Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Casey for his contribution, because he's outlined in a quite succinct way his four-step plan. We heard it was a four-step plan to oppose investment in manufacturing, a four-step plan to oppose the creation of Aussie jobs, a four-step plan to stifle Australian innovation and a four-step plan to attack Aussie workers. I'm so thankful that he's on that side of the House and not in government, because this side of the House was elected on a mandate to drive the transformation of Australian industry and revive our ability to make world-class products right here in Australia.

Manufacturing matters because it creates full-time, meaningful work, and secure jobs. This National Reconstruction Fund matters because this fund, the biggest investment in manufacturing since World War II, means that there will be more jobs here in Australia. It will mean that more Australians across the country will have more secure work. It will mean that workers can reskill and get into emerging industries. In my electorate of Bennelong, where there is significant interest in the advanced medical manufacturing element of this bill, it'll mean that young students and new graduates will be able to get into tech jobs and STEM jobs.

During the pandemic, we learnt the hard way what happens when you abandon manufacturing in this country. When you abandon manufacturing, you abandon Aussie jobs, you abandon Australian innovation and you abandon Australian families.

That's exactly what those opposite did in their decade in office. Remember when they killed our automotive industry? Joe Hockey as Treasurer dared our auto industry to leave, and they did. Then, of course, they said that Australians couldn't build our ships. And then we heard former New South Wales premier Berejiklian say that we could not build trains in New South Wales. It's in their DNA. Those opposite do not care about manufacturing. They love putting on the high-vis, but they're not prepared to back the high-vis. They're the cosplay coalition, as we heard the other day from the minister. They're all show, no go.

That's why we need this investment in manufacturing. We were elected to revitalise the manufacturing sector after years of neglect under those opposite. This $15 billion fund is a key platform to support, diversify and transform Australia's industry and to create sustainable, well-paying jobs—well-paying jobs that will help families pay the bills and help families get ahead.

The way that this fund is proposed to operate is incredibly important. It'll provide finance, including loans, guarantees and equity to drive investments in seven priority areas of the Australian economy. These priorities leverage Australian's natural and competitive strengths, support the development of strategically important industries and shore up our crucial supply chains, the main driver of inflation at the moment.

The seven priority areas include value-adding in resources—expanding our mineral science technology to ensure the greater share of raw materials we extract here in our country are processed domestically. For example, we dig up a lot of lithium; we should be making batteries right here. Other priorities are value-adding in the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors; and unlocking the potential to value-add in areas like food processing, and textiles, clothing and footwear. There's transport, of course, which is about developing capabilities in shipbuilding and in the manufacturing of cars and trains and, of course, batteries for cars. There's medical science, which is about leveraging our world-leading research to provide essential supplies such as medical devices, personal protective equipment, medicines and vaccines—and didn't we see what trouble we went through for not having a local medical science manufacturing industry only a few years ago.

There's a huge investment in renewables and low-emissions technologies so that we can pursue commercial opportunities to make components for wind turbines, and for the production of battery and solar panels; so that we can have new livestock feed to reduce methane emissions; so that we can modernise the construction of steel and aluminium; so that we can make hydrogen electrolysers; and so that we can have innovative packaging solutions to reduce waste.

This fund will also invest in our defence capability, maximising sourcing requirements from Australian suppliers and employing more workers in this industry, whether they be in technology, infrastructure or skills. It will have key engineering-enabling capabilities in data science and software development, including AI, robotics and quantum.

Each of these target areas will have allocated funding: $3 billion for renewables and low emissions, $1.5 billion for medical manufacturing, $1 billion for value-adding in resources, $1 billion for critical technologies and advanced manufacturing, and $500 million for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food.

It'll target projects that will help Australia capture new high-value market opportunities to help our businesses grow and succeed both in the economy of today and in the economy of tomorrow. It's an investment in now and an investment in the future.

This includes NRF finance to grow advanced manufacturing and support businesses to innovate and move up the ladder. As a co-investment fund, this looks to draw in investment support with super, venture capital, private equity sources, crowding in investment to help create high-quality, sustainable industries and jobs. There is an opportunity to discuss lessons around timing investment to support manufacturing capability in our regions to make sure that they also benefit from sustainable economic growth. Importantly also, it's modelled on the very successful Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

This bill, if passed, will establish the NRF as a new corporate entity. Importantly, it will be administered at arms-length from the government by an independent, skills-based board appointed jointly by the Minister for Industry and Science and the Minister for Finance. The government of the day will provide guidance on expectations and policy priorities, as is appropriate. The board will make independent decisions on who to invest in and what to invest in and will manage its investment portfolio to achieve objectives and, importantly, to bring a return to the Commonwealth.

Importantly—and I want to stress this—this board will be free from political interference. There will not be a colour-coded spreadsheet in sight. There won't be a member of the National Party there to change the rules without telling anyone. There won't be a Prime Minister who can oversee a program that targets Liberal seats. This is such an important point to stress, particularly after what we've seen from John Barilaro and the New South Wales National Party. We have seen there and over the past decade how those opposite treat these funds and treat taxpayers' money. That will not be able to happen under this bill. We've seen how they reward their mates, rather than the communities and industries that desperately need this investment.

We learnt in New South Wales recently how John Barilaro's office intervened in the $½ billion bushfire economic recovery program, effectively excluding Labor electorates from urgent bushfire recovery funding. Co-funded by the federal government, $250 million of taxpayers' money was used as a slush fund for Liberal and National electorates. The electorate of Macquarie, which includes the Blue Mountains, didn't receive a cent of this crucial economic disaster funding. The report that was released was damning. It states:

The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency.

That's not the case for this fund. Inbuilt in the legislation are transparency measures, and the board will be held accountable to this parliament. It will be the National Reconstruction Fund, not the National's reconstruction fund.

They'll be independent. For too long, while those opposite were in government, decisions were made that were in the interests of the coalition, not in the interests of Australia. This bill prevents ministers from directing the NRFC board to make a particular investment and ensures that the board can act independently and make the right investment decisions.

The board will also be required by this bill to take all reasonable steps to ensure the Reconstruction Fund and subsidiaries comply with the directions of the investment mandate. Importantly, the board is required to have a return to government. I'd like to focus on just one part of this investment mandate, and that's the minister's priority in advanced medical manufacturing. Many in this place would know that the member for Bennelong is usually referred to as the member for 'Pill Hill'. There are plenty of advanced medical manufacturers and companies in my electorate. Some of the world's largest and most innovative medical and medical device companies are based not too far from my electorate office.

We have organisations like Sanofi, whose head office is, as I said, located not too far from mine. They provide life-changing treatment options and life-saving vaccine protection to millions of people globally while putting sustainability and social responsibility at the centre of their actions. They have a huge pipeline of new therapies undermined by a commitment to clinical research and development to transform the practice of medicine. Recently they partnered with the Palaszczuk Queensland government, the University of Queensland and Griffith University to establish a global science hub here in Australia. Like many of the businesses based in Bennelong, they have welcomed the announcement and consultation of this fund. They want to see investment in localised manufacturing, particularly in the medical sector. They also note that the NRF has the potential to reshape Australia's healthcare ecosystem by demonstrating that this government is willing to invest in transformative medical science. What will that do for jobs and those studying science at university? It will provide them with a pathway to make things here and design some of these advanced medical products right here in Australia.

I would like to finish by talking about the potential of this fund to unlock low-emissions industries. Australia is rich with valuable critical resources that we could have rightly expected to be used to build our manufacturing base, to add value and to create jobs here in Australia. For decades, we've mined those resources, shipped them overseas for other countries to process them and to add value to them and then imported them back for many, many times the price, sending the manufacturing industry, their profits and the thousands of jobs they create overseas. Our know-how, our scientists and our innovators are amongst the best in the world. Solar cells were invented here. But, today, 87 per cent of the world's cells are made in one country. In the next three years, that number will be 94 per cent.

As the world urgently focuses on decarbonisation and the transition to renewables, our technology and our minerals will play a vital role in meeting not only our target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent but the world's targets. Australia will help the world deliver emissions reduction. As a trusted global strategic partner, it's important that we take advantage of our established free trade agreements so that we can make some of those technologies here. Rather than just digging resources up and shipping them overseas, we should be making solar panels here, we should be making the hydrogen electrolysers here and we should be making batteries here. It's pretty simple: if we invent it here or if we mine it here, we should make it here.

That is what this fund will do. This fund will start up those industries in important medical manufacturing and low-emissions technologies. We have seen what happens when Australia fails to back itself and fails to back its workers. Under the former government, we saw those industries and those jobs go overseas. The NRF is about an investment in Australia. We want it to invest in Australia and Australians—Australian know-how, Australian ideas and Australian ingenuity.

This bill, the investment mandate, the guiding investments and the board's independence to make decisions in the national interest will make sure that this $15 billion fund drives Australia's natural inclination towards innovation. Labor's focus is on renewing, revitalising and rebuilding our manufacturing industry for small-business owners, for the regions, for better pay for families, for a stronger economy and for more secure jobs. I urge those opposite to put their politics aside and to not oppose this once-in-a-generation investment in our crucial manufacturing industry.

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