Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What an exciting day today to speak in support of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022! Over the last nine months in government, we have introduced a lot of really important legislation. It has been an incredibly busy time, trying to set our country on the right path for a better future. But today I am particularly excited because this bill sets out how we will deliver so many of the core promises we made at the election, setting up our country for a self-sustaining better future: secure jobs, support for farming, safeguarding our national sovereignty, transitioning to a renewable energy future, investing in our regions and creating a stronger and more prosperous Australia. This bill does it all, and all through a co-investment fund generating enough return to sustain its future rate of investment—jobs, jobs, jobs. Actually, scratch that. Make it: Australian jobs, jobs, jobs.

So how are we going to do that? The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation will partner with industry and investors to provide finance for projects that add value, improve productivity and support the transformation of Australian industry. Modelled after the highly successful Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the NRFC will provide finance, including loans, guarantees and equity, to drive investments across seven priority areas of the Australian economy. These are: value-add in resources; value-add in agriculture, forestry and the fisheries sector; transport; medical science; renewables and low-emissions technologies; defence capability; and enabling capabilities. We will target projects and investments that help Australia capture new high-value market opportunities, to help local businesses grow and succeed in the industries of today and the industries of tomorrow. For far too long Australia has exported our resources, our talents and our opportunities. The Albanese government is determined to put Australians first, investing in Australian ideas, Australian businesses and Australian people to keep them here instead of driving them to more supportive economies overseas.

In my electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales south coast, we have historically had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. With a strong defence industry presence, strong manufacturing base, and abundant farming and agriculture industries, our region has the capability of driving Australia's future economic growth. All that has been missing is a government willing to back in Australian-made, investment in local businesses and farmers, and support our transition into the economy of tomorrow. We are already seeing local industry drive this transition. We are seeing farmers embracing new clean sustainability practices, because they know it is good business and good for their future. We have seen local defence industry pivot its operations to cope with the new challenges thrown at us by the pandemic. We have seen community organisations partnering across the education and energy sectors to explore the feasibility of new energy generation; local people in my electorate looking to find opportunities in the black void that has been government policy. I am absolutely delighted to see that black hole well and truly closing right now.

Government simply must be leading the way. We simply must be providing the guidance, the leadership, the certainty that those looking to invest need. If they can see the government believing in Australian-made then they will too. That is what this fund will do. With a clear investment mandate to spend its $15 billion fund on solely or mainly Australian based investments, the NRF will play to our current and emerging industrial strengths and strategic national priorities, all while it becomes a self-sustaining fund through a requirement to generate a positive portfolio rate of return. What a breath of fresh air for our economy.

The Shoalhaven has a strong and thriving defence industry. Local Nowra businesses are leading the way when it comes to Australia's strategic defence capabilities. We are home to the only Navy air station, HMAS Albatross, and Jervis Bay boasts the Royal Australian Navy College at HMAS Creswell. So it is fair to say we have both the need and the know-how when it comes to defence capability. Defence and defence industry are our biggest employers but, until recently, much of our defence manufacturing has been exported overseas.

Late last year I had the privilege of touring Air Affairs Australia, one of our major defence industry partners located in Nowra. Air Affairs specialises in aviation operations and engineering, but, before the pandemic, 70 per cent of its business was exported. It was a local Nowra based company in demand across the world but with only 30 per cent of its products staying here in Australia. Why? Because instead of investing in homegrown innovation, much of the equipment defence sourced was imported. When the pandemic hit, this created a predictable problem, one which Air Affairs and many others were happily there to solve. This is just one example of how government's failure to invest, encourage and grow local innovation has seen other countries reap the benefits.

Our reliance on overseas supply chains, overseas manufacturing and our lack of investment in Australian-made over so many decades created a weakness that became truly evident when those supply chains were interrupted and broken. Luckily for Australian defence, Air Affairs was able to pivot its operations during this critical phase to increase domestic supply, and now 90 per cent of its products are for the domestic market. To be clear, this is not because its exports dropped off; it is because domestic operation ramped up incredibly fast to meet an urgent and unexpected need. Air Affairs is only one example of this, and we have many other fantastic defence industry partners located in the Shoalhaven who have been doing just the same.

On the weekend I visited Global Defence Solutions at the Nowra show and was reminded of the great work they are doing to supply solutions for defence. The Shoalhaven Defence Industry Group does a fantastic job promoting the work of so many companies locally and at the dedicated Albatross Aviation Technology Park, designed specifically to support defence and aviation industries right next to HMAS Albatross. I got a preview of some of the great work they are doing at the University of Wollongong's defence industry showcase last year. What this shows me is that there is incredible growth opportunity waiting to be realised right here on the south coast. We have the industry already there, we have the space, we have the history and, boy, can we rally when the opportunity calls. So I couldn't be more excited that one of the seven priority areas for the NRF is defence capability.

There is nowhere in Australia as well equipped as the Shoalhaven to reap the benefits of this investment in our local innovation, maximising the sourcing of our defence requirements from Australian suppliers, employing Australian workers in technology, infrastructure and skills—Australian jobs, jobs, jobs. What a mantra. Not only this but defence industry can help to build skills from the ground up, working with local high schools to start a love of clean, advanced manufacturing, employing trades from apprentice level up across so many industries: manufacturing, processing, electrical, painting and more.

One of the things regional areas like ours struggle with is secure jobs for young people. Our youth unemployment rate has been stubbornly high for far too long. Too many local kids either leave to get good jobs in the city or struggle to find work—not a choice any parent wants to see their child face; not a choice anyone should have to make. We know that investing in the future of young people pays dividends across our community in education; in secure, well-paid jobs; and in a strong future in our regional communities, with so many social and economic gains.

This is everything I have wanted for our community for so many years and one of the very reasons I entered politics in the first place. I worked for years as a TAFE teacher, working with young and mature-age people to guide them into careers, not just jobs. I could see the need and the gaps we had, and it just wasn't good enough. I'm a mum of four kids. I want them, like each and every young person across our South Coast, to have the future they want and a career they can be proud of in a secure, well-paid job at home. I am so incredibly proud that this vision I have for the future of our community is also the vision that the Albanese government has for the future of our country.

Another industry close to my heart, and the other side of the coin for my entry into politics, was agriculture. I am a dairy farmer's daughter. I grew up on a dairy farm. What I have seen is an industry getting left behind by a lack of investment and a lack of interest from government in improving and supporting our agricultural industries. Agriculture is the lifeblood of the regions. It's where we started and it's where the hearts of so many lie. But agriculture across Australia is facing so many challenges, not least of all from a transitioning economy and a changing climate.

So one of the other seven priority areas of the NRF is to value-add in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, unlocking the potential and value-adding to raw materials in sectors like food processing, and textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing. As I have mentioned before in this place, our agricultural industries are already starting this change. There are companies like AKT Oceania, based in Nowra and focusing on improving organic waste streams by extracting proteins and nutrients for use in other industries. They create animal feeds like fishmeal and more to get the most out of organic waste. But much of the equipment is manufactured overseas, and what they need is support and investment by government to grow these industries here. We've got seaweed plants and cow manure farms. We've got a former abattoir being transformed into the Southern Hemisphere's largest fish-processing plant. We've got agricultural innovation on steroids, sustainability with benefits across agriculture and more, and innovation that's homegrown. This is what we need, and it is these sorts of investment that the NRF will be able to encourage.

As well as having the agricultural industries, the South Coast is home to a growing manufacturing industry, making us perfectly placed to benefit from the investment opportunities this fund will bring by capitalising on what we have, stimulating our economic growth, investing in our existing industries and helping them to diversify. I'll say it again: Australian jobs, jobs, jobs, supporting local business, supporting local people, growing our economy and securing our future.

The other huge focus of the NRF is of course our transition to renewable energy. Renewables and low-emissions technologies will be a priority area for the NRF. This includes pursuing commercial opportunities from 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. It is a fact that the world is decarbonising, and increasingly we need to be focusing on a transition to renewables. We have known for decades that Australia has a unique opportunity to capitalise on this transition. We have some of the best natural wind and solar resources in the world. But so far we have squandered the economic benefits and opportunities this transition could be creating, particularly in regional areas like the New South Wales South Coast.

The Albanese government is determined to change this. We have committed to reducing our emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. We simply must put our back into capitalising on our homegrown technology and skills to make this a reality. The technology and skills are there but for far too long we have watched them leave our shores to benefit someone else who saw the benefits and invested in it. Our scientists and innovators are the best in the world. We invented solar panels, but someone else is making them.

The aim of this fund is simple: if we invent it here, we should make it here. We are empowering the NRFC to invest in Australians. We have earmarked $3 billion from the NRF for our Powering Australia plan. This fund will drive investments in areas like clean energy component manufacturing and technologies that improve energy efficiency, helping to deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy to Australian industry over the longer term.

During the 2019-20 bushfires the South Coast community saw what happens when we have an energy system vulnerable to natural disasters. Our old-school electricity grid was left exposed, and we suffered through extended blackouts. Local people had no power, no telecommunications, no information about the oncoming firestorm and no way of getting help.

We weren't without power for a few hours; we were without it for days and weeks. We struggled with food supplies, water supplies and medical equipment, not to mention the blazing heat. It is something we all never want to see repeated. For many the answer to this problem is simple—solar power and battery backup so that our community halls, our evacuation centres, our homes and our farms aren't reliant on mains power.

The South Coast community is crying out for investment in solar, investment in batteries and investment in renewables. Renewable energy can help build our resilience and better prepare us for natural disasters. We must start investing in this future now. The best way to do this is to build it at home, create jobs at home, shore up our supply chains and transition us to the clean energy future now.

The New South Wales South Coast is poised and ready to become a renewable energy powerhouse. What we need is investment security and support, and this bill delivers that in spades—a future made in Australia, secure well-paid jobs created using an independent, fair and self-sustaining model, partnering with industry, that we know works. It's a better future, just like we promised. I commend the bill to the House.

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