🧵Should you be punished for improving your own land—because of a mythical snake? . That’s what’s happening in WA…

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10/ THE BOTTOM LINE. You can’t have a strong nation without a strong industrial base. Smelters and manufacturers helped build this nation into what it is today. They are a pillar of Australia’s strength. If we lose them, we’re losing the backbone of working Australia.

9/ A Senate inquiry is also a good first step. But we also need action: cut the red tape, and back local industry through procurement and investment. Other countries protect their manufacturers. We should do the same.

8/ THE PATH FORWARD. Australia needs a manufacturing revival, and that starts with energy reform. Labor’s rush toward renewables is driving up energy costs and undermining the industries that depend on affordable, reliable power. Manufacturers can’t run on ideology. They need

7/ Labor says it stands for the working class, but it’s abandoning the very people who build and power this country. While they chase climate targets and green subsidies, blue-collar workers are left to fend for themselves.

6/ Take Elizabeth for example. Within two years of Holden shutting down, youth unemployment reached 59%. For many families, secure, full-time work vanished. The very fabric of the community has been reshaped as people are forced to leave in search of work, or start over by.

5/ Smelters and manufacturers are some of our key regional employers. They act as community anchors and are vital drivers of local economies. When they shut down, the ripple effects are immediate and devastating. Jobs vanish and families relocate. Whole towns begin to unravel.

4/ LABOR’S BLIND SPOT. The Coalition has recently called for a Senate inquiry into the state of Australia's smelters sector. Labor has so far refused to back it. Even after 3 years in power, Labor has failed to deliver any real help to manufacturers.

3/ In the late 1970s, manufacturing made up 15% of Australia’s economy. Today, it’s just 5.5%, the lowest in the OECD. Smelters that once anchored regional towns are now buckling under high energy costs and cheap imports. Without urgent support, metal manufacturing could

2/ Glencore has also recently announced that it may have to close its copper smelter in Mount Isa, as well as the nearby Townsville refinery, putting over 500 jobs at risk. It’s a continuing pattern, but it’s not new. From 2008 to 2015, Australia lost over 200,000 manufacturing.

1/ THE STRUGGLE TO STAY AFLOAT. Australia’s manufacturing sector is being hollowed out. Tomago Aluminium in NSW, one of the largest smelters in the Southern Hemisphere, has warned it may have to shut down if energy prices keep rising.

Another major smelter is on the brink. Glencore has warned its Mount Isa and Townsville operations may close due to spiralling energy and operation costs. Meanwhile, Labor’s energy agenda keeps driving prices up, worsening the crisis. A thread🧵

This is what happens when you prioritise children in policy. You get genuine conservatism.

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8/ Diplomacy is about building and maintaining a relationship. But right now, this government is sending the worst message possible: that Australia is content being ignored. We need leadership that DEMANDS attention, not one that waits around for it.

7/ THE BOTTOM LINE. Albanese has had 252 days to get this right. He failed. When America looks to the Pacific, Australia should be front and centre. Instead, we’re still waiting to be noticed. And that silence? It says everything.

6/ You only get one shot at a first impression. Trump’s administration is already shaping alliances and priorities. Australia is being left out of the conversation, at the worst possible time. A serious leader would not let that happen.

5/ Albanese has been happy to chase headlines overseas, from China to Paris. But what has that delivered? More steel tariffs. A public snub at the G7. And no meeting with Trump. He’s trying to play the diplomat, but is delivering nothing.

4/ FAILED LEADERSHIP. We rely on the US for intelligence, for defence coordination, for economic leverage. Whether it’s AUKUS, Pacific strategy, or trade access, the alliance is the backbone of our global standing. But under Albanese, it’s being neglected.

3/ There’s no excuse. With trade tensions rising, tariffs looming, and global security in flux, US–Australia relations have NEVER been more critical. And yet, Albo has been sitting on his hands, passively waiting, not actively leading.