SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MISTER FOR TRADE AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA: Very happy to have this opportunity to be here at BlueScope Steel, talking directly to workers and families in the Illawarra about the impact of the tariffs announced by the Trump Administration. The Government knows it is a very unwelcome development, not a surprising development, but a 10% tariff has been applied to Australian goods entering the United States.
 
Having said that, there is no country that has achieved a better outcome than Australia. Australia is in on the lowest point of tariff levels on products in the United States and that was not a foregone conclusion. There has been a full court press from the Prime Minister, the Trade Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister, the Treasurer and DFAT officials and the Washington Embassy engaging carefully in Australia's interest on these questions.
 
Overall, the impact of this decision will be largely felt by Americans in the United States who will be playing higher prices for goods. In terms of Australia's exports, less than 5% of Australian exports go to the United States.
 
I want to just clear up two very important pieces of information.
 
Firstly, in relation to BlueScope Steel, the 10% tariff is not an add on to the tariff announcements that have already been made by the Trump Administration. The Albanese Government will continue to work in a careful and effective way, advocating for Australia's interest on those questions.
 
Secondly, some claims were made today by Peter Dutton in what was a very strange press conference about Australian beef. There is no product category that has been banned going into the United States. We've sought confirmation that that this is not the case directly with officials and there is no announcement and scaremongering by Peter Dutton on Australian beef is characteristic of the approach that he has taken.
 
It was a very confusing press conference that showed an opposition leader who is ill prepared, undisciplined, and naive and is not focused on what he should be focused on and that is being on Team Australia and backing Team Australia. In that press conference, a senior Australian journalist described Peter Dutton's position as kowtowing to the United States. That's not what Australians want to see. They want to see Australian leaders standing up in Australia's interest in a careful and effective way and the Albanese Government has done that, whether it's on trade barriers with China or it's trade tariffs in this case with the United States.
 
We have sought to diversify our trading markets and our trading relationships. We have put substantial resources behind that and it has had a very significant impact. That is all about diversifying Australia's exports but also diversifying the products and services that we sell the world. This is a very significant intervention by the Albanese Government that builds upon Future Made in Australia, that builds upon the intervention last month into Whyalla steel.
 
And that is why the Australian Government, the Albanese Government, has put the interests of Australian manufacturing and Australian industry first.
 
$1 billion in additional funding into the National Reconstruction Fund for zero interest loans for Australian manufacturers looking for new export markets. A new local content announcement that means that the Australian Government, on Australian Government-funded projects, including in the renewable energy sector and infrastructure projects more broadly, will be putting Australian steelmakers first in the queue. Broader announcements that go to toughening up and further strengthening Australia's anti-dumping regime.
 
So, we're on top of the second round developments and are making sure that Australian steelmakers aren't pushed out of the way by cheap, subsidised imports from overseas. This is a government that's squarely acting in Australia's national interest with the biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history.
 
I just want to speak to one final issue. There were some very strange comments made by Mr Dutton today in his press conference. He was very unclear about whether he was going to back the Albanese Government's tough approach or putting Australia first in terms of manufacturing, but what we can rely upon is the record. The Liberals’ record on manufacturing has seen Australian manufacturing, including the car industry, go offshore. But more specifically on the South Coast, Liberal candidates on the South Coast have got a very poor record when it comes to local manufacturing. Andrew Constance in particular has a very poor record when it comes to local manufacturing. It's true that if you vote for Andrew Constance in Gilmore, it's a vote for cuts to Medicare, it's a vote for cuts to public services and it's a vote for rises in taxes because it's a vote for Peter Dutton. But a vote for Andrew Constance in Gilmore is also, sadly, a vote for Peter Dutton and his record. When we're all about rebuilding manufacturing in Australia, he is about sending billions of dollars worth of train contracts overseas, thousands of workers in regional Australia lost their jobs and now this bloke is running for the only job that interests him, his own, running for the ninth time in politics. It's about time this bloke actually apologised to regional Australians for all the job losses that he has caused himself. I’ll leave it there.
 
ALISON BYRNES, MEMBER FOR CUNNINGHAM: Today's tariff announcement by Donald Trump is unfortunate, but it is not surprising. What the Albanese Labor government is not going to do is engage in a trade war that will put our local jobs and our local industry at risk. What we will do is back in Australian jobs, back Australian industry, back Australian steel and back a Future Made in Australia.
 
CAROL BERRY, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR WHITLAM: The application of tariffs on the part of Donald Trump this morning was a disappointing outcome. However, it's going to have the greatest negative impact on American consumers also the global market more generally, so we'll need to watch what impact this announcement has. Fundamentally, what will be doing is investing $50 million in protecting Australian industry. So, it's now time for the Australian Government and the Australian people to really lean in and back in those industries, which are so crucial to Australia's future, which is precisely what the Government's doing. Thank you.

ENDS.