Bring Back Australian Manufacturing

Australia needs to make things again. We must protect key industries from unfair, subsidised foreign competition. We must rebuild what we can make for ourselves. That means using every tool we have to back Australian industry.

For too long, the Labor Government has let our industrial base weaken. Other countries protect their industries and back their own workers. Decades of decline have left Australia exposed. Our supply chains are fragile. Our strategic risk is growing.

Manufacturing jobs have fallen from almost 1.2 million in the 1990s to under 900,000 today.

High energy prices are crushing our ability to make things here. In just four years under Labor, electricity prices have risen up to 37%. Our industry now pays more for energy than Japan. We pay three times what Indonesia pays.

Australia’s metals makers are struggling. Steel, aluminium, zinc and copper. The proof is in the billions of taxpayer dollars now propping them up. Costs have soared under Labor’s net zero plan.

The Nationals’ plan is to make Australian manufacturing stronger and more self-reliant. Better able to stand on its own feet.

We will protect and grow industries where Australia has a natural edge. Resources and processing. Food production. Energy-heavy manufacturing. New strategic sectors. We should turn more of our raw materials into higher value products here at home.

We will back this with practical action from government. Long term finance. Stronger investment incentives. Buying rules that put Australian made first when taxpayers’ money is on the table.

We will restore the affordable energy and infrastructure our manufacturers need to grow, export and compete. We will scrap net zero. We will invest in every kind of energy. Coal, gas, oil, nuclear and renewables. Australia’s nuclear ban is out of date and out of step with the rest of the world.

We will act when foreign subsidies distort markets. Australian businesses deserve a fair go. They should not have to compete with one hand tied behind their back. If another country unfairly props up its industry, we should use our rights to protect ours. That includes countervailing tariffs. Our anti-dumping rules need reform. They must be a real safeguard, not a band aid that fails to give industry the long term security it needs to invest.

We need better government buying rules. Rules that put Australian made first and protect Australian jobs.

Labor’s net zero, globalist approach is costing Australian jobs. It is weakening our national security.

Above all, the Nationals will put Australian industry and Australian jobs first.