Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Innovation, reconstruction and growth, because manufacturing matters! The Albanese government was elected on a mandate to drive the transformation of Australian industry and revive our ability to make world-class products in Australia again—to be a country that makes things again. Manufacturing matters because it creates full-time, meaningful work and secure jobs. It matters because secure work is good for families and for the economy. We saw through the pandemic—particularly in my time in the emergency department—how supply chains were under huge pressure. They were strained. Products that we expected and used frequently, particularly in the medical space, were hard to obtain. We need to revitalise manufacturing after years of neglect under those opposite. The former coalition government crushed and starved our domestic manufacturing capability. It is a disgrace.

The $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund is vital to support and to diversify Australia's industry and to create sustainable, secure, well-paying jobs. The NRF will provide finance, including loans, guarantees and equity, to drive investments in seven priority areas in the Australian economy. These leverage Australia's natural and competitive strengths, support the development of strategically important industries and secure those supply chains. Those priority areas are: value-add in resources, to expand Australia's mining science technology and ensure that a greater share of raw minerals extracted in Australia are produced domestically—for example, high purity alumina from red mud and bauxite—and processing or lithium processing for batteries like the one we have committed to for Narara on the New South Wales Central Coast; value-add in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors; unlocking the potential and value-add to raw materials in sectors like food processing, textiles clothing and footwear manufacturing; transport—something that is quite close and personal to the now Prime Minister and previous minister for infrastructure and to myself, the member for Robertson—to develop capabilities in transport manufacturing and supply chains, including cars, trains and shipbuilding—something that that mob over there let die. Transport for a connected Australia is vital, from the regions to the cities and out into our more rural areas.

There is medical science, which is so important, as a member was discussing just previously, to leverage Australia's world-leading research to provide essential supplies such as medical devices, personal protective equipment—which we did not have at the start of the pandemic—medicines and vaccines. All are vital to strengthen our clinical operations, improve patient safety and ensure the health care of the nation.

Renewables and low-emission technologies is another area to pursue commercial opportunities, including components for wind turbines, production of batteries and solar panels, new livestock feed to reduce methane emissions, modernising steel and aluminium, hydrogen electrolysers, and innovative packaging solutions to reduce waste. Further defence capability is important in a time of heightened global risk and heightened global uncertainty. And there is maximising sourcing of requirements from Australian suppliers and employing Australian workers, whether they be in technology, infrastructure or skills.

The NRF will target projects that help Australia capture new market opportunities to help our businesses grow and succeed. This is important because businesses have been left behind over the last decade by those opposite. They were left behind by the former coalition government because those opposite do not care about business and they do not care about the economy. This includes NRF finance to grow advanced manufacturing and support businesses to innovate. As a co-investment fund, the NRF looks to draw on investment with superannuation, venture capital and private equity sources, crowding in investment to help create high-quality, sustainable industries and jobs. This is our government, the Albanese Labor government, improving the lives of Australians and revitalising our manufacturing base.

Modelled on the successful Clean Energy Finance Corporation—or CEFC—this bill establishes the NRF as a new corporate Commonwealth entity. The NRF will be administered at arm's length from government by an independent board appointed jointly by the Minister for Industry and Science and the Minister for Finance. The government will provide guidance on expectations and policy priorities through a legislative instrument and an investment mandate. The board will independently make investment decisions and manage its investment portfolio to achieve both the NRF's objectives and a positive portfolio rate of return, free from political influence, and a very different approach from those opposite. The very different approach is that there won't be a colour coded spreadsheet in sight on this side.

There's long been an argument made that government has no role to play in picking winners, no role to play in guiding industry, and no role to play other than establishing guardrails, letting businesses do their thing and only stepping in when there's been market failure. Governments absolutely have a role in making real contributions to our most vital sectors, of which manufacturing is one. Australia is rich in critical resources—resources to be used to build our manufacturing base, add value, and, as I said before, create secure jobs right here in Australia. But, for decades, we've mined those resources and then we've shipped them overseas, only for other countries to process them and add value to them. Then we import them back at many times the price, sending manufacturing—more importantly, sending jobs—offshore and therefore sending the manufacturing industry, and their profits and the thousands of jobs they create, overseas. If we mine it here then we should make it here, because these are our resources.

Australia's scientists and our innovators are the best in the world. Photovoltaic technology, solar cells—they were invented here; they were invented in Australia. But, today, 87 per cent of the world's cells are made in one country. As the world urgently—and rightly so—focuses on decarbonisation, the transition to renewables and low-emissions technologies will be vital in delivering Australia's emissions reduction target of 43 per cent. If we invent it here, then we should make it here. We want Australians living overseas—with their ideas, with their technology and with their manufacturing experience—to come back home. We recognise that many of them with experience in these fields left Australia seeking support and funding for their ideas because, over the last decade, that support was not here. It was support and funding that they just could not find here at home.

We want to empower the NRF to invest in Australia and Australians, because it's Australian ideas and it's Australian ingenuity. Both this bill and the investment mandate guiding investments will make sure that the $15 billion fund drives Australia's natural inclination towards innovation. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources has consulted widely both on the strength of the legislation and, most recently, on how the NRF will be implemented. Co-investment plans will be developed with industry, and these will outline investment opportunities in priority areas and actions for government and actions for industry to build Australia's industrial capabilities. The plans are expected to be released soon, and I will say again: innovation, reconstruction and growth, and that is because manufacturing matters.

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