PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (11:31): This motion discusses the Future Made in Australia plan and the agenda associated with it. While I commend the mover's interest in these areas, I do, however, have a few observations to make about the enlivenment of these goals as we stand with things right now. One of the biggest barriers in the cost of energy.
Energy is expensive in Australia, and it is getting more expensive. Its affordability is incredibly important if you want to grow, make and manufacture things in my Gippsland region in a country like Australia. Australia used to lead the OECD in productivity.
We now languish in the late teens of the top 20, and you can ask why that is. One of the key reasons is energy affordability. We have surging energy costs, which are significantly hindering Australia's industrial productivity.
They are dragging down multifactor productivity right across the broader economy. Manufacturing is energy intensive, collectively consuming over 52 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Escalating electricity and gas bills act as a direct tax on operational efficiency.
Instead of allocating capital to automation, research and development or workforce upskilling, Australian businesses right now are forced to divert earned capital and vital resources just to keep their lights on. Let me mention two points about recent data that highlights the significant financial pressure confronting the manufacturing sector. We have skyrocketing gas prices.
Industrial users have seen domestic gas prices surge, while Australian manufacturers are paying 48 per cent more for gas than they did prior to global supply shocks. While this government can't control all international events, there is an important chronology of events here to take note of as well. The other point I raise is around operational cutbacks.
Research from the Australian Industry Group indicates that 62 per cent of manufacturers are suffering significant negative effects from the energy criss. Crucially, only 15 per cent are in a position right now to pass these costs onto consumers. If they do pass these costs onto consumers, that will have an impact on inflation, on the cost of living and a broader remit of challenges as well.
I recently visited Talum Windows in Inverloch, in my electorate of Monash. Their products are made by highly skilled local people to very high standards, and what they make is seriously impressive. In those high standards for Australia, we need to account for bushfire events, natural disasters, cyclonic winds and floods.
The windows that they make are manufactured to a globally very high standard. Right now, the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission is running an investigation into claims that aluminium windows and doors are being dumped or heavily subsidised below cost into the Australian market, putting local manufacturers like Talum at a real and unfair disadvantage. I want to note that the commission will deliver a draft response later this month.
Clinton Skeoch, the CEO of the Australian Glass and Window Association, says this is about fairness. He said: We are simply seeking a level playing field where unfairly subsidised and dumped products do not distort the market and undermine Australia's vibrant and highly competitive window-manufacturing industry. It's an industry that directly employs more than 9,000 Australians and supports over 26,000 jobs in the broader supply chain.
That support needs to be recognised in the context of the remarks that the federal government have made recently in relation to a strong aluminium industry. That is welcome, but that industry needs a strong local customer base as well. So, if the federal government are going to recognise the strategic value of producing aluminium in Australia, they can't stop that logic at just the raw material level.
That support has got to reach downstream manufacturers who turn it into finished products, employ thousands of Australians and sustain local communities like mine in the Monash electorate. I will stand up for local jobs in Gippsland. I will stand up for manufacturing jobs, and so will the coalition.