An Albanese Labor Government will ensure federal funding spent on rail projects boosts local jobs and industry by creating a National Rail Manufacturing Plan.
By manufacturing trains here Labor’s plan would create up to 659 full-time jobs, create a rolling stock export industry and boost Australia’s GDP by up to $5 billion.
An Albanese Labor Government would also:
- Establish an Office of National Rail Industry Coordination (ONRIC) within the Department of Industry, to undertake a national audit of the adequacy, capacity and condition of passenger trains and develop train priority plans;
- Reinstate the important role of the Rail Supplier Advocate cut by the Liberals in 2013, to help small and medium-sized enterprises identify export opportunities and to get a foot in the door with government purchasing bodies; and,
- Establish a Rail Industry Innovation Council, to prevent the loss of more jobs and address the need for more local research & development, skills and capabilities.
Currently, Australia’s state-based rail manufacturing sector is fragmented, inefficient and disconnected, leading to a ‘boom and bust’ cycle within the industry that hurts workers and businesses.
The next two decades will see significant investment in rail infrastructure across Australian passenger, freight and light rail networks with major projects such as:
- Inland Rail
- Cross River Rail (Brisbane)
- Melbourne Metro Rail
- Sydney Metro
- Melbourne Airport Rail Link
- Metronet (WA)
Despite this significant pipeline of work, the Prime Minister’s manufacturing announcement this month failed to recognise the importance of rail manufacturing.
Labor’s National Rail Manufacturing Plan will ensure the full benefit of this public spending goes towards creating Australian jobs – from laying the rails to manufacturing the trains.
Labor supports Australian industry.
This Government has a terrible track record when it comes to manufacturing.
They goaded Australian car manufacturers to leave our shores, they’ve delivered a failed energy policy increasing the costs of manufacturing and they’ve presided over the depletion of critical skills, the destruction of the viability of smaller manufacturers further down the supply chain, and the withdrawal of private capital from research and development.
Australia can be a country that makes things, and Australian workers build some of the best trains in the world.
THURSDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2020