The incumbent centre-right Coalition government will work with business, industry, and the higher education sector to spur the creation of an advanced manufacturing sector in Australia.
The prime minister said that a high-valued manufacturing sector would boost the economy.
“This is what drives wages to increase, advanced manufacturing applied to technology with some of the smartest minds, our scientific institutions, all working together.
“It’s investing in the people; it’s investing in their ideas, it’s investing in their collaboration and their partnerships, because that’s what turns things around. That’s what creates the opportunity,” he said.
To kickstart the process, the federal government announced a $69 million (US$47.5 million) investment to create a new Sovereign Manufacturing Automation program for the Composites Cooperative Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.
Stuart Robert, the minister for workforce and small business, said that each of the Trailblazer projects examined modern manufacturing opportunities to ensure that the “commercialisation is aligned and is solid and distinct and connects that research through to industry.”
“Now, in Australia, we have the people, we have the skills, and we have the resources to make batteries right here. We have resources like lithium, vanadium, copper, and nickel, but what we do is we send those resources offshore, we see the value-added somewhere else, and then we import it back once the value has been added. It makes far more sense to use those resources and make things here.”
The initiative is part of the ALP’s plan to invest $15 billion in capital for investment in “job-creating projects through loans, equity and guarantees in resources, agriculture, transport, medical science, defence capability, enabling capabilities and renewables and low emissions technologies.”