Topics: Made in Australia Act, Competition policy

E&OE

CLINTON MAYNARD:

The big issue of the day no doubt is the Prime Minister's announcement that he is going to push for a return to Australian manufacturing. Well, in a few selected industries. The Future Made in Australia Act, he's announced the details in Brisbane, likely to be a big election issue. The Shadow Treasurer is Angus Taylor and joins me. G'day Angus.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

G'day Clinton, good to be with you.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Has he caught you in a bind here? Because this is gonna be popular, isn't it a return to manufacturing?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well I tell you what would be popular a cure to the cost of living crisis that Australians are facing. I think the first question I'd ask about what's being proposed here is, is this going to help that crisis that Australians are facing? A collapse in their standard of living, an increase in prices, 12 interest rate increases, big increases in personal income taxes being paid. And there's no indication here that that's going to help at all. Of course, we want to see more manufacturing in Australia. But the pathway to achieve that is to get energy prices sustainably down, get rid of red tape, make sure our industrial relations system is working the right way, ensure that we've got the housing we need in this country in line and making sure our immigration rates are fit for purpose relative to that housing supply, all of those things is the key to making sure we've got a strong economy, a strong manufacturing sector, that's what he should be focused on. But he's missing in action when it comes to the real issues. And I think it's no accident this is the MIA Bill, the Missing in Action Bill, because that's what we've seen from this Prime Minister, when it comes to the real issues Australians are facing.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Can we afford it? Because part of this will be based on subsidies. And that is what is happening now in the other parts of the world. It's what we did in the 1950s, mind you. Can we afford it as an economy to subsidise, for instance, the battery manufacturing industry?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well there's big dollars here that he's contemplating clearly, of government money, taxpayer money, hard earned taxpayer money that he wants to spend on these things, picking winners. He thinks he knows how to do that. This guy has never shown much interest in economics, to be honest with you, but this is what he thinks he can do. And we can't. No. But it's worse than that, Clinton. When you've got a cost of living crisis, an inflation crisis, and governments spend up big, it makes the situation worse. We learned that in the 70s and 80s. But we're seeing that right now, in the United States, where an equivalent bill, the so called IRA Bill was put through by the government there, and just overnight, we've seen that inflation there is surging again. It's clear that the big spending government is driving up inflation. That is exactly what happens. We know from history, and that is exactly what will happen here. This is the wrong answer for a time like this, when we need a government that is managing its money very carefully, because it is hard earned taxpayers' money at the end of the day.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

But isn't it what people want? Because I'm going to tell you, you listen to the station, every time I talk about local manufacturing, the death of, for instance, the car manufacturing industry, Australians and our listeners are upset about that. They want more opportunities to buy local manufactured goods. So isn't this actually what we want?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Sure. And, you know, I've worked in manufacturing, I worked down, the first job out of university down at Port Kembla, at the steel mill, worked in aluminium smelters. Look, I'm a great believer in the importance of Australian manufacturing. But what I learned through the course of that career is you don't make for a successful manufacturing sector with big government subsidies, you have to make sure the fundamentals are right. First and foremost, you have to make sure your energy prices are right. You've got to get energy prices down. That means not a renewables only strategy, which is what this government is pursuing 28,000 kilometers of transmission lines. That's not how you do it.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Is it, when you're talking about getting the fundamentals right, though, with the fact that we have a small population, is the reality, and it's not saying I like this, but is the reality that for instance, with manufacturing of batteries for cars, or whatever, is it impossible for us to be competitive against China when they have a billion people willing to work for nothing.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

We have many sectors in this country that are very competitive. And our agriculture has been competitive for a long time and will continue to be. Our mining sector is very competitive.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Within manufacturing, is there...

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Look, I've worked in the steel industry, as I said, and we're very competitive down at Port Kembla. It's been an unbelievably successful business and it competes with steel businesses from all around the world. So we can do it. We can do it. But the way you do it is back to basics. It's the common sense stuff. It's getting energy costs down. It's making sure you've got sensible industrial relations where employers and employees can work together to make the workplace more competitive, more productive. It's making sure that we don't have unnecessary red tape, that you can get the approvals you need quickly and that's not adding cost to the business. Where you can construct things and build things at a competitive rate. I mean, it's becoming impossible to build anything in this country now. We've just seen what the Labor government in Queensland is doing, which is driving up the cost of construction by 20%. This is what Labor governments do. Make sure we're competitive, then manufacturing will prosper, it will succeed, it will flourish. And that's what we want to see, as your listeners do too, I'm sure.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Absolutely. Well, this will be an election issue. Just lastly, Angus. Yesterday, the Treasurer Jim Chalmers made announcements about giving the ACCC more power. And they've been in the news this week, because we've got the grocery inquiry going on and issues with competition, right throughout the economy. He had a bit of a go of you. He said you know nothing about economics. How do you respond to that?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, the facts are what I think are what's important here. Unlike the Treasurer, I do have a background in economics. My undergraduate and postgraduate degree was in economics. Indeed, it was in competition policy. My thesis was on competition policy and the price of beer, which I think is a very important issue. It will be important to many of your listeners.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

So you were researching what Australians really care about - beer.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I was. In fact, as a student, that was what students really cared about, too. It was the only thesis topic that any of us were doing at the time that anyone else seemed to be interested in.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Can we get the breweries back under Australian ownership? Aren't they all owned by the Japanese these days?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well that's true in Australia. I was doing my postgraduate in the UK at Oxford. But look, you know, the Treasurer makes these sorts of comments. This guy, you know what his postgraduate thesis was?

CLINTON MAYNARD:

He is a Doctor, yes.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

It was a love letter to Paul Keating. It was on Paul Keating. It wasn't on economics and to make a comment like that, seriously. Focus on the job. The job here is to get Australians' cost of living down, to restore our standard of living, to make sure we've got a strong manufacturing sector. That's what we want to see.

CLINTON MAYNARD:

Sounds like there's a good brawl coming up in parliament when it sits again. Thank you Angus.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good on you Clinton.

ENDS.