Federal election outcome could shape the future of manufacturing

Australia Broadcast Center

30-04-2025

The global upheaval in trade and supply chains has put Australia's manufacturing industry in sharp focus in the lead-up to the federal election.
Both major parties have been talking up their plans to boost local manufacturing and to make the nation more resilient to global shocks.
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In the industrial belt of south-west Sydney, Nick MacDonald has been overseeing the expansion of an air conditioning factory that will nearly double its footprint in coming months.
Nick MacDonald says local industry can thrive if it plays to its strengths.
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ABC News: Gavin Coote
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The facility — owned and run by Japanese multinational Daikin — is a hive of activity, operating around the clock to meet growing demand for products in the nation's building industry.
"The market is really interested in having Australian-made products that they can install in homes and commercial applications across Australia and we're looking to tap into that as much as we can," Mr MacDonald said.
"One of the things the
Realities of manufacturing
While manufacturing still employs about 900,000 people in Australia, it has been in steady decline for decades.
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Mr MacDonald, the company's general manager of manufacturing in Australia, has seen this trend firsthand, having previously worked in the car manufacturing industry where he oversaw the offshoring of jobs to China.
"I've seen what happens when large-scale industries leave Australia," he said.
"It's made me very attuned to the commercial realities of manufacturing.
"There's an expression, 'Don't get into a ring with a boxer', so let's not try and do what other places do far better than us.
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Let's try and do what our local market really needs and try and do that really well.
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Energy a key political battleground
Both sides of politics are offering competing visions of how Australian manufacturing can become more resilient and self-sufficient.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Whyalla steelworks.
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ABC News
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Labor is pledging to continue funnelling more money into its
The Coalition has instead
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said while some local manufacturing businesses had grown since the pandemic, a lack of policy certainty was stifling the sector.
Innes Willox says a lack of policy clarity has been a handbrake on manufacturing.
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Supplied
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"For the past few years it's felt like there's been a handbrake on industry and a lack of policy clarity and certainty around what governments, federal and state, want from industry," Mr Willox said.
It is this lack of policy certainty that has long frustrated manufacturers like Terry Tisdale.
His steel fabrication business in western Sydney employed more than 100 people in the 1990s, but now only has seven people on the payroll.
There are about 900,000 manufacturing jobs in Australia.
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ABC News: Andrew O'Connor
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"There are some successful companies in Australia but there are a lot of companies, tool rooms, engineering people that I've seen lose their houses, lose their business, all because of no government protection," Mr Tisdale said.
"We can't operate at the same level as the imports coming into the country."
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In the face of soaring energy bills, Mr Tisdale said he supported the Coalition's gas reservation scheme.
He said it was "madness" that it was not already adopted in Australia.
"In a country that can't have a bipartisan agreement on how we power everything, we've got some serious problems out there, don't you think?" he said.
Playing to Australia's strengths
Others feel manufacturing has not received enough attention in the lead-up to the election, in part because of how complex the challenges are.
Christopher Janssen is the founder and managing director of GPC Electronics, an electronics manufacturer that employs about 180 people in Sydney's outer west.
Some in industry say Australia has a unique advantage to invest in new forms of manufacturing.
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Supplied: GPC Electronics
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He said Australia needed to be realistic about its ability to compete with other countries.
"Election campaigns are about giving easy answers quickly, not about describing complexity. I don't think there are any easy answers,"
he said.
"Australia's not a big country in terms of inherent demand in Australia alone, so if people want to make things, where's the best place to do it?
"Certainly in North America they've encouraged them to do it even before President [Donald] Trump taking over in the US.
"Really it comes down to how well you can adapt to things, how you can help customers stabilise products."
GPC Electronics is an electronics manufacturer that employs about 180 people in Sydney's outer west.
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Supplied: GPC Electronics
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The Australian Industry Group has identified healthcare technology, medicines, minerals, agriculture and defence as some of the areas where local manufacturing is showing signs of potential.
Upskilling the next generation
Despite all the talk of Australian manufacturing being in decline, some younger workers in the industry are upbeat about its future.
After being encouraged to go to university, Thanh Minh Nguyen instead applied for a job at the Daikin factory in Sydney, and has been making his way up the ranks over the past seven years.
Thanh Minh Nguyen has worked in manufacturing for seven years and feels optimistic about its future.
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ABC News: Gavin Coote
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The 27-year-old is now a senior supervisor in the factory, responsible for about 140 employees.
"Pretty much every day is different to me. The thing is I'm still learning and learning," he said.
"
When you're open to learning and you open your door, many opportunities come and you get to see a lot of things that you didn't know that you're interested in.
"
His colleague Alex Margetson works with the research and development team and is currently looking at new air conditioning products that are suited to the Australian environment.
Despite a growing number of robots and automation systems making their way into the factory process, he said there would always be jobs for people who wanted to solve complex problems.
"In the world that we live in today, people always want to make things automated or AI but at the end of the day the human impact is what is actually making things," he said.
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