Crucial lesson Labor failed to learn from the pandemic hurting manufacturers in oil crisis, AMGC’s Paul Cooper says

The Albanese government has failed to learn a crucial lesson from the pandemic, a leading manufacturer has declared as the sector struggles under the oil crisis.

Manufacturing has been in strife as the sector scrambles for diesel and other major types of fuel that are in short supply and subject to price shocks.

It prompted the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre’s chairman Paul Cooper to argue that Australia needed to ensure a coordinated response during times of crisis.

He noted that this was a major warning from the Covid Response Inquiry report. 

“The Kruk Inquiry, when that was handed down on the impacts of Covid and the handling of Covid, one of the key recommendations was coordination right across Australia,” Mr Cooper told Business Weekend.

“They said that in Covid, they stood up a national cabinet and that worked, but it was ad hoc.”

He pointed to a 2023 house standing committee which examined the manufacturing sector and recommended a manufacturing commissioner.

“That National Advanced Manufacturing Commissioner’s office was never stood up,” Mr Cooper said.

“So the coordination across manufacturers in Australia hasn’t been there, so a lot of us are facing the same problems.”

The litany of challenges plaguing manufacturing in Australia, including labour and energy costs and availability, have been exacerbated by increased freight expenses from heightened diesel prices.

Mr Cooper said shocks that rattle the sector are extremely tough to weather due to the underlying problems.

“When we have massive swings in inputs where we can’t change our pricing to our end customers, that’s difficult,” he said.

Tackling these challenges as a unified nation, Mr Cooper argued, would ensure the sector can push forward with business operations.

“I sat on a meeting this morning with a state commission that is looking at the responses to the current fuel crisis. That is just one state. There are other states, there’s territories, nationally, everyone’s trying to lean in now and do their own thing,” he said.

“Where’s the coordination right across Australia to ensure that … (we) can assist everybody properly by just getting out of the way and ensuring that we can do our business?”

The 2023 inquiry into Australia’s manufacturing sector, chaired by Labor MP Rob Mitchell, said a commissioner for the sector could act as a “shopfront” for federal and state governments opportunities.

It would also offer support programs for manufacturers and provide services to aid small operators.

Labor did not introduce a commissioner but said the government has used “similar models” to address specific manufacturing challenges.

The government also said it was establishing a “front door” for investors to streamline processes under its Future Made in Australia plan.