PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr WILLCOX (Dawson) (12:15): It's always pleasing to speak to one of the member for Forde's private members' business motions. He's a very enthusiastic member. A lot of his content is quite misguided, but I love his enthusiasm.

The manufacturing industry and heavy industry in this country are dying, and that's directly due to the Albanese Labor government's policies. To have a look at productivity, if you look at the front page of the Aus this morning, they've said that productivity in this country has fallen through the floor. As a matter of fact, it's fallen to the worst situation in the history of productivity information.

That goes right back to the 1960s. This is directly proportional to Labor's policies—their high tax, their overtax, their industrial relations mess and their red tape. Because of the Albanese Labor government's failed policies, they've had to bail out heavy industry.

In the Hunter, they bailed out Tomago Aluminium to the tune of $1.275 billion; in Mount Isa in Queensland, Glencore got $300 million; in Port Pirie, South Australia, Nyrstar got $57.5 million; in Hobart, Tasmania, Nyrstar got $57.5 million; in Whyalla, South Australia, the steelworks got $1.1 billion; in Gladstone in Queensland, the Boyne aluminium smelter has been bailed out the tune of $1 billion.

That's a total bailout from the Albanese Labor government of $3.7 billion and change. The coalition said a long time ago that we need a Senate inquiry into the heavy metals manufacturing industry in Australia. The Albanese Labor government said, 'No, we're not going to do that.' We couldn't believe that, because we knew that they were facing headwinds.

So why wait till the very last second and then have to bail them out? The worst thing about this is it's going to happen again because the Albanese Labor government has brought in the safeguard mechanism. That's what they call it, but let's call it what it really is, carbon tax 2.0.

A government member interjecting— Mr WILLCOX: Those opposite, like the one making a hell of a racket—they're going to have to pay fines for this, and they're going to have offsets. This is going to add expense to the business that they can't afford. This will once again drive more manufacturing and more industry offshore.

Labor's Future Made in Australia is nothing more than a farce. We have the resources and we have the workforce in this country, but they don't want to use them. Industry is leaving this country in droves.

Have a look at the NVES, the electric vehicle standards. That is another attack on manufacturing and industry. The very simple Rangers, Land Cruisers and Isuzus are then being taxed out of existence, but we have to use those in the manufacturing industry.

We can't use the electric cars because they can't carry the weight, they can't tow the load and they can't cover the distance. Manufacturing is leaving Australia because of the high energy costs. The reckless race to renewables is simply not working.

Gas is too expensive in this country. We've seen a 40 per cent increase in electricity. That's not sustainable to industry.

We need reliable, affordable energy that's available 24/7. The net zero fantasy has to stop. Australia is also not being seen as a stable political country.

We've got a prime minister who simply can't be trusted. He promised on 97 occasions that power was going to be $275 cheaper, and that's simply not the case. Then he introduced capital gains tax changes, negative gearing changes and changes to trusts.

All those things were never taken to the election, so this prime minister can't be trusted. We're considered a politically unstable country, and that's why our manufacturing and heavy industry is moving offshore. (Time expired) The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Sharkie ): There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.