ANDRE LESLIE, HOST: Let's go to Tim Ayres. He's the Federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. He joins me now to talk this through and has been listening through to all of that. Hello, Minister.

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: G'day. It's good to be on the show. Good afternoon to your listeners.

HOST: Do you think the nation's politically poorer with a fractured conservative voice, a weakened opposition?

AYRES: I’ve really been lost for words this week. You know, this has been a four- or five-week period that has tested the country. You know, these have been—the Bondi atrocity conducted by those two men, motivated by Islamic extremism and hatred for their fellow Australians, required political parties that aspire to being in government to step up, to act in the national interest, to put the country interest before the party interest. And what we've seen from the Liberal Party and the National Party and the sort of extremists in One Nation as well, all of these people, has been hyper-partisanship. When they should have been putting their country interest first, they put hyper-partisan interest first. They demanded that the Parliament go back. Remember the Liberals and Nationals before Christmas, [saying] bring the Parliament back, implement the Segal report on antisemitism in full. Well, we brought the government, the Albanese Government brought legislation back for the Parliament, brought the Parliament back [this] week, and these characters couldn't bring themselves to vote for it. They're just so self-absorbed. They've managed to make this week, when we should have all been pointed in the same direction, backing Australia and Australians, into a week that's been focused all upon themselves.

HOST: Don't you have some sympathy though for Sussan Ley? Because the deal she made with your government to pass the hate speech legislation was really a catalyst for this split with the Nationals.

AYRES: Well, political leadership's tough. You know, the Liberals and Nationals haven't learnt the lesson of the Morrison period. The core lesson is, you've got to put the country's interest first. And you saw us in opposition, during the Morrison period. When the COVID crisis happened to Australia, the response that the Morrison Government designed wasn't something that Anthony Albanese and Labor would have designed, but we didn't nitpick about it. There was a national crisis. We backed the government, we came to the Parliament, we provided support. There wasn't the hyper-partisanship or the nitpicking or all the sort of carrying on, the performative politics. There was just, you know, confidence that we've got to act in the national interest here, and people made an assessment about our conduct during that period.

Well, Australians are making an assessment about the hyper-partisanship, the sort of party before country position that the Liberals and Nationals have taken. I've never seen anything more dispiriting in federal politics, and I've been around for a little while now, than the behaviour of the Liberals and the Nationals who have become increasingly extreme, increasingly out of touch and totally preoccupied upon their own toxic internal psychodrama, rather than the interests of ordinary Australians who are in the centre, you know, looking for politicians to step up.

Now, we've been focused during this whole period. People might not agree with everything that we've done as a government. I'm sure that's true. I'm sure there's different views amongst your listeners, but we have been focused on the national interest. We have been focused on making sure that we're doing our level best to work with the states and territories and the security agencies and others to make sure that we make Australia as strong as it can possibly be. And this was a moment this week, particularly yesterday, the National Day of Mourning, for Australians to come together. Nationals did 24 interviews yesterday, all of them about their own internals. None of it was about bringing Australians together after this worst onshore terrorist action in Australia.

HOST: The voice you're hearing is that of Federal Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Tim Ayres. You're listening to ABC Northern Tasmania Drive, with me. If you want to weigh in on anything you hear as part of this interview, feel free to get in touch. 0467 922 917. Minister, I'd like to change topic quite considerably about this new Australian Made product campaign that the Labor Government is launching. You committed, I think, last year to a campaign for $20 million to boost Australian made products. Now you're launching something called the Made Right Here campaign. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about that?

AYRES: Yeah, I was really pleased to launch this today. I launched it in an aluminium extrusion factory in western Sydney, with blue collar workers in a sector that I know really well. In Australia, we've got one of the world's only end-to-end aluminium industries, from bauxite all the way through to finished aluminium products. We have the biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history, the Albanese Government: the Future Made in Australia program. And last year, as part of our comprehensive response to the tariffs that the United States administration announced, the Prime Minister, as part of that, announced that there would be a $20 million advertising campaign. We're putting our shoulder behind the wheel in a big way on Australian manufacturing. This is reminding Australian households and small businesses that all of us can play a role. You know, if households on average spent $10 more on Australian products, that's 10,000 more jobs, $5 billion worth of more economic activity. We've got great Australian producers, great growers, manufacturers, service providers, and this is a high-quality advertising campaign that's all about reminding Australians that as we head towards Australia Day, on Australia Day, buy Australian products. Every day of the year, buy Australian products.

HOST: It's a worthy cause, don't get me wrong. But I mean, we do have high inflation, we've got cost of living problems, all of us across the states, no matter where we are. Is it reasonable to expect that Aussie products, though, are going to be probably a bit more expensive than other options?

AYRES: Well, they're certainly not more expensive in all cases and very competitively priced. If you get into your supermarket and look at tinned tomatoes made in Australia, you've got a choice to make. And if it's a few cents more, backing Australian industry, tomato growers, workers in canning factories in Shepparton in Victoria, for example, it's a good product and you're making a difference to that community and to Australia's economic resilience. More jobs, more economic activity, that's good for all of us. If you're renovating your home, ask your builder, you know, are the door frames, are the window frames that you're using, are they made in Australia? Are any of the other finishes made in Australia? Asking the question makes all the difference. Of course, consumers are going to make a choice, but I reckon most Aussie families want to back Australian industry and this is an opportunity to remind them, a pretty high quality advertising campaign, that we can have a bit of confidence in each other and confidence and pride in the things that Australians make every day of the week.

HOST: All right, we'll leave it there. Thanks for your time, Tim Ayres.

AYRES: Thanks very much. Have a good weekend.

ENDS.