SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE: Good morning, I am Tim Ayres. I'm the Assistant Minister for Future Made in Australia and Assistant Minister for Trade. It's really good to be here in the Hunter again, with more than 100 Hunter Valley engineering companies and manufacturing companies to talk about the Albanese Government's Future Made in Australia Agenda; what has been achieved so far with Australia's largest ever pro-manufacturing package, and the work that needs to be done to secure Australia's manufacturing future. What that requires, because Peter Dutton has indicated that the Liberals and Nationals will tear this down if they are elected, what this requires, if you care about the future for Hunter Valley manufacturing, it requires a re-elected Albanese Labor Government to deliver this investment and to secure these good quality jobs in our regions and suburbs. I am really pleased to be here with Sharon Claydon, the Member from Newcastle, who has been an extraordinary advocate in the Federal Parliament for manufacturing, for supporting Hunter Valley businesses as they go through their journey to lower emissions and zero emissions manufacturing processes to secure their own competitive future and it's really good to be here with Sharon to talk to local industry today.
SHARON CLAYDON MP, MEMBER FOR NEWCASTLE: Thanks, Tim, and it's great to have you back in Newcastle. I think Newcastle and Hunter manufacturers appreciate the straight talk. We are manufacturing heartland, and we've been doing this for a long time. Nobody in this region is putting their head in the sand about the need to decarbonise our economy, and we are really upfront about the challenges there, but having a government that backs in manufacturing, having a government that does have a positive vision that is interested in not just the jobs of today, but all those jobs of tomorrow and the future. The big investments into a TAFE Centre of Excellence around net zero manufacturing, support into the aluminium industry, big investments into future renewable projects, whether they're offshore wind, hydrogen, these are such strong indicators to our region about seriousness with which the Albanese Labor Government is taking manufacturing. That is a really welcome demonstration of support for all of the small, medium sized manufacturers of this region. We're serious about manufacturing in the Hunter, and it's great to have a government that's serious about supporting manufacturers in the Hunter
JOURNALIST: Is there any word on how Tomago Aluminium is going to be affected by the decision in the US?
SENATOR AYRES: Well, it's important to not understate or overstate the nature of the challenge. It is a very unwelcome and unfriendly development from the Trump Administration. It has been clear for some time that they are embarking on a much more protectionist, tariff driven approach that will lead to higher prices for American consumers, and it is bad for our aluminium and steel sector. We will continue to fight for an Australian exemption, but it's been very clear for some time from the Trump Administration that they regard previous exemptions as a mistake. That's why the $2 billion package that we delivered just three weeks ago for the aluminium sector is so important. The Australian aluminium sector is shifting to zero emissions, or close to zero emissions aluminium production. They are doing that because that's where their markets are. That's what their markets are demanding, and that's how they are dealing with the competitive challenges in their production costs. The only thing that is up to debate is whether or not that process is going to happen here in Australia and the Albanese Government's $2 billion production credits secures the future of Tomago Aluminium in the Hunter Valley. We will continue to work with them and front up to the competitive challenges as they emerge.
JOURNALIST: Are there any other viable alternatives to the US to take on the current production?
SENATOR AYRES: This is why I say it's important not to understate or overstate the challenge. The aluminium and steel exports to the United States are 0.18% of Australian exports, but underlying your question is the right thinking. Australia in response to these challenges, whether it's the challenges that the Albanese Government met in terms of our key markets in China, or these current challenges in the United States, require us in the medium to diversify our exports, diversify the markets that we sell into, and diversify the products that we sell, and move up the value chain. That's why Future Made in Australia is so important to rebuild Australia.
JOURNALIST: From April there are the other tariffs probably coming in on beef and pharmaceuticals, you know, which are worth more than steel and aluminium. I suppose it shows we have to diversify as well.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, this is the key. We are going to continue a focus on the bilateral relationship and trying to secure Australian exemptions and a better deal for Australian exporters. We'll also work with our trade partners around the world to make sure that where market access is denied in one jurisdiction, we get market access in other areas. But the core lesson here for Australia, the lesson that the government learnt in relation to our exports to China is that we must diversify the Australian economy. That means diversifying the markets with whom we trade, but it also means rebuilding our manufacturing sector so we have a more complex economy and a more diverse economic offering to the world. That's how we secure good jobs in regional areas. That's why the Future Made in Australia agenda is so important.
JOURNALIST: That is the thing with the Future Made in Australia one, I mean, the Prime Minister hasn't quite come out and said, let's boycott US products. But he made a point to say, look, let's make sure that we support Australian industry there. And this goes back to the Future Made in Australia.
SENATOR AYRES: I think Australians will respond to this by rallying around the national interest, that Australians see how important Australian manufacturing is. They see how important it is that we support Australian industries. That's why the Albanese Government announced just a few weeks ago our Buy Local strategy for Australian government procurement and to lift the level of content of Australian structural steel in projects around the country. I want to see wind towers built with Australian structural steel, and that's what a future re-elected Albanese government will deliver, working in the national interest to diversify our economy and back blue-collar jobs in the regions.
JOURNALIST: The opposition made a point yesterday, saying that, you know, the other Quad leaders went over and flew over and spoke to Trump and our Prime Minister didn't. But, you know, the point was they made that that didn't actually do anything.
SENATOR AYRES: Australians are pretty sensible.
JOURNALIST: There's a limit to how much you can sort of throw off overseas and have words for people who don't want to hear you.
SENATOR AYRES: Well, I think Australians have common sense. They can see that no country secured an exemption, and what they're really seeing from the Opposition, from Peter Dutton and the Liberals, is a sort of carping negativity that undermines the national interest and to try and pick political holes in the Team Australia approach. That is very different to what happened when Malcolm Turnbull was the Prime Minister and a previous Administration announced tariffs on Australian imports into the United States. Anthony Albanese and Labor backed the government of the day because it was in the national interest to do it. We are working in the national interest. Peter Dutton is out there undermining the national interest every day of the week, and it just shows why he doesn't grasp the importance of national leadership. You saw Anthony Albanese on the cyclone, no political parties on these questions, no state boundaries. It's in the national interest for us to work across governments to deal with cyclones. It's in the national interest to work with state governments across party lines in a bipartisan approach should be what guides us here in the national interest. Instead, Peter Dutton is all about the Liberal Party interest. It's really, I think, shocking for most Australians to see how hyper-partisan this bloke has become.
JOURNALIST: Any luck, do you think there might be some luck on leverage with critical minerals?
SENATOR AYRES: Well, Australian critical minerals deposits, as Kevin Rudd said on the television last night, we are like the periodic table in Australia in terms of our critical minerals. We have all of the critical minerals that our global partners require, and they are a national asset, and yes, there's interest in the United States in these minerals, because they're critical in security terms for semiconductors, for computer chips, for the new energy sector. But they're also required by our friends in the European Union and in Canada and in the United Kingdom and throughout Southeast Asia. This is a key national asset, and what the Future Made in Australia agenda is all about is making sure that we mine them in the national interest, engaging our world leading mining sector, but also that we process them here in Australia, creating value-added jobs. And yes, they are a key national asset, but there's plenty of other partners around the world, including the United States, we would love to work with them on these questions, but we're working with plenty of our other friends around the world as well on this issue. Thanks everyone.
ENDS.
