Labor slow to deliver on Buy Australia plan

Labor has failed to deliver on key pillars of its signature Buy Australia plan, says the Coalition, as the nation braces for US-imposed tariffs on our products.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a visit to the Rio Tinto Boyne Smelters in Gladstone, Queensland on March 18. Picture: NewsWire / Paul Beutel

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Labor has failed to deliver on key pillars of its signature Buy Australia plan, the Coalition says, including the passage of a stand-alone act proposed more than three years ago that would entrench supporting local businesses, as the nation braces for US-imposed tariffs on Australian products.

Despite Anthony Albanese urging people to “buy Australian” in response to US President Don­ald Trump this month refusing to grant Canberra an exemption to his 25 per cent steel and aluminium tariffs, The Australian can reveal several elements of Labor’s 10-point Buy Australia plan are yet to be fully implemented.

Unveiled in late 2021, before Labor came to power, the centrepiece of the Buy Australia plan was the passage of an act that would ensure local businesses were prioritised by the government.

“We will make changes in the heart of government decision-making to solidify our commitment to buying Australian,” Mr Albanese said at the time.

“We’ll legislate to entrench supporting local businesses by creating a Buy Australian Act.”

A “secure Australian jobs code” – to be established under the Buy Australian Plan to prioritise secure work in government contracts – and a dedicated cabinet subcommittee on procurement are also yet to fully come to fruition.

A spokesman for the Finance Minister said Labor “had delivered, or made progress on, every single one of these ten principles”.

The 10 principles cited by the government do not include the Act itself.

“The Buy Australian Plan is a whole-of-government effort, and the Finance Minister – who sits on every cabinet subcommittee – constantly engages with her colleagues to ensure taxpayer money is used to progress our national interests,” the Finance Minister’s spokesman said.

“The biggest threat to the Buy Australian Plan is Peter Dutton and the Coalition, who refused to support out Future Made in Australia legislation and dragged their feet on procurement reform for almost a decade while in office.”

Anthony Albanese during a visit to the Rio Tinto Boyne Smelters in Gladstone. Picture: NewsWire / Paul Beutel

A week after the Trump administration would slap Australia with tariffs on steel and aluminium, the Prime Minister said he wanted Australia to build more and be able to “value-add” to resources it dug out of the ground, flagging that he would have more to say about his Buy Australia plan in next Tuesday’s budget.

“I want Australian workers to make more things here in Australia,” he said in Queensland.

“In next week’s budget, we will have a bit more to say as well about buying Australian, about making sure that Australian consumers can also play their role in assisting the creation and maintenance of Australian jobs and Australian economic activity.”

Including budget day on March 25, there are only three days of full parliamentary sitting left in this term, limiting the chance to pass further legislation.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said it was clear the government had been unable to deliver on several commitments over the last term, from the full implementation of the Buy Australia plan to the promise to cut power bills by $275.

“This ‘Buy Australian Act’ was a centrepiece of Labor’s election pitch but after three years in government, no such bill has been introduced,” she said. “Perhaps if Labor actually had a plan to help Australian businesses, they wouldn’t be spending millions of dollars on their Future Made in Australia ad campaign.”

Labor was able to pass its $13.7bn Future Made in Australia bill early this year with the support of the Greens, who voted for the legislation after the government agreed no hand-outs would be offered for uranium mining.

The bill had a raft of tax breaks for sectors such as critical minerals and green hydrogen, in what is hoped to turbocharge onshore processing of such resources.

The government also announced a $750m pool of subsidies last week to shield the nation’s steel and aluminium industries against Mr Trump’s tariffs.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said he had made clear to US trade officials this week Australia would “not back down” when it came to fighting against the tariffs and has left the door open to taking its biggest strategic ally to the World Trade Organisation.