Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why are production tax credits a central part of the Albanese Labor government's Future Made in Australia plan, and what are the obstacles to their implementation?

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

Thanks to the member for her characteristically perceptive question and for being a great voice out of the west here in the national parliament. Our focus is on easing the cost of living, fixing the budget and strengthening our economy. That's why we're investing $22.7 billion in A Future Made in Australia to create more jobs and more opportunities right across the country. This is all about maximising the economic and industrial benefits which will come from the big global shift to net-zero emissions.

The biggest part of our plan is tax breaks, and that's deliberate, because A Future Made in Australia is all about attracting private investment, not replacing private investment. We know that the global energy transformation represents a golden opportunity for Australia, and our production tax credits will help us make the most of that opportunity. They'll incentivise investment in renewable hydrogen. They'll boost production of refined critical minerals. They'll create new jobs in new industries and also leverage our traditional economic strengths.

Everyone on this side of the House wants Australia to grab these opportunities. But, once again, those opposite have collapsed in a shambolic and humiliating heap, this time on production tax credits. In this instance, the shadow Treasurer has been uncharacteristically clear. For example, on 14 May he said, 'We don't support the $13.7 billion of production tax credits.' On 15 May, he called them 'handouts to billionaires'. On 8 August, he said:

… we have been very clear that we don't support the production credits. I don't know how much clearer you can be.

He's so certain that he's already counting them as a saving in his budget, which makes him about $300 billion short.

To be fair, the Leader of the Opposition also called them corporate welfare. But in Kalgoorlie, as the resources minister said, he changed his tune, and today we read that the opposition leader has hinted at a rethink. If you listen closely, you can hear the familiar sound of the shadow Treasurer getting rolled again. The Leader of the Opposition has humiliated the shadow Treasurer and he has torched whatever is left of the shadow Treasurer's credibility. He has rolled him on stage 3 tax cuts, migration, superannuation for housing and supermarkets, and now they are deeply divided on production tax credits.

This side of the House has a plan for A Future Made in Australia. That side of the House is an embarrassing shambles, divisive and divided—in the third year of a three-year term, and still no coherent view about production tax credits, still no costed economic policies and still no economic credibility.