Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

After that highly entertaining exercise in fantasy land—a no-tax world! Good on you, Member for Sturt! That's from the people who left us almost a trillion dollars worth of debt. But let's return to talking about the bill.

Boothby was once home to a thriving Mitsubishi motor plant at Tonsley. For many who grew up in Boothby, the automotive industry was a defining feature of economic life—from 1964, when it opened as Chrysler, to 2008, when it closed as Mitsubishi. It was an industrial focus and a major employer for the southern suburbs. While Mitsubishi may have gone from Boothby, manufacturing, innovation, research and industry continue to thrive. That's why I'm thrilled to speak today about this bill to establish the National Reconstruction Fund.

The Albanese government was elected on a mandate to drive the transformation of Australian industry and revive our ability to make world-class products here in Australia. In fact, the Prime Minister, then in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition, announced our policy for a national reconstruction fund back in 2021, because he and those of us who now sit on this side of the House could see that opportunities had been wasted for too long. And, as we dealt with COVID-19 and all the restrictions, challenges and hardships that came with it, it became blindingly obvious that, as a country, we were not where we needed to be. As global supply chains ground to a halt and demand for health supplies, electronics and many other items soared, the relative decline in our sovereign capability became obvious. It was clear to anyone paying attention that there was a need to revitalise and rebuild Australian manufacturing as a powerhouse for jobs, as a powerhouse for the economy and to protect our own supply chains. Seems like a no-brainer.

And so we come to the government's $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund. The bill establishes the fund as a new Commonwealth entity. The NRF will provide finance, including loans, guarantees and equity, to drive investments in seven priority areas of the economy. These leverage Australia's natural and competitive strengths, support the development of strategically important industries and shore up supply chains.

The bill establishes the fund's independent board and outlines the fund's functions and powers, including those relating to investment. Importantly, the bill establishes the power for the responsible ministers, the ministers for industry and finance, to issue an investment mandate to guide the investment strategy of the fund and declare the priority areas of the Australian economy.

These priority areas have been identified by the minister as the following. Value-add in resources: the fund will aim to expand Australia's mining science technology and ensure a greater share of raw materials extracted are processed domestically—for example, high-purity alumina from red mud in bauxite processing or lithium processing for batteries, which we know will be a key economic resource and growth driver for the decades to come. As a country we are blessed to have these in-demand minerals, but instead of shipping them offshore to be processed and then buying them back as products at much higher prices, we should be processing them here so the financial benefit accrues to us, Australians, and the jobs are here for us, Australians. Value-add in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors: the fund will work to unlock potential and value-add to raw materials in sectors like food processing and textiles, clothing and footwear manufacturing. Transport: it will develop capabilities in transport manufacturing and supply chains, including for cars, trains and shipbuilding, to ensure we have efficient, effective transport to power industry. Medical science, which is the key for Boothby, which is home to both a major hospital and a leading research university, as well as to a number of high-tech medical innovators: the fund will work to leverage Australia's world-leading research to provide essential supplies, such as medical devices, personal protective equipment, medicines and vaccines. Renewables and low-emission technologies: this is a fantastic opportunity for us to sell to the world. It will pursue commercial opportunities, including for components for wind turbines; the production of batteries and solar panels; new livestock feed to reduce methane emissions; modernised steel and aluminium; hydrogen electrolysers, and we have the largest hydrogen electrolyser in the country in Tonsley, in Boothby; and innovative packaging solutions to reduce waste. We need these things for our future here in Australia, but they are going to be in high demand around the world. This is key to our becoming a renewable energy superpower. Defence capability: as a representative from South Australia, I have seen how many good, well-paying jobs are being driven in improving our defence capability, not just directly in defence and in the submarine and frigate builds, but as we see in the Tonsley innovation precinct, many companies are seeing the opportunity to join the supply chain, even if they've never been part of defence previously.

The fund will work to maximise sourcing of requirements from Australian suppliers employing Australian workers, whether they be in technology, infrastructure or skills, and the government has already announced target investment levels for specific priority areas. There is up to $3 billion for renewables and low-emissions technologies, $1.5 billion for medical manufacturing, $1 billion for value-adding in resources, $1 billion for critical technologies, $1 billion for advanced manufacturing and $500 million for value-adding in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and fibre.

The National Reconstruction Fund will target projects and investments that help Australia capture new high­value-market opportunities to help our businesses grow and succeed. This is about not just the economy of today, which is itself so vitally important, but the economy of the future. It's about setting Australia up to lead the world in these fields so that we can benefit from the growth that will come from these areas. The fund also includes finance to grow advanced manufacturing and to support businesses to innovate and move up the technological ladder. As a co-investment fund, the NRF looks to draw in investment support from superannuation, venture capital and private equity sources, bringing in investment to help create high-quality, sustainable industries and jobs. We know that locking in the 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 has brought certainty to business and investment and has made Australia a much more attractive investment opportunity.

There is opportunity to discuss lessons around targeting investment to support manufacturing capability in our regions to make sure they benefit from sustainable economic growth. Modelling the NRF on the successful Clean Energy Finance Corporation, this bill establishes the NRF as a corporate Commonwealth entity.

Importantly, the National Reconstruction Fund 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, as I outlined earlier. To ensure integrity, accountability and value for money, 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, there won't be a colour-coded spreadsheet in sight.

There's long been an argument made that government has no role to play picking winners, no role to play guiding industry, no role to play other than establishing guardrails and letting business do its thing, only stepping in when there's been market failure. But this is not a do-nothing government, as the previous one was—happy to let things float along, see where they end up, taking credit for the wins and disavowing the losses. As the minister has said, government does have a role to play making real contributions to our most vital sectors. That's what we're elected for.

Australia is rich with valuable critical resources—resources we could have rightly expected to be used to build our manufacturing base, add value and create jobs here in Australia. But for decades we've mined these resources and shipped them off overseas, only for other countries to process and add value to them, and then we import them back at many times the price—sending the manufacturing industry, their profits and the thousands of jobs they create overseas. If we mine it here, we should make it here.

Australia's know-how, with our scientists and our innovators, is among the best in the world. Photovoltaic technology, solar cells, was invented here. But today 87 per cent of the world's cells are made in another country. You can imagine what that means in dollar value. In the next three years, that number will be 94 per cent. If only it was still here in Australia!

As the world urgently focuses on decarbonisation, the transition to renewables and low-emission technologies will play a vital role in delivering Australia's emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. We're well placed to make the most of our technology and our skills. If we invent it here, we should make it here. We've seen what happens when Australia fails to back itself and fails to back its people. They go overseas and take their experience, their know-how and their passion with them. We want Australians living overseas to come home. We recognise many of them left Australia seeking support and funding for their ideas—support and funding they just couldn't find at home. We want to empower the NRF to invest in Australia and Australians—Australian know-how, Australian ideas, Australian ingenuity.

Both this bill and the mandate guiding investments will make sure the $15 billion fund drives Australia's natural inclination towards innovation. Our focus is on renewing, revitalising and rebuilding Australia's manufacturing industry for Australians, for small-business owners, for the regions, for jobs. I turn back to the old Mitsubishi Motors factory at Tonsley, in Boothby. In 2012 the Weatherill state Labor government bought the property. The old factory site was turned into an innovation precinct, and 13 years later there are more people employed on site there than there were during the Mitsubishi car factory days. It is a world-recognised invasion hub. Tonsley is home to the sort of modern manufacturing the National Reconstruction Fund could encourage in the future; home to companies that work in clean tech and renewable energy, health, medical devices, assertive technologies, mining and energy services, automation software and simulation; and home to the Global Centre for Modern Ageing, SAGE Automation, Hydro Consulting, Tesla, Micro-X and so many more. It's a really exciting place to go and a constant buzz of innovation and growth.

This is the way of the future. Australia has so many opportunities to build manufacturing, build jobs for Australians and build industries. The National Reconstruction Fund helps companies and industries prepare for a bright new future. I commend the bill.

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