ADJOURNMENT
Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (12:17): What an announcement for the Hunter: the future of Tomago Aluminium has been secured beyond 2028. For the community of Hunter, that's absolutely huge. Tomago isn't some distant industrial asset on a spreadsheet in Canberra; it's ours.
It's part of the Hunter, and it's part of who we are as a region. It's more than 1,000 people going to work every day at the smelter and another 5,000 jobs supported across the Hunter. In those jobs are our neighbours, our mates and our families.
They are people who spend their pay packets in our local shops, put their kids through our local schools and support our local sporting clubs. They are the contractors, suppliers, tradies, transport workers and small businesses that keep the Hunter moving. So, when we talk about securing Tomago, we're talking about securing a big part of the Hunter's future.
The state and federal governments are investing $2.5 billion to secure the Tomago aluminium smelter at Tomago beyond 2028. Tomago Aluminium will also invest at least another $1.1 billion in this facility. That is serious investment in our region, and that's exactly the kind of investment that the Hunter deserves, because people in the Hunter know how to make things.
We always have. We don't just talk about industry here; we do it. We know what it means to get up early, put the work gear on and go out and do a job that really does matter.
We know what it means to build something, produce something and be proud of what leaves the factory gate at the end of the day. That's why this announcement matters so much to me, and that's why this matters so much to the broader Hunter. I want the next generation of Hunter kids to grow up knowing that they don't have to leave our region to get a good, safe and secure skilled job.
I want them to know that there is still big industry right here in the Hunter and that there still will be manufacturing here. There'll still be places like Tomago where people can build a career, raise a family and make a contribution to this country. This outcome didn't just happen on its own.
The Hunter members fought hard for it. We made the case for Tomago Aluminium at every opportunity. We made sure people in Canberra understood what was at stake for our region.
I particularly want to recognise my friend and colleague the member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson. Meryl has been an absolute champion and relentless on Tomago Aluminium. This announcement is a credit to her work and the work that we did as a broader Hunter caucus.
It's a credit to the whole Hunter team because, when it comes to jobs in our region, we stick together. We know what's at stake and we know the Hunter deserves a government that is prepared to back us. Tomago Aluminium is Australia's largest aluminium smelter, but for us its importance goes well beyond that title.
It's part of a much bigger story about what sort of future we want for the Hunter. We want the Hunter to keep making things. We want the Hunter to keep employing people in good, safe, secure industrial jobs.
I want the Hunter to remain at the centre of Australia's manufacturing economy, and I'm proud to be part of a Labor government that shares that ambition. Australia shouldn't simply dig up our resources, put them on a ship and ship them overseas. We should add value right here.
We should make things here. As far as I'm concerned, there's no better place to do that than in the mighty Hunter. This agreement will also give Tomago the long-term energy certainty it needs to support major new renewable generation and firming capacity.
That means the Hunter can keep doing what it's always done: powering the country, making the things the country and the world need, and creating good, safe, secure jobs while we're at it. That's what a future made in Australia looks like, from where I stand. It looks like Tomago Aluminium.
It looks like thousands of Hunter workers keeping their jobs. It looks like billions of dollars being invested in our region. And it looks like the Hunter continuing to do what it does best: make things, build things and simply get on with the job.
I'm incredibly proud of this announcement. I'm proud of my Hunter colleagues the member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, the member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon, and the member for Shortland, Pat Conroy. I'm proud that our government listened to the Hunter and backed the Hunter.
Most of all, I'm proud that generations of Hunter workers will now continue to have a future at Tomago. It's a win for Tomago, it's a win for manufacturing and it's a bloody good win for the Hunter. Finally, I want to thank the workers, their families, the communities and everybody who's been involved in helping make this happen.
I especially want to thank the Australian Workers' Union, the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and all of your union members for backing this in and really getting behind this. Without your help, we wouldn't be where we are today, so thank you. Question agreed to.
Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:22