Topics: Made in Australia Act, Recognition of a Palestinian state

E&OE

DAVID LIPSON:

Angus Taylor is the Shadow Treasurer, he joined me earlier. Angus Taylor, thanks for being with us. This is ultimately a plan to bring manufacturing back to Australia. Will the Coalition come up with an alternative plan to do that? Or are you conceptually against this at its heart?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well David, we all want to see more manufacturing in Australia. That was a big focus for me when we were in government, it's been a big focus of my career before coming into government to strengthen Australian manufacturing. And that will be a strong focus for us in the lead up to the election, and it is now. But you get the by focusing on the fundamentals - affordable, reliable energy, getting approvals done in a timely way, making sure that we've got a competitive industrial relations system where union officials are unable to unnecessarily in an untoward way, call the shots. That's how you do it, it's on the fundamentals. Now, the fear we have with this MIA Bill is that it will indeed, be inflationary. It won't solve the manufacturing challenges we've got, it's a band aid on a bullet wound. And we're already seeing that an equivalent set of interventions that have been made in the United States, in the last 24 hours that sort of stimulus is driving up inflation, the US is now seeing inflation rising, prices rising sharply...

DAVID LIPSON:

Just on that inflation point. I mean, this Future Made in Australia plan isn't a dump of money in the economy now. It's tax incentives and subsidies sometime in the future when the economy, we're told, will need stimulus. So is inflation really that much of a concern?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well that tells me that the government thinks that the inflation problem has been solved. I think we're far from that. But right now...

DAVID LIPSON:

This isn't a plan for now, that's what I mean.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well when is it for?

DAVID LIPSON:

Well it's the Future Made in Australia, it's for the future, I guess.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well when is the future, David? I mean, the whole point about this is it's very long on spin, I read the Prime Minister's speech, it's very long on spin, and very short on detail. You can't name the time when the stimulus is going to hit...

DAVID LIPSON:

We'll know more at the budget.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

What I do know is he's using the analogy of the US Bill, the US Bill is stimulating their economy right now. And it's driving inflation, and it's driving it in a way which wasn't expected. Right now, the number one issue Australians are facing is a cost of living crisis. This in no way is a solution to the cost of living crisis. Indeed, it will exacerbate it. And if we want strong manufacturing in this country, and we do, we need to get back to the fundamentals of affordable, reliable energy, flexible industrial relations that delivers higher real wages and competitive workplaces at the same time as approvals and deregulation that encourages businesses to invest, to take risks, to employ, to drive competitiveness and productivity. They're the fundamentals that have worked historically. And they're the fundamentals that will work in the future.

DAVID LIPSON:

Would you support a tightening of rules around sovereignty for critical minerals to ensure that we retain control of these important supply chains?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah, that's an important issue. And it's one that has to be obviously done with our partners around the world. And that's a very general proposition so you have to look at the specifics of individual proposals. I mean, making sure that we've got supply chains that we can trust in critical areas, particularly for areas like defence, obviously, that's important. It's always been important, David. But this is about much more than that. The risk with what Albanese is talking about here is that it ends up as a big pot of money to pay back his union paymasters. And the concern here is that it's hard earned taxpayers' money used in an inappropriate way, and in a way which risks driving inflation higher for longer, which is exactly what we're seeing in the United States.

DAVID LIPSON:

Just on another matter. Do you think it was reasonable for Peter Dutton to compare the Port Arthur massacre to the Opera House protest after October 7 to make a point about the need for governments to seize important moments?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, it's very important that people who comment on this speech read this speech. It was a clarion call that we've got to stand up against the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the country, which is something that Prime Minister has failed to do.

DAVID LIPSON:

But did he go too far with that comparison?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Let me let me get to that. Peter Dutton was pointing out the fact that John Howard showed the moral leadership that was needed in the wake of Port Arthur, but Anthony Albanese has been weak. He has wavered in our support for the Jewish community here in the wake of the 7th October, the greatest slaughter of Jews since the Second World War. A truly tragic and terrible event and especially in the wake of terrible protests outside the Sydney Opera House on the 9th October. So the call here is for moral leadership and I don't think we have seen that from Anthony Albanese.

DAVID LIPSON:

Angus Taylor thank you.

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Good on you, thanks David.

ENDS.