Prime Minister Julia Gillard will chair the first meeting of a new manufacturing task force tomorrow, as new figures indicate the dire state of the sector.
The Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook released said manufacturing export growth was expected to remain weak due to a bleak outlook for Australia's major trading partners and the high Australian dollar.
Manufacturing output, according to the budget update, rose by only 0.1 per cent over the past year, while jobs in the sector fell 5.4 per cent.
The industry has lost around 110,000 jobs over the past three years alone.
But there were some positive signs, with metal products manufacturing - mainly for the mining sector - growing almost eight per cent over the year.
Ms Gillard will join Treasurer Wayne Swan and Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr at the first meeting of the new manufacturing task force in Canberra on Wednesday.
Announced at the Future Jobs Forum in October, the task force includes representation from industry, unions and the science and technology sector.
It will develop a plan to shore up the future of manufacturing, initially looking at the effectiveness of a raft of policies and programs already in place.
Manufacturers will get a share of $6.1 billion over four years from the Clean Energy Future carbon pricing scheme, which is set to start on July 1, 2012.
There's also subsidies for manufacturers to cut their emissions through new technology and face higher power costs from carbon pricing, as well as direct assistance for steelworkers made redundant from the restructuring of plants.
