By the time the government jet lands at Portland airport in Victoria’s south-west, Ed Husic has been talking almost non-stop for about an hour and a half. The topic? Labor’s plans for the most interventionist industry policy of an Australian government in generations.

The 54-year-old Labor MP from Sydney’s western suburbs talks at a rapid clip and with the zeal of a true believer. Where once the industry portfolio was seen as a holding ground before moving on to something better (or the domain of Labor’s industrial left), today it sits at the heart of economic policymaking with the government’s signature Future Made in Australia strategy to boost local manufacturing.