HOST, PAUL CULLIVER: Tim Ayres is the Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and as well as the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia, and joins you on the line this morning. Tim Ayres, good morning.
SENATOR TIM AYRES: G'day Paul, good to talk to you and your listeners.
HOST: What's the right argument for the Prime Minister to mount in this phone call?
AYRES: Well, the right argument is to focus on Australia's interest and the depth of the bilateral economic relationship and to do that in a calm and consistent way. There is a telephone call, the second telephone call for the Prime Minister and President Trump, scheduled today. There has, of course, been extensive dialogue and engagement with the new administration already. The Deputy PM was in Washington over the weekend, he left when parliament rose, and he's got back in time for parliament to start again, engaging with the new United States team in defence. The Foreign Minister was at the inauguration. To my knowledge, that hasn't happened before, and of course, our team in Washington and more broadly, across the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is engaged in these issues. It's not a surprise, President Trump signalled very clearly over the course of the election campaign that there were going to be changes in the United States' approach to some of these trading questions, our approach will be to make it very clear that in terms of steel and aluminium, in particular, our steel and aluminium producers who export to the United States make a very important contribution to American manufacturing, big investors as well in American manufacturing capability, and the bilateral trading relationship is very important in economic and strategic terms and in fact, the United States has enjoyed a surplus in trade, in the bilateral trading relationship for a very long time now, we'll do that in a calm and consistent way right across government, over a sustained period of time, because it's in the national interest, and it's the interests of regional jobs like, you know, aluminium, you know, thousands of aluminium workers in your listening area.
HOST: Interesting. You're sort of threading the needle there between the US national interest and the Australian national interest. The advice we are hearing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is don't even worry about the Australian side of things. Just pitch it as good for the US if we got this carve out. What do you think of that kind of advice?
AYRES: Well, we'll certainly be doing that. It will be a consistent approach, as I say, right across government. Each of these engagements is important, and engagement at prime ministerial level, of course, is very important. I would anticipate, we've had news reporting of a comment that the President made on an airplane to a group of journalists. There is a long way to go, you know, not shooting off at the mouth in relation to one announcement, but focusing on the detail and the Australian interest. That's what we'll be doing. And of course, it sits against the backdrop of us, you know, the Prime Minister was in the Hunter Valley just a couple of weeks ago announcing Labor's $2 billion package for the aluminium production sector in Australia. Last night, the Senate passed against hard opposition from the Liberals and Nationals, this production tax credit legislation. So we are backing Australian manufacturing in the long term, diversify in the national interest, diversifying the products that Australia offers to the world, the markets that we sell into moving up the value chain. And of course, in the short term, as your listeners will know, Australia relies upon open markets and a rules-based trading system that is under some pressure around the world, and we are focused very hard on advocating for Australia's interest, market access, getting into key markets. That is good in economic terms. It's good for regional jobs in particular, and it's in our security interest, in our broader economic and security interests, that's why we're pursuing this. But the course last night, we had the Liberals and Nationals opposing it. You know, missing in action on this key economic argument.
HOST: How big of a dent would it make on our steel and aluminium industry here in Australia if these tariffs did come into effect?
AYRES: Well, as I said before, Paul, we've had an announcement. There is a long way to go. We are absolutely laser focused in the immediate term on dealing with this set of questions. But of course, more broadly, Australian access to markets around the world At the trade level and in the long term, we're focused on the future of the aluminium sector. It's an important industry for Australia, it's an important industry for the Hunter. There are many thousands of workers and people right through the supply chain engaged in this. And I don’t want to underplay how important it is.
HOST: Is the impact knowable, though, by any kind of numbers?
AYRES: It's knowable when we get to the detail and I don't intend to sort of shoot my mouth off about impacts of something that has really been the subject of a very short announcement and we're going to get to the bottom of the detail of this and seek for open access for Australia and Australian firms and Australian workers to this important market, because it's in Australia's interest, and it's in the interest of the United States that it continues.
HOST: Alright, I did want to ask about Future Made in Australia, which as you mentioned passed the Senate last night, what does this unlock for the Hunter now? What are you wanting from manufacturers, from industry leaders, to come on board to make some of these measures a reality?
AYRES: Well, it incentivises investment in Australian manufacturing. So, production tax credits, not grants or support in the hope that production happens in Australia, but tax credits for every tonne of critical minerals that are processed and refined and turned into manufacturing products here and support, similar support, for every kilogram of hydrogen that is produced in Australia. So, it's smart industry policy focused on what's actually produced, rather than support in the lead up to it being produced. So that is a new thing from government. It sits against the backdrop of the biggest pro manufacturing package in Australian history. This is the tax component of it. Of course, there are broader supports, like the $2 billion aluminium package that the Prime Minister announced that is there to secure the future of the aluminium sector in Australia. We're unashamedly pro manufacturing, Paul, we're for manufacturing jobs, particularly in regions like the Hunter Valley that have got fantastic manufacturing capability and engineering capability and got a skilled workforce. We want to see more investment, driving more investment for future jobs, but defending the jobs that we have there right now. The alternative, Paul is trenchant opposition from, you know, Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor, the computer that says no, on investment and new jobs. These guys have said that they will tear this down if they get into government. That will see disinvestment and manufacturing jobs continue to flood offshore, like they did under the Morrison and Abbott and Turnbull governments. We've got a government's going to stand up for Australian manufacturing. That’s what the region needs.
HOST: Tim Ayres, appreciate your time today.
AYRES: Thank you. Good on you, Paul. Thanks.
HOST: Tim Ayres, Labor Senator for New South Wales, Assistant Minister for Trade and for a Future Made in Australia.
