I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
I am proud to lead a government that will give all Australians the opportunity to vote for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a referendum later this year.
Thank you all for inviting me to join you in celebrating this anniversary of truly national significance.
150 years ago when the Iron Trades Employers’ Association was formed in Sydney there were rolling strikes and disputes between the masters and the blacksmiths, the fitters, turners and moulders in the iron trades.
But out of these clashes came foundational agreements and fundamental principles that still shape the lives of Australians – including the eight-hour day.
So, what we commemorate tonight is not just the banding-together of employers in a common cause – it is the coming-together of employers and employees, in recognition of their common interests.
That still holds true today.
As employers, all of you make a powerful contribution to our national prosperity.
But as an organisation, you also serve our national interest.
Contributing your ideas and advocacy and perspective to the always-evolving challenge of modernising and reforming the Australian economy.
I say on behalf of all my colleagues, across Government, not only do we respect your right to an opinion on these issues, we also value your insights.
Because we know that so much of what we want to achieve for Australia in the years ahead, depends on what you do as job-creators, innovators and drivers of productivity.
And I think all of us here tonight can take a measure of pride in what we have already achieved together, in extremely challenging circumstances:
Unemployment is at a record low.
The participation rate is at a record high.
The gender pay gap is at a record low.
The number of women in full time work is at a record high.
Business investment is up.
And the number of days lost to industrial disputes is down – 20% less on average than our predecessors.
Half a million jobs have been created.
There are encouraging signs that inflation has passed its peak.
And wages are growing at their fastest rate in a decade.
You have been part of all this, you have helped drive and deliver it.
And to me, a really important point is that these have been win-win outcomes.
For business, for workers, for the economy, for our country.
Because greater equality for women hasn’t led to worse results for men.
Improvements in bargaining have seen fewer days lost to disputes, not more.
Wages growth hasn’t come at the expense of job creation.
Nor have improvements in the skilled migration system undermined Australian jobs.
This is what I’ve always appreciated about working with the Australian Industry Group, your willingness to look for solutions – not arguments.
This was my approach from my first day as Labor Leader, it’s the principle I’ve held to as Prime Minister.
Looking for that common ground.
Because you always get more done, when you bring people together.
Because building consensus is always the best way of building to last.
And because the things that really count: growing the economy, creating jobs, lifting living standards, securing our national prosperity and planning for the future, are never zero-sum exercises.
They are about creating and seizing opportunities for win-win outcomes.
Take skills and training.
As you know, we’re delivering 180,000 fee-free TAFE places, this year.
And we’re delivering 300,000 fee-free places, from next year.
That has the potential to be life-changing for all those individuals.
But we understand it’s also a powerful resource for thousands of businesses, a much-needed investment in a skilled and productive workforce.
I’m grateful for the constructive support you have given to our policies in TAFE and training.
And all of us in the Government very much appreciate the input you’ve provided to the establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia.
Jobs and Skills Australia will help deliver on a longstanding ambition of this group building a stronger connection between Australia’s vocational education system and the future needs of employers, as well as the future demands of our economy.
The reforms we are undertaking in our migration system are in that same spirit.
Making sure that instead of a situation where a business recruits a worker on a temporary visa, invests in their workplace training, builds up their corporate knowledge and then the visa expires and the process starts again – we have a migration system that serves as a genuine pathway to citizenship.
An incentive for the individual to make Australia their home – and a system that rewards businesses who invest in their staff and their skills.
Making child care cheaper works the same way.
For too long, the cost of child care has been a barrier to parents, women in particular, returning to work.
That derails individual careers.
But it also denies businesses the benefit of talented and experienced staff.
That’s why cheaper child care isn’t just cost-of-living relief, it’s economic reform.
Or as Innes put it at the Press Club recently:
“Workable child care is an essential part of a workable workforce participation system”
We are working with you to invest in people and skills – and working with you to invest in new and growing industries.
That’s where the National Reconstruction Fund is so important.
A $15 billion investment in Australia’s self-reliance, in our capacity to make things here.
In greater resilience across our supply chains – a vulnerability exposed by the pandemic.
And a new, strategic approach to seizing the opportunities in advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, critical minerals, defence capability, transport, agriculture, fisheries and forestry and medical science.
I’m very pleased that last week we were able to announce the appointment of the NRF’s independent board, who will bring their commercial rigour and industry experience to the investment process.
This will deliver better value for taxpayers, a better return on investment for the country and greater opportunities for businesses like yours to expand and diversify.
Tonight, in paying tribute to the leadership you have provided for Australian jobs and industry here at home, I also want to acknowledge that your work continues on the world stage.
Representing your businesses – and representing your country.
Strengthening our Government’s efforts to make Australian firms the providers of choice to some of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
It’s a great source of pride to me whenever I visit another nation, to know Australia has played such a vital role in the economic transformation we see in the Indo-Pacific.
Australian businesses have helped build the new prosperity and progress being enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people.
Now, we have an unprecedented opportunity to drive the next wave of change.
On a scale and significance that could not have been imagined 50 years ago, let alone 150.
We can supply the resources and renewable energy and technology that will help rapidly-growing economies like India and Indonesia deliver on their commitments to Net Zero.
And we can also provide the expertise and research and innovation that will make this possible.
One in four Australian jobs depend on trade - and that’s only going to increase in the years ahead.
Particularly, if we pursue the most diverse and ambitious set of trade partnerships possible.
Diversity and ambition in who we trade with.
And diversity and ambition in what we trade.
Moving our nation and our industries and our workers up the international value chain.
Making more things here – and selling more things, everywhere.
And I can assure you it genuinely makes a difference to all these negotiations and discussions when you have representatives from Australian business, there on the ground, saying we are ready to invest, we are here to get this deal done.
Because while the process can feel painstaking, there are other times when it moves very fast indeed.
Two weeks ago, China announced it was removing the tariffs on Australian barley.
And last week, Australia was restored to China’s list of approved outgoing group travel destinations.
This is will mean tens of thousands of new holidaymakers visiting Australia, putting millions of dollars into our economy.
These are the result of the deliberate, consistent and principled approach we have taken to stabilising the relationship.
Looking to co-operate where we can, being prepared to disagree where we must – and always engaging in our national interest.
Within a week of the impediments on barley being lifted, two of our biggest exporters, CBH Grain and Emerald Grain Australia, were given the green light to resume their shipments to China immediately.
The value of these exports is around $900 million a year.
That’s a huge win for Australian farmers and Australian jobs.
It’s also a big win for China.
Because – once again – they will be getting access to the best barley in the world.
And all those points hold true for Australian wine, Australian lobster and some of our beef exporters as well, where there are still trade impediments in place.
We want to see these removed, in the best interests of everyone.
And I’ll certainly be taking the opportunity to make that point, when I next have the chance to meet with President Xi.
The final observation I would make tonight is about our national productivity and competitiveness.
Something I know Innes has made a focus of his contributions to the public debate for a very long time.
And something this organisation has championed even longer.
Indeed, as far back as 1904, the Annual Report of the Iron Trades Employers’ Association said:
“Europe and America [are] the greatest competitors against local manufacturers, and when it was considered how machinery was taking the place of workmen in both these places, especially in America the conditions of employment were so different out here that it did not permit local firms competing in any way.”
The name of your organisation has changed.
The economic competitors have changed.
The world in which we trade has changed, beyond imagining.
But the essential challenge remains.
How can Australian manufacturing and Australian industry and Australian workers find ways to compete and succeed.
The answer is not a matter of cutting pay and conditions. Or replacing workers with technology. It never has been.
The answer is boosting productivity by finding new ways for our people and businesses to get the most out of technology.
Ensuring Australian workers and employers have the skills and confidence to use technology, adapt it and embed it in the way we work and learn and care.
Investing in education and science and research, so we have the capacity to design and develop and manufacture new products, here in Australia.
Developing our cyber security capability, so businesses can protect their intellectual property and commercial data and customer privacy.
Securing the renewable energy to power manufacturing and reduce input costs.
And building the infrastructure to support this growth, around the nation.
In all this, our Government wants to continue working with you.
Through 150 years, you’ve shown what you can deliver for your members and our country.
In the years ahead, I look forward to what we can achieve, working together.
Congratulations on this historic anniversary.
Here’s to many more years of building a stronger, more prosperous and more productive Australia.