Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Future Made in Australia Bill and its omnibus amendments. One of the major policy commitments of the Albanese Labor opposition during the 2022 federal election was to drive a future made in Australia.

For too long Australian manufacturing and Australian industry have been in decline. The previous government failed to address this trend, and unfortunately even made it worse. Who can forget the former Treasurer Joe Hockey in this place daring Ford and Holden—the last remaining Australian car manufacturers—to leave? And that's exactly what they did. The former government left a policy vacuum in this space. They provided no incentives for industry development or value adding onshore.

That changed when the Albanese Labor government was elected because we know that a diverse economy is a strong economy and that there is so much unrealised potential for Australian industries to thrive.

Australian innovations have changed the world. As a country, we are incredibly good at developing ideas, but we are less good at commercialising them. Take photovoltaic solar panels, for instance. This is a homegrown product but not a homemade one. PV solar panels were invented at the University of New South Wales, but today 99 per cent of solar systems being installed on Aussie roofs are manufactured overseas. This is a technology pioneered here that Australians adopt more than any other nation in the world, yet we've let the huge economic benefits fall to other nations.

This is not a uniquely Australian problem. In the US the Inflation Reduction Act is seeking to incentivise growth in American solar manufacturing by up to 40 per cent. In two years, the act has driven the creation of 49 new solar manufacturing projects. Here, our government's one-billion-dollar Sunshot Solar program will support domestic production through investment in innovative manufacturing facilities across the PV supply chain. As the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has said, there is a pressing economic need for a local solar industry and we have an opportunity to build a greater sovereign capability.

This bill will ensure that Australia maximises the economic and industrial benefits of the global transition to net zero. It will secure our place in a changing global economic and strategic landscape. It will build a stronger, more diversified and more resilient economy powered by renewable energy. It will create secure, well-paid jobs and encourage and facilitate the private sector investment required to make Australia an indispensable part of the global net zero economy and become a renewable energy superpower. This is a long-term policy for the better future that this nation deserves.

Fundamentally, this bill is about taking advantage of both our comparative advantages in renewable energy and our traditional strengths in resources and manufacturing to build new opportunities such as critical minerals processing, green metals, clean energy technologies and low-carbon liquid fuels.

Australia is an exceptionally smart nation. Our minds lead the world, whether it be the invention of wi-fi, the Cochlear ear, the Hills Hoist or aircraft black boxes, we punch above our weight. Only on Monday, to mark the beginning of Science Week, the Minister for Industry and Science and I had the opportunity to visit a remarkable Canberra startup, Samsara Eco, which is based at the ANU here in my electorate. Founded by PhD candidates Vanessa Vongsouthi and Matt Spence, Samsara Eco is changing the way the world thinks about recycling. Globally, there are around 10 billion tonnes of plastic waste sitting in landfill or polluting the environment, but only nine per cent of this waste has been recyclable previously. Samsara Eco has developed an enzyme which when applied to polymers breaks them down to their original monomer form, which means that they have the capability for every plastic in the world to be able to be recycled using this technology and to be recycled infinitely. This is a real game changer. It is genuinely groundbreaking technology developed right here in Australia and right here in Canberra. Samsara Eco have already partnered with Woolworths, and this year, in partnership with lululemon, launched the first commercially available apparel made from the fully recycled polyester. Samsara Eco is an incredible example of what this nation's best and brightest can achieve.

This bill is about enabling more Australians to achieve their potential and help our nation become a renewable energy superpower, and we're doing this because our government has a vision for the nation—a vision for a better future. It is extremely disappointing to me that those opposite can't embrace this vision. Once again, for the sole purpose of saying no, they oppose good legislation that will make Australia better. They would prefer to keep Australia in the dark ages. Instead of embracing new technologies like renewables, they want to take Australia back to the past with the technology of the 1950s—nuclear. We have a different vision: a vision for the future, an ambitious vision—one in which Australian industries are able to reach their full potential, supported by a nation that not only cheers them on but provides the framework for their success.

This bill has three components. First, it embeds the government's National Interest Framework, which was announced at the budget, to help identify sectors where Australia has a genuine comparative advantage in the net-zero economy or an economic security imperative. Second, it establishes a robust sector assessment process to understand and remove barriers to private investment. Third, it establishes a set of community benefit principles that will make sure relevant Future Made in Australia investments create strong returns for local communities, workers and businesses.

We aren't alone in implementing a scheme like this. Whether it's the US Inflation Reduction Act or similar policies in the UK, Canada, Korea, Japan and others, the world is seeing the benefits of production tax credits like these, and we can either be left behind or pave our own way to a better future for our economy. The National Interest Framework will help to better align economic incentives with the national interest. Legislating this framework, as we are doing, will provide certainty to the investment community, which is critical to attracting private investment at scale.

This legislation codifies the two streams of the framework. The first is the Net Zero Transformation Stream, which covers sectors that could have a sustained comparative advantage in a net-zero global economy and where public investment is likely to be needed for the sector to make a significant contribution to emissions reduction at an efficient cost. The second is the Economic Resilience and Security Stream, which covers sectors where some level of domestic capability is a necessary or efficient way to deliver economic resilience and security and where the private sector will not deliver the necessary investment in the sector in the absence of government support.

Sector assessments will be made at the direction of the Treasurer and conducted independently by the Treasury. They will assess whether an area of the economy is aligned with the National Interest Framework and will help inform how government can reduce barriers to investment in priority areas. These assessments are also required to be made public, which brings extra transparency and rigour to government decision-making.

The government wants to ensure public investment and the private investment it attracts flow to communities in ways that benefit local workers and businesses. That's why a set of community benefit principles will be applied to Future Made in Australia supports identified in this bill. Specifically, we want to ensure that investments promote safe and secure jobs that are well paid and have good conditions; that they develop more skilled and inclusive workforces, including by investing in training and skills development and broadening opportunities for workforce participation; that they engage collaboratively with and achieve positive outcomes for local communities, such as First Nations communities and communities directly affected by the transition to net zero; that they strengthen domestic industrial capabilities, including through stronger local supply chains; and that they demonstrate transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs, including benefits received under Future Made in Australia supports. These principles will be implemented on a program-by-program basis, and the government will consult on how they are best applied and the specific requirements.

The bill also establishes Future Made in Australia plans as a mechanism that can be used to implement the community benefit principles as required. Further details of what will be required to satisfy the requirements of these plans will be subject to consultation.

The bill enables the identification of Future Made in Australia supports, which are the government investments that the community-benefit principles apply to. The bill identifies two initial supports: the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, and certain investments referred to government for funding consideration under Export Finance Australia's expanded national interest account. Other Future Made in Australia supports can be added by the minister under the rules.

This is a bill filled to the brim with ambition for the future of this nation—a nation where our scientists are able to create new technologies, like Samsara Eco here in my electorate. Our innovators are able to commercialise those technologies, and our workforce manufactures the products right here in Australia, value-adding to our economy and helping our nation become the renewable energy superpower that we know we have the potential to be. We can be more than just a resources driven economy. Australia is a resilient, diverse, intelligent place. Our people are pioneering and world leading. And this is a government that has their back, creating policy that will support our industries and encourage them to invest in their businesses here in Australia.

This is a world-leading reform for a world-leading nation. As one of the previous speakers, the member for Makin, was saying, we are one of the only developed countries that no longer manufactures its own cars. This is just one example of where our manufacturing industry has been neglected, with costs that may not be immediately apparent. Having that industry here was also important for the skills of the workers who were manufacturing those cars, so that they would have those skills to apply to other things. As we build the manufacturing industry, it has flow-on effects for other industries and capabilities. As I've said, we are a nation that is full of ideas, and we want to back the people who have those ideas. We want to back them to take the potential that we have to build a strong economy so that the transition to net zero that we need to have will be a great opportunity for Australia and so that we will create new jobs—good jobs, well-paid jobs with good conditions and strong futures for Australians to feel secure in.

This is a world-leading reform. It is always Labor governments that have that sort of vision, that are looking to the future, that want to implement things that build a positive future. We're focusing on our children and our children's children and what their future will be as our economy takes on probably the greatest transition it will ever have to take in transitioning to net zero. And it's one that we know local businesses, scientists and workers are totally up for. We are a government that are backing them in on that.

I absolutely support a Future Made in Australia. That's why I'm supporting this bill today. It is a game changer for our manufacturing industry, at a time when we really need a government that believes in Australian ideas and gets behind them. This important bill is also designed to ensure transparency and to ensure appropriate decision-making around those two streams, the net zero economy and the capabilities that we need in order to ensure that we are investing in the industries and ideas that will benefit the most from that government investment. That's why I'm supporting this bill today.

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