Today the Albanese Government is slapping itself on the back for filling another government board while Australian manufacturers are going to the wall.
The Prime Minister, Treasurer and Industry Minister were quick to congratulate each other for the herculean task of taking over a year to select a board for their National Reconstruction Fund and yet failed to say when a single dollar will flow to Australian manufacturers. Talk about a tin ear.
Under Labor’s watch, energy costs are up almost 30 per cent, with many manufacturers seeing a doubling in their bills or worse. Business mortgages have skyrocketed again and again.
CreditorWatch’s June 2023 Business Risk Index also found business to business trade payment defaults have surged to a record high, indicating that businesses are experiencing increasing stress, and rates of insolvencies will rise in the months ahead.
We do not know when new support will flow from the Fund, but we do know critical projects have been axed by Labor.
Just this week we learned that the Albanese Government axed eight shovel ready manufacturing grants worth $442 million which will mean a $1.5 billion hit to the economy.
This latest act of economic vandalism from Ed Husic follows the decision to cut more than $1.2 billion from Australia’s space industry by cancelling the National Space Mission for Earth Observation program in its entirety in recent months.
Ed Husic claims to be someone who wants to ‘build things in Australia’, yet with every decision he makes, Australia’s industrial base diminishes.
Labor talks a big game about their flawed National Reconstruction Fund, but it is yet to invest a single dollar, or deliver a single job, in manufacturing.
The Coalition is watching closely, and we will hold the Industry Minister and every member of this Board accountable. They must deliver a return and not waste taxpayers’ money for their pet projects.