Future Made in Australia 2024

Investing Towards Australia's Future.

VIDEO 

It's hard to believe I left my office, where I was listening to former president Barack Obama make an inspiring speech about hope, to come in here to listen to a shadow minister make a less-than-inspiring speech, following many others from those opposite. They drive down hope. Speaker after speaker from that side, when speaking on this piece of legislation, is showing Australians what they are really about. They don't trust Australians. They don't believe Australians can do things. What they're demonstrating is that they don't believe Australians can make things. After 10 years in government, driving manufacturing out of our suburbs, out of our regions and out of our country, they come in here to criticise a piece of legislation—the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024—that is deliberately made to build hope in our suburbs and our regions—legislation about a future made in Australia and about the return of manufacturing.

I remember the dark days of the pandemic. I remember lots and lots of planning and talking about sovereign capability. There were lots of woeful moments where we realised that we were at the bottom of the supply chain and we couldn't get our hands on things that we needed in this country. I was listening yesterday to people on the other side who talked about increased costs of housing, without factoring into that the shortages of things that we need to build things in this country because we are at the bottom of the supply chain and, for decades, we have allowed ourselves to not build, create or make the things we need here to ensure we are safe in dangerous times.

This piece of legislation is about just that. It's about building hope. It's about building things. It's about Australia returning to a place of sovereign capability. It's about Australia returning to being a country that actually believes in its people and believes its people can innovate, can create and can make things here. For two days now, I've seen those opposite walk through the door and come in here, and I've listened to them making speeches about this legislation, and they need to understand that all I hear is their absolute lack of faith in the Australian population to do the things we need to do.

Unlike those opposite, we believe in Australians. We believe in our capacity to innovate. We believe in our capacity to get things done. We believe in our capacity to collaborate, most importantly. We believe in our capacity to collect around an idea and to make things happen, and that's what this legislation is about. It is about a plan for a future made in Australia. It is very simple. We want Australia to be a country that makes more things here because it will grow our economy and create good jobs. That's what drives us. It means we'll be a country standing on our own two feet and spreading opportunity. It means that we'll be making the most of what we have and making more things here. It means that we will be more than a farm and more than a quarry. As the member for Macarthur said earlier, those opposite are quite happy to dig things out of the ground, but they don't have the faith, the drive or the energy to believe we can value-add to those minerals and create new markets. We just heard from the member for Fairfax, who doesn't believe that we can compete.

"Not with cheap energy, you can't!" - Ted O'Brien MP

He doesn't believe that we can compete on the international stage. He doesn't believe that we can do it.

I heard him say it. It came out of his mouth. He doesn't believe that we have a competitive advantage, he doesn't believe in Australian ingenuity and he doesn't believe in Australian capacity. That's what I heard the member opposite say, and it's a litany of members opposite saying just that. Day in, day out this week, that's what we've heard. They don't believe in Australian ingenuity. They don't believe in our workforce's capacity. They do not believe that we can do things here. They believed that we needed to close down car manufacturing in this country. They believed we had to close it down, stood in this chamber and dared General Motors to leave, knowing full well that, if General Motors closed down in Australia, it would be the death of the car industry. They knew it. They knew full well what they were doing that day.

Companies using Australian minerals to manufacture solar panels to put on our roofs are what this legislation is about. It's about researchers making breakthroughs in science that will lead to new medicines. Under Labor, we're generating 25 per cent more renewable energy and we've ticked off enough renewable projects to power three million homes. On this side of the chamber, we believe in Australian ingenuity, we believe in Australians' capacity to work together and, most importantly, we believe it is our duty to respond to the crisis of global warning and to be part of the solution. This is an opportunity for Australia. We're compelled to do it because it's the right thing to do; why wouldn't we grab that opportunity with both hands and drive manufacturing in this country? It will create opportunities in our regions and our suburbs, in our factories and our labs, in our TAFEs and our unis.

It is mind-boggling to listen to those opposite this week express a lack of faith in Australia's competitive capability. That lack of faith reflects what they truly believe about our country. What they truly believe about our country is that we're second rate. They believe we're second class. I don't. I believe this is the best country in the world. I believe in the capacity of Australians. I've spent my life working with young people in this country. I know what they're capable of; I taught them. I know them. They are capable of anything. I wish those opposite believed the same. I wish they believed that we were capable of leading the world as we have done time and time again. I wish that, when we celebrated the gold medals of our athletes, those opposite believed we could win gold medals in manufacturing, but they don't. They don't believe you can pick winners, because they don't believe we are winners. That's the bottom line and what I've learnt in the two days of this debate. That is what I've heard.

The Labor government is about creating opportunity in our regions, and I would think the member for Kennedy would want to talk about our regions and creating opportunities in our regions, because the member for Kennedy represents an incredibly large region in this country where ingenuity has been demonstrated for decades. We need a government prepared to step up and do its part, and this legislation is this government saying that that's exactly what we will do, that we will fund the apprenticeships, attract the investment to build the infrastructure, boost the industries and back the ideas of Australians.

In closing, I find it incredibly disappointing those opposite, from opposition, want to stand in the way of Australia moving forward. I know that that's echoed in the place I represent. They want to move forward. They want to be a place where manufacturing occurs. They want a better life for their children than you left them after a decade in office.