MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator BLYTH (South Australia) (16:47): I move: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The failure of the Albanese Labor Government's Future Made in Australia agenda, which is killing Australian industry from steel to nickel, with Whyalla's blast furnace permanently closed, Liberty Bell Bay shut and Nickel West suspended despite billions in taxpayer support for Whyalla, Tomago and Nyrstar, while Labor continues to burden industry with high energy costs and then falsely suggests that questioning failed taxpayer-funded bailouts is the same as opposing Australian manufacturing jobs.

This is an important motion today. Labor promised all Australians a future made in Australia, and I think everyone in this place knows what a Labor promise is worth. Billions of taxpayer dollars have been poured into heavy industry to maintain sovereign capability in Australia.

Let me be clear. Sovereign capability is vital for a country like Australia. We need to be able to make structural steel, we need to be able to have aluminium, and we need to be able to make glass.

Earlier this week I heard Senator Canavan reflecting on the fact that today in Australia we could not build Australia's Parliament House, because we cannot make the glass that is required to build a building like this. It is vital that we are not dependent on international supply chains when it comes to our sovereign capability. We need to make sure that we can keep heavy industry right here in Australia.

We are living in the most dangerous strategic times since the end of World War II. Labor admits that that is the case, and, with global disruptions in Europe and the Middle East, we should be acutely aware of any risk to our sovereignty. The problem is that, while billions are pouring in to bail out heavy industry and maintain sovereign capability, the underlying reason for why the taxpayer funded bailouts are required in the first place has never been addressed by this Labor government.

Labor's pursuit of net zero has essentially killed heavy industry and impoverished us all. Australia has all the iron ore, coal, gas, nickel and critical minerals we could ever need to be one of the most prosperous nations in the world. We are the envy of other nations because of what we have in the ground.

We not only have the natural resources required; we have the human ingenuity and the capability to make, grow and build everything we could possibly need. Yet, under Labor, Australian businesses can no longer remain commercially competitive. It means it's too expensive to run furnaces, smelters and refineries, and we cannot turn our resources into products here in Australia in an economical and profitable way anymore.

Labor is continuing to burden industry with high energy costs and then falsely suggests that questioning failed taxpayer-funded bailouts is the same as opposing Australian manufacturing jobs. The two things are very different. Heavy industry is being crippled by Labor's net zero fantasy, carbon tax, red and green tape, uncompetitive company tax, and government driven compliance and regulatory burdens.

How on earth can our heavy industry compete on a global scale under this Labor government? Even with the billions of taxpayer-dollar bailouts, our heavy industry is still failing. That is extraordinary.

Just this week in my home state of South Australia, the steel blast furnace in Whyalla was not able to be restarted, even after a $2.4 billion bailout. That's taxpayer dollars, to maintain this critical piece of infrastructure in Whyalla. Whyalla produces 75 per cent of Australia's structural steel, and we will now have to rely on international supply chains.

And 500 employees and 100 labour hire workers are all out of work overnight, and another 200 embedded contractors are facing uncertainty. Experts estimate that steelmaking could be absent from Whyalla for two to four years. Taxpayers are also expected to fund another $60 million to $80 million in redundancies.

I'd like to shout out to the local member for Grey, Tom Venning, and the fierce advocacy he has done for the community of Whyalla and the steelworks.