Watch my recent speech in Parliament on bringing local manufacturing jobs back home and making Australia more competitive and self-sufficient.
For decades we have seen Australian manufacturing move overseas and well-paid secure jobs go with it. COVID-19 has shown that we can’t keep relying on overseas supply chains. We need to bring back local manufacturing jobs back home to create more secure local jobs.
Federal Labor has a plan to create secure local jobs and build the skills and expertise we need here in Australia.
We will invest in education, training, skills, apprenticeships, research and development and technology to make Australia more competitive and more self-sufficient.
A Federal Labor Government will bring more manufacturing jobs back home with our A Future Made in Australia Plan. This includes:
- A $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to create secure jobs for Australian workers, drive regional economic development, boost our sovereign capability and diversify the nation’s economy.
- An Australian Skills Guarantee. Under the Morrison Government, there are at least 70,000 fewer people doing an apprenticeship or traineeship than there were almost a decade ago. Labor will train thousands of workers by ensuring one in ten workers on major government projects is an apprentice, trainee or cadet.
- $100 million to support 10,000 New Energy Apprenticeships. Our investment will encourage apprentices to train in the new energy jobs of the future and provide them the support they need to complete their training.
- $10 million in a New Energy Skills Program to tailor skills training to meet the needs of new energy industries. The New Energy Skills Program will work with the states, industry and unions to ensure workers have access to training pathways that are fit-for-purpose.
- A National Rail Manufacturing Plan to build more trains in Australia and ensure every dollar of federal funding spent on rail projects creates local jobs. Federal Labor will conduct a national audit of passenger train capacity and condition, develop our rail manufacturing strategy, assess how we can grow jobs and bolster research and development.
- $20 billion to modernise our energy grid, which will create thousands of new jobs, boost our economy by up to $40 billion, drive down power prices and make Australia a renewable energy superpower. This will revitalise traditional industries like steel and aluminium and allow growth in new sectors like hydrogen and battery production.
- A Defence Industry Development Strategy to ensure the $270 billion invested in the sector uses local workers and resources to create skills, expertise and jobs here in Australia. This will put Australian industry, workers and security first for all major defence material procurement and local defence contracts.
Read more about Federal Labor’s ‘A Future Made In Australia’ Plan here