Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Hasluck for her question and for the way that she represents the great community from out west here in the people's house. As we said a moment ago, the primary purpose, in the near term, in this budget is to help people who are doing it tough and to get the budget in much better nick as well. But one of the really important things about last night's budget is that it doesn't neglect our responsibilities to the future. The budget was all about a vision for making the most of this remarkable opportunity that we have as a country in our industry, in our energy, in our resources, in our skills base and as an attractive place for investment.

The world is changing, and the pace of that change is accelerating, and we need to change with it if our people are to be the primary beneficiaries, not victims, of all of that churn and change. The global transition, the transformation, to net zero is the biggest change in the global economy since the industrial revolution. Our $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia package is all about maximising the opportunities that that will bring for every single part of the country, whether it's out west in the honourable member's community or, indeed, right around Australia.

We want to make ourselves an indispensable part of the global net zero economy, and the Future Made in Australia investments in the budget last night will help us do it. They will help us maximise the opportunities and secure Australia's place in the world, with an overwhelming focus not on replacing private investment in our economy but on facilitating more private investment. Our plan for a Future Made in Australia is all about attracting that investment. It's all about making Australia a renewable energy superpower. It's about value-adding to our resources and strengthening our economic security. It's about improving our innovation, our science and our digital capabilities, and it's about investing in our people and places.

This is how we modernise our economy and maximise the opportunities of the future, not for its own sake but so that we can deliver a new generation of prosperity for more of our people, a future defined by good, secure, well-paid jobs, not just in some parts of our country but right around our country, in our suburbs and regions. That's why a Future Made in Australia is a big priority of this government, not at the expense of our efforts to ease cost of living or to get the budget in better nick but in addition to that. That's because we understand, on this side of the House, that we have generational responsibilities to our people to create a new generation of prosperity which is just as good as the past one but which recognises the way that the world is changing and that we need to change with it.

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