The ACTU welcomes the Senate’s passage of the Future Made in Australia legislation as an important step in creating tens of thousands of well-paid jobs and reducing cost-of-living pressures for working people.
The Federal Government’s Future Made in Australia Act will lock in decades of jobs and domestic manufacturing while supercharging Australia’s transition to clean energy.
The Act is set to invest in building new and emerging clean energy industries including green hydrogen, value-added critical minerals, and green metals.
The investments underpin the Albanese Government’s objective of transforming Australia into a clean energy superpower following a decade under the Coalition Government of unstable energy policy, government inaction and the loss of investment to other countries including the United States and China.
Future Made in Australia is the result of years of campaigning by the union movement to reverse the trend of Australia losing 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 2003.
The focus on building sovereign capacity and strengthening local industries will help drive downward pressure on inflation by reducing Australia’s dependence on multinational corporations and global supply chains.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and the Coalition have vowed to eliminate Future Made in Australia if they win the next election.
Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil:
“Future Made in Australia is important for working people, jobs, energy and our climate and the biggest winners are people in our outer suburbs and regions.
“The Future Made in Australia Act will mean that we start making things again in Australia – things other countries need for their own clean energy transitions.
“Investment in the clean energy industry is an investment in the lives of workers and future generations. As the pandemic reminded us, the more we make things here in Australia, the less we are at the mercy of multinational companies setting our prices and controlling our supply chains.
“From creating tens of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs to slashing household power bills with more clean energy, this legislation puts working people front and centre in our battle against climate change.
“Unions, business and civil society all support this plan. The only opponent is Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who would rather push up household energy bills with his expensive nuclear fantasy, instead of investing in clean energy and the energy and manufacturing jobs that are needed for working people.”
