Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Seriously? Australian science and clever agtech firms are at the forefront of developing novel ways to provide food that is low impact and high in value—both for nutrition and for potential export to our friends and neighbours in Asia.

Transitioning to a net-zero economy will deliver jobs and export income, while delivering sustainability to the precious environments upon which this value is built: our lands, forests and oceans.

Transport: including value chains for cars, trains and shipbuilding. The budget started the work on our commitment for a National Rail Manufacturing Plan. The NRF can assist in our vision to not just develop rail but support manufacturers to ensure they're tapped into rapidly developing global supply chains in electric vehicles and shipbuilding.

Medical science: such as medical devices, medicines and vaccines.

We are already investing in our health industries. With the Victorian government we have established a strategic partnership with Moderna to manufacture mRNA vaccines on our shores.

Through this we will become one of the few countries in the world with end-to-end mRNA manufacturing capability.

Australia has a proud medical manufacturing heritage which, with some notable exceptions, was largely frittered away. It's time to change this.

The NRF will be able to support investment in medical manufacturing not just in vaccines but for medical devices, helping to create more companies to share the success of manufacturers like Cochlear, which makes the bionic ear.

Renewables and low - emission technology: we led the world in solar technology only to see others seize the opportunity by scaling up manufacturing. Investing in solar and wind technologies and developing batteries to store renewable energy. The NRF can accelerate Australia becoming a renewables superpower.

The two other priorities identified are in defence and enabling capabilities.

Working with our international partners we can transform Australian know-how into globally recognised skills and manufacturing in defence industries.

And we can build on our undeniable expertise in areas like quantum technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence.

We will seek to partner with industry and state and territory governments to identify investment opportunities within priority areas. An on-ramp, if you will, of turn-key opportunities for investment to make sure the NRF is well placed for success.

Independent, transparent decision-making by exper ts

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation will be independent. An independent board, making independent investment decisions.

Independent of political influence.

There will be no commuter car parks built far away from train stations. No sports rorts and colour coded spreadsheets like we saw under the previous government.

The Australian taxpayer rightly expects their tax dollars to be treated respectfully, guided by the national interest not political interest. And that's what they'll get with the NRF.

The board—appointed jointly by the Minister for Industry and Science and the Minister for Finance—will be made up of industry and investment figures, experienced in job creation, finance, governance and business.

The independent board will be empowered to manage its investment portfolio. Decision-making will be based on the merits of a project, free from political influence.

Giving industry the tools to innovate and adopt new technologies

The bill provides the corporation access to $15 billion over the next seven years for its investments. And we aim for returns from those investments to be reinvested in the corporation, ensuring its sustainability in the long term.

The bill gives the corporation broad investment powers, allowing it to invest across business types and industries, using debt, guarantees and equity to ensure that its investments are suited to industry needs.

It will allow for significant, large-scale investments, facilitating transformative projects that can help industry innovate and adopt new and complex technologies.

To ensure the projects benefit Australia, the bill directs the corporation to invest in projects that are solely or mainly Australian based.

Helping to keep industries onshore, opening up opportunities here, now and into the future.

Australian ideas are powerful. When our continent can have heatwaves in one corner and floods in another, it takes an ability to think on our feet to not just to survive here but innovate—something First Nations people have done for millennia.

Great Australian ideas create great firms and great jobs. Our ideas are worth backing.

We must inspire investment in our companies, in our industries, in our people.

The introduction of this bill is another step in delivering an important election commitment which will propel Australia towards a strong, modern and diverse economy.

The NRF is about growing our ability to make world-class products.

It's about creating secure well-paid jobs.

It's about building on our national strengths.

It's about diversifying our industrial base.

It's about developing our sovereign capability.

It's about growing our regional economies.

We want to work together—with all sides of politics, all parts of our community—to deliver high-value, high returns and high tech.

An economy of high wages, high productivity and sustainable growth.

We might not always agree in this place about the journey, but we very often agree on the destination. Today, that destination is a faith in Australia and its people and it is a strongly-held belief that our industry is capable of so much more, with the support of government, its parliament and its people.

Debate adjourned.

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