ROD CORFE, HOST: We are joined by Senator Tim Ayres. How are you today?  

SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA: Rod it is good to talk to you. If Troy Cassar-Daley is coming up next, I might stay on the line. 

CORFE: I can easily put you on hold to listen to that, but I'm sure you're too busy for that on a Monday morning. 

SENATOR AYRES: That is right, I am back here in Parliament House. Parliament's not sitting this week or next week, but there a lot of work in front of us over the rest of this year, particularly, I think, in my area of responsibility, a Future Made in Australia, the biggest pro-manufacturing policy package in Australian history. We are very focused as a government, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the portfolio Ministers and I on delivering the reindustrialisation of Australia's regions and outer suburbs. 

CORFE: And very important it is, and you've now been made since we last spoke, which has been a little while, Assistant Minister for a Future made in Australia. You're still the Assistant Minister for Trade as well. Means it's a very important segment for the federal government.  

SENATOR AYRES: It is really important for the future of the country. In government, you've got to focus on the here and now questions. The big issue in front of Australians now, is the cost-of-living challenges, making sure that we're dealing with inflation and incomes in a way which lifts living standards and helps Australian families through this period. We have made significant progress, we have halved inflation, which was very, very high when we took office and is now heading in the right direction, but there's still some more work to do. We have delivered tax cuts to every single Australian to make sure that not only Australians are earning more, with wages are lifting under this government, but taxes are lower, tax cuts for every single Australian so Australians are earning more and keeping more of what they earn. But all the other cost-of-living measures that we've undertaken, budget surpluses, that is the focus of government about what's in front of us now. But a good government also looks at the future and the future for Australia in an environment where we can't take our future living standards or peace and prosperity for granted, does mean rebuilding our industrial capability, rebuilding Australian manufacturing, and making sure that we are taking advantage of the great natural resources that we have. 

CORFE: This is really good news, because we do need to do that downstream processing, it used to be called, I don't know if they still call it that, but just ripping stuff out of the ground and sending it somewhere else to be made into something we buy back at a higher rate. It just seems crazy. 

SENATOR AYRES: That's right. And sometimes, in politics, people position these things as binaries. If you are supporting manufacturing, that somehow there's a hostility to the mining industry. Our mining capability and also our agricultural capability are great national strengths. We have some of the best mining technology, the best mining processes in the world and while we know that the global markets for coal will get smaller and smaller and smaller over time. You know, 97% of our trading partners, all of the major global economies, are on a track, just like Australia, to net zero. The use of coal will diminish over time. But Australia has iron ore, copper and silver, and we also have all the critical minerals that are required for this enormous industrial transformation. Now we have got a choice in front of us Rod, and that is whether we take hold of this moment, particularly with the world's best solar and wind resources to build the production facilities that transform, rather than shipping off lithium ore overseas to be processed, principally in China, but in other countries as well, that we process the lithium here. Let's take lithium as an example, if we just export lithium ore, we capture about half a percent of the value chain of lithium here in Australia. We have got to move up the value chain, and that is why Future Made in Australia is all about providing what are called production tax incentives. That is for every ton of processed lithium in Australia, the Australian government will offer a tax credit to the manufacturing company who processes that here in Australia. For green iron or hydrogen, or a series of these critical technologies for the future, we are offering effectively tax cuts for companies that invest in Australia and manufacture here in Australia. I want the world's best manufacturers and the global investment community to be focused on Australia as an investment decision. Future Made in Australia changes that framework fundamentally where they were looking offshore. Now they're here in Australia, engaging with the Australian government and the state governments because of our Future Made in Australia strategy 

CORFE: What about supporting our local regional councils, our local government? Is the federal government doing enough there? 

SENATOR AYRES: The truth is that the need in regional areas for investment in roads, bridges and infrastructure is enormous, and local councils, some of them are very, very big in terms of the amount of space that they occupy and the country roads that they've got responsibility for. This is an enormous challenge, and there's no easy answers. We have seen what happened, I think last time I was up in your neck of the woods was a month after there had been some rain and a significant part of the road network knockout. That takes a significant level of maintenance, and that maintenance requirement keeps getting harder and harder and harder, particularly as there's more and more and more extreme weather events. That is an enormous challenge. The Prime Minister gets all of the Councils from across Australia here once a year for two or three days. He was the Minister for Local Government in one of the previous governments. He knows the Councils very, very well, and we're acutely aware of how much of a funding need there is. Of course, Rod, you'd expect me to say this, state governments have got a role to play here too, and it is very difficult to fill the whole funding requirement, but we're working as hard as we can within the fiscal constraints that we have got. 

CORFE: That's where we'll leave it for today. I do appreciate your time. We'll catch up in a fortnight.  

SENATOR AYRES: Good on you Rod. Catch you soon. 

ENDS.