New minister sets out stall for Australian manufacturing

It is a great honour for me as the new Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science to be able to play a modest part in taking Australian scientific and industrial endeavour forward.

Industry policy is my passion. It’s my passion, because I believe in an active social democratic state that works for every Australian.

I want Australia to be a manufacturing powerhouse in an increasingly digital world.

To be the indispensable industrial, technological, energy and strategic partner to the region in which we live.

And to do that by deploying our strengths in energy and resources, leveraging our proximity to the fast-growing Asia Pacific region, and backing our brilliant research institutions and our smart, skilled and resilient people.

Together with Dr Andrew Charlton, Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy, I want to deliver world-class industry policy that is informed by evidence and driven by purpose.

The task before us is very clear. Australia must build its economic complexity and resilience — and do it with purpose and urgency.

When the Prime Minister first shared his vision of our Future Made in Australia policy in April 2024, he said we needed to be clear-eyed about the times we live in.

He said we needed sharper elbows when it came to marking out our national interest, and we needed to be willing to break with old orthodoxies.

The Prime Minister was not heralding a retreat into protectionism, or the rise of a hulking government crowding out private investment.

What he was signalling was a need to move past arid, think tank platitudes about the role of government and old binaries.

Government needs to work alongside the private sector to grow the economy, boost productivity and secure prosperity.

Combining market tools with government action can create opportunity for generations of Australians.

We’ve got to build state capacity, and private sector capacity, and not see those imperatives as in conflict with each other.

We can make Australia stronger by investing in what matters — and drawing on our shared values and strengths.

We also have a unique opportunity to join up our research and innovation system with our Future Made in Australia framework.

Given we have a productivity challenge, this is an opportunity we can’t miss.

Australia must have competitive advantage in high productivity, high skill jobs and industries of the future, including advanced manufacturing.

And the Australian Government and Australian firms must harness technological advancement and innovation, like artificial intelligence, to deliver investment, economic growth and lift lagging productivity.

All of us, public and private, State and Commonwealth, research institutions and civil society, the physical sciences and the social sciences must lift together and pull our weight.

Working together, to build the capacity of Australia to meet this historical moment and build a secure, sustainable future for Australia and Australians.

Our Future Made in Australia plan is about maximising the economic and industrial benefits of the global move to net zero emissions and attracting substantial international investment to do so.

My predecessor, Ed Husic, and my Cabinet colleagues, put important policy structures in place during our first term in office. Much has been achieved.

My task, in this coming term, will be about coordination, delivery and impact.

To join up our research and innovation system with our Future Made in Australia framework.

I want to focus on coordination of national resources and programs and deepen the cooperation between industry and our great research institutions.

I look forward to receiving the recommendations of our strategic review of existing R&D frameworks when that is completed later this year.

In the meantime, I will be meeting stakeholders and consulting to help inform my own views about how we maximise our efforts and investments.

Delivering a world-class industry policy isn’t an abstraction.

It is at the heart of the Albanese Government’s plan for long-term growth and jobs, for security in its broadest sense, for lifting our productive performance and making sure that every Australian is part of our national project and shares in its success.

Let’s get cracking.

Tim Ayres is the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science.

This article was originally published in Industry Update Manufacturing Magazine, June/July 2025.