Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (12:14): Minister, what is being done to address the concerns of electricians that this bill will undermine the work health and safety of electrical workers?

Last week I travelled to Gamilaraay land to hear from community members in Coonabarabran and Gunnedah living on the front line of coal seam gas expansion in the central west of New South Wales. These communities have been fighting against dirty coal seam gas drilling for years now. It was a privilege to reconnect with locals and activists who have had their lives upturned by coal seam gas.

I rise on behalf of the Greens to speak to the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia's Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020. I can tell you that, unlike the title of it, there is absolutely nothing fair about this bill. This bill seeks to suppress wages and erode working conditions for all workers, especially those who are the lowest paid, through a suite of measures designed to further shift the balance of power from workers to business.

The Greens say the suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine roll-out in South Africa shows the need for the government to establish a publicly-owned mRNA vaccine manufacturer in Australia.

Australia needs to be nimble and able to quickly adapt vaccines to ever-mutating strains of COVID, which would only be possible with a local, publicly owned facility that puts health, not profits, first.

Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP said:

The Nationals claim to have a plan for manufacturing, but all this is is a plan for locking in a climate catastrophe and destroying the future of regional communities, for the corporate profits of your mates. What we need is industry powered by renewable energy, not oil and gas, where we make, re-use and remake durable, ecologically sustainable goods.

The Greens say that decades of decline in Australian manufacturing puts the nation at risk of having fewer options when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, and have called for a publicly-owned vaccine manufacturer.

Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are based on new technology (mRNA), and while CSL has capacity to manufacture the protein based vaccines it doesn’t at this time have the ability to produce mRNA.

The Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has called on the leaders of the Liberal, Labor and National parties to stop peddling fantasies and come clean with coal communities about the rapid decline of demand towards 2030.
 
Australia’s three biggest top thermal coal and gas customers have announced zero emissions targets, which would mean a rapid de-carbonization of the electricity sector in the next two decades, with targets likely to be similar to Joe Biden’s 2035 zero-carbon electricity pledge.

In respect of the ministerial statement on industry and manufacturing, I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the Morrison Manufacturing ‘plan’ is being used as a cover for a raft of failed neoliberal ideas, from union bashing to corporate welfare to weakening environmental protections.

Greens Education spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi pointed out a massive contradiction in spending on manufacturing while cutting TAFE, higher education funding and research and development - critical to any country’s efforts to innovate in manufacturing. 

Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt has seized on reports today that show demand for Australian goods will increasingly be put to an emissions test as Scott Morrison floats a detail-free manufacturing plan.

“Whether it’s exporting our sunlight in green hydrogen form, or zero-emissions metals, Australia is in a box seat for a burgeoning mega-industry,” Bandt said.

“Renowned greenie-leftists, Goldman Sachs, are predicting green hydrogen will become a $12 trillion dollar industry by 2050.”