PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (11:57): Australia has everything we need to make more things here at home. We have the resources. We have the energy.
We have the workers, the skills and the ideas. And we have an enormous opportunity to take those Australian strengths and turn them into Australian jobs, Australian investment and Australian industries. That is the ambition behind the Albanese Labor government's Future Made in Australia agenda.
My electorate of Bonner has a proud industrial base. At Lytton, we have the Ampol refinery, one of only two remaining refineries in Australia, employing almost a thousand people onsite and playing an incredibly important role in our national fuel security. I've been proud to welcome the Prime Minister; Treasurer, Jim Chalmers; and Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Chris Bowen, to the refinery to meet the workers and talk about the importance of the industry we have today and the opportunities ahead.
Ampol is a great example of what A Future Made in Australia is all about. We are backing the industrial capability of Australia that we already have, while investing in what it can become. Just down the road at GrainCorp you can see what that future could be if were to come together with Ampol.
Australian canola, used cooking oil and tallow can become Australian-made renewable fuels. That means taking what we grow and produce here, adding value and creating the manufacturing jobs and industries of the future. Labor is backing that opportunity, including through the $1.1 billion Cleaner Fuels Program, to help unlock private investment in Australian low-carbon liquid fuel production.
That is Future Made in Australia in action: government and industry working together to take an Australian strength and turn it into the next Australian industry. You don't need to be one of Australia's biggest companies to be part of A Future Made in Australia. Recently I visited the new home of QFill, in Wakerley in my electorate.
Jozsef, Annamaria and Kaldor showed me through their warehouse as they prepare to launch their aerosol manufacturing operations. Right now they're preparing the space, and before long it will be buzzing with staff, equipment and opportunity—opportunity for a small business to grow and also the opportunity for more local jobs. That is also an opportunity for A Future Made in Australia.
A Future Made in Australia is also about backing industry at every level. It means securing the major industrial facilities that employ thousands of Australians and support entire supply chains. But it also means backing the businesses with an idea, an opportunity to grow, and the ambition to make something here.
We need both. That is exactly why the government established the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, to invest in capability and help turn Australian ideas into Australian industries. Already the fund has announced 31 investments worth almost $1.77 billion across resources, biotech, AI, food and beverage, manufacturing, housing and quantum development.
A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 12:01 to 12:13 Ms KARA COOK: Already the fund has announced 31 investments worth $1.77 billion across resources, biotech, AI, food and beverage manufacturing, housing and quantum development. When we talk about a future made in Australia, we also need to talk about who gets to be part of that future.
When I visited Give Industries recently with Minister Amanda Rishworth, I met two electricians, Alisha and Mary, who have been part of the She Means program supporting women in male-dominated industries, because the industries that will build Australia's future will need electricians, builders, technicians, engineers and skilled workers, and there is absolutely no reason why those careers should not be an option for every woman and girl in Bonner.
But getting women through the door is only half the job. We need workplaces where women can stay, succeed and lead. That is why our government is investing $4 million to expand the She Means program from 30 small businesses to 120 across Australia.
Round 2 is now open for the She Means program, including for businesses in ICT, financial services, energy and trades. You can't be what you can't see, and I want girls in Bonner to grow up to be like Alisha and Mary and know there is absolutely no limit to where their careers can take them. Labor is backing a future made in Australia, and I'm proud to be part of it.