Dr Jesse Adams Stein, Senior Lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow at the School of Design
Most politicians vocally support Australian-made products. Manufacturing certainly provides excellent opportunities for candidates in high-vis to make election campaign announcements.
Labor has promised to make Australia “a country that makes things again”. It has emphasised locally-made transport, NBN infrastructure, apprenticeships and defence-related production.
The Coalition has spruiked the federal government’s modern manufacturing strategy. It highlights technology investment and six priority areas (minerals, food, medical, clean energy, defence and space).
But despite the seemingly endless announcements, Australian manufacturing remains a problem for the major parties. Whoever wins the federal election will need to do things very differently if they genuinely want to boost local production.
- Read the full story in The Conversation: Politicians in high-vis say they love manufacturing. But if we want more Australian-made jobs, here’s what we need