AMELIA BERNASCONI, HOST: The Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia is on the line. Now we've been talking about this for a couple of months, haven't we, what the jobs of the Hunter Valley will look like. The Federal government pledged a $22 billion package, a Future Made in Australia. It looks to kickstart private investment to help bring jobs to regions like ours. It was announced a couple of months ago but after a very busy night in Canberra, like I mentioned, that bill's now passed the Senate. Senator Tim Ayres joins us now. Good morning.
SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND TRADE: Oh, g'day. Good to be on the show.
BERNASCONI: Thanks for making this work this morning. It was a very late night for you guys in Canberra but I know this has been obviously something close to your heart for some time. Before we get into the discussions in the chamber, tell us a bit about the Future Made in Australia Bill, particularly what it could do for our region and the Hunter.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, this is a package that's purpose-designed for regional Australia and for regional economies like the Hunter in particular. Now we've seen that Australian manufacturing has been offshored over the last three or four decades. The worst point was under the beginning of the previous government. If your listeners cast their minds back to the Abbott period where the auto industry was offshored. And this package is by itself but also taken together with the rest of the Albanese government's National Reconstruction Fund and broader industry policy. This is the biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history. It offers incentives that means that the world's best manufacturers investing in new factories and new production facilities in regions like the Hunter Valley. It means that in areas like Green Metals, in steel and aluminium, in processing critical minerals, building solar panels like have been announced for just down the road there at the Liddell Power Station site. The solar production facility there will employ more people than are employed now at the Liddell Power Station. So, this is, as you say, kickstarting a revival of Australian manufacturing. And it's only the Albanese government that will deliver it. The other side, Mr. Dutton and Barnaby Joyce and all these characters have said that they will that they will tear it down and that will lead to more manufacturing investment flooding offshore.
BERNASCONI: Well, I guess the big point of manufacturing being taken offshore is the cost, you know, China sort of leading the way with their very affordable products. And, you know, you mentioned that the solar panel ideas at the moment, we're bringing so much in from China. So, obviously there needs to be- you've mentioned this $22 billion package to try and help private investment here. It sounds like it is going to be costly. Where do we bridge that gap of it being affordable but also, you know, quality that we've seen in Australian manufacturing in decades gone by?
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah, well, the first thing here is that, yes, this makes Australian manufacturing more competitive. The Australian government is not the only government around the world that's acting to make manufacturing more competitive. The United States government has their own package of incentives in areas of production. Chips manufacturing, clean energy production, electric vehicles that are important for their future industrial capability. Economies right around the world, the Europeans, the Canadians, China itself have significant subsidies for manufacturing. And Australia can't approach the world in which we live with one hand tied behind our back without offering a competitive platform for the world's best manufacturers to invest here. The other point that I'd make is that the investment in new manufacturing is critical for regional economies for the future. And if we just adopt this approach that Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor and all these people say that Australia can't do it, that we shouldn't do it, that we should just continue to be an economy that exports raw mineral ore overseas, you know, the lowest value possible in the value chain and we continue to talk ourselves down, well, that's not the Australia that I know. It’s certainly not the regional economies that I know.
BERNASCONI: Is there a timeline?
SENATOR AYRES: I was in Muswellbrook just a few weeks ago talking to manufacturers, to the local council there in Muswellbrook, who are getting on with the job and are keen to work with the Future Made in Australia agenda to drive new manufacturing investment in new factories that’ll mean that kids at school right now can look forward to a fair dinkum apprenticeship and a decent job.
BERNASCONI: Is there a timeline on when you'll pull back? Is it start up costs? Is it to get these buildings built or manufacturing setups established? Will there be a point where the taxpayer funding is pulled and you've sort of got to let these businesses go on their own?
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah, that's exactly the right question. This is about setting new Australian manufacturing up for the future. It's not grants, it's not providing capital to, or Commonwealth support to, companies in the hope that they manufacture in Australia, it's a 10-year limited package of production tax credits, which means that for every unit of production that a manufacturer in these areas of production produces onshore, they get a tax credit for that. So, it only is provided to companies on the basis that they manufacture here in Australia, not in the hope that they manufacture here in Australia. It is paying on results per unit of production. So, for every kilogramme of hydrogen that a hydrogen producer makes, for every tonne of green steel or green aluminium or lithium, processed lithium, that's the incentive to produce here in Australia, to create jobs here in Australia and to drag through all of the supply chain investment that's going to be critical to delivering these big mega projects.
BERNASCONI: Senator Tim Ayres is with us this morning, the Assistant Minister for Future Made in Australia. Just before I let you go, Senator, so finally passed in what sounded like a very turbulent night there down in Canberra. What are the next steps here before we see a little bit more, you know, a bit more movement on this front?
SENATOR AYRES: Well, this is all of the framework legislation. There is still more to come. The government will be announcing all of the production tax credit schedules and some of that will be coming through the Parliament next year. This is not a set and forget process, the Future Made in Australia. It is going to require active government and active commitment to it. That is a constant focus on bringing new manufacturers to Australia, making sure that they are delivering good jobs in regional areas. And the only thing that stands in the way of that, of course, is Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor who said that they will tear this up and get rid of the package. That would mean disinvestment in manufacturing in Australia. And what that means for ordinary people in our industrial regions and our suburbs is that more manufacturing goes offshore. We’re unambiguously for good blue-collar jobs and manufacturing in Australia. And that's going to require a long term government, long term Labor government to back manufacturing businesses, to back manufacturing workers and regional communities. So, we have got a mountain of work in front of us working with communities, working with the business sector and manufacturers, and delivering on real jobs for real people.
BERNASCONI: Well Senator, really appreciate you making time to speak with us this morning. We'll no doubt talk again in 2025 as everything progresses here. But thanks for today.
SENATOR AYRES: Thanks very much.
BERNASCONI: Thank you very much. Senator Tim Ayres there, the Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia.
ENDS.
