia up for a prosperous future.