Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2023. Australia should be a country that makes things right here, because 'Australian made' means Australian jobs. That's why I rise to speak in support of this bill, which will rebuild Australian manufacturing in this country.

The National Reconstruction Fund will support and grow our economy. It will create good, secure Australian jobs and it will get Australia making things again. Our vision for a better future is one that is made right here. We should be taking advantage of all the skills and talents we have in our country. We should be using the skills we have and encouraging innovation. We have some of the best scientists and innovators in the world. If we invent it here we should make it here. We know what happens when Australia fails to back itself and fails to back our people; they go overseas and they take their skills with them. We want to empower the NRF to invest in Australians—Australian knowhow, Australian ideas, Australian ingenuity—bringing manufacturing back to our shores.

The National Reconstruction Fund is one of the largest peacetime investments in Australian manufacturing. This will be a $15 billion fund to help industries across the country seize the opportunity to invest in and develop the technologies and industries of the future. It will create secure jobs for Australian workers and drive investment in the regions that need that investment the most. It will invest in new clean and green technologies of the future. It will provide a long-term vision for the economy—a strong, diverse and productive economy. Importantly, it will be independent of the government of the day.

Based on the successful model of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation—another proud Labor legacy—the NRFC will bring government, business, industry and researchers groups together to build our industrial and manufacturing base. Guided by an investment mandate set out by the minister, the board of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation will make arm's-length and independent investment decisions. This is about using the power of the Commonwealth to independently provide funding for the industries of the future.

The NRFC will provide finance to drive investments in seven priority areas of the Australian economy, from value-adding to our resources and agriculture, to medical science and manufacturing, to renewables and low emissions technologies, to defence and enabling capabilities, including in areas such as artificial intelligence and robotics. This is the kind of joined-up thinking this country so desperately needs. It's the long-term, sustainable thinking we need to get our country moving.

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee had the opportunity to conduct a public hearing into the bill as part of its inquiry. Evidence presented to the committee was overwhelmingly positive—positive from industry, positive from unions, positive from scientists, positive from universities and positive from climate groups as well. Indeed, all submissions to the inquiry supported this bill. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry came to the hearing and said, in support of the bill:

Generally we see the NRF as an opportunity to provide funding to support businesses to develop in Australia. Currently there are a lot of opportunities for businesses—Australia is very good at research and development and innovation—but we have a lot of difficulty in then moving that research and development and innovation into production here in Australia. So the opportunities the NRF provides through the loans and guarantees will give an opportunity for those ideas to be scaled up, commercialised and produced here in Australia. That will potentially provide us with a lot of export opportunities as well.

That is a good endorsement of the bill from ACCI direct to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee in the hearing for the bill.

And there was so much more endorsement for the bill in inquiry's hearing that took place. Thomas McMahon from the Tech Council of Australia described the NRF as having 'the scope to grow new high-value industries and jobs across the country'. Heidi Lee, CEO of Beyond Zero Emissions, highlighted the opportunity and role that the NRF will have for investing in critical renewables technology that will bring down emissions and create the renewables jobs of the future. Andrew Richards, CEO of Energy Users Association of Australia, emphasised that this bill will create certainty and continuity for the renewable energy sector, with investments in technologies like wind turbines, hydrogen electrolysers and technology to modernise steel and aluminium processing.

As the rest of the world quickly embraces this technology, it is absolutely critical that we invest in the renewables sector strongly, too, and the NRF will do just that. Workers know their industries better than anyone else does. So, it was important to hear in our inquiry from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union about how the NRF will be critical in rebuilding our domestic manufacturing and the importance of good secure jobs for workers, particularly in those regions that need to diversify—and diversify now.

The NRF is also about sovereign manufacturing and securing our supply chains. We know that to repair our broken supply chains we need to diversify and transform our industry and our economy. In medical science we will be able to use our world-leading medical research and technology to provide for essentials such as medical devices, PPE, medicines and vaccines. Greg Mullins from Research Australia told us that the NRF gets us 'in the global race' that is on right now, to do just that. In resources, we can ensure that more of the materials coming out of our Australian earth are processed right here, because if we mine it here we should make it here. In transport and defence, the NRF will improve how we transport goods and services and maximise the use of defence materials made by Australian workers. Peter Chesworth from Universities Australia agrees, stating that the NRF represents 'a direct investment in the nation's sovereign capability'.

It's time to fix our broken supply chains. It's time to rebuild our sovereign capability. As Professor Ian Chubb from the Australian Academy of Science put it, 'It takes business, government and the research sector to work together.' This is what the NRF will do. Submitters to the inquiry understood what those opposite seem not to understand: that there's a global race for capital and a global race for talent, and the NRF allows us to compete in that race. We can't afford to wait, as so many submitters to the inquiry told us.

This government is committed to both our existing and our emerging manufacturing sector, and we are delivering on it—something those opposite had nearly a decade to do. But what did we get from them in that time? We got nine different industry ministers in nine years and a government that literally goaded the car industry to leave this country and drove Australian manufacturing off a cliff. For too long, while those opposite were in government, decisions were made in the interests of the coalition and their mates, not in the interests of Australia. Today, again they're putting some sort of political interest above creating jobs and investment for Australians.

The opposition face a choice here. It's a choice between revitalising Australian manufacturing and turning their backs on Australian manufacturers once again, just as they did when they were in government. Make no mistake: to vote against this bill is to vote against Australian jobs., to vote against Australian industry and to vote against Australian workers. Australians are at their best when they dream big, when they believe in a better future. We've seen this throughout our history, and this is what Labor governments do. It's in our DNA. We champion new ideas. We build our country up, and that's why we're committed to being a country that makes things here again—a country that invests in the technology of the future, the skills of the future, the jobs of the future and the working people of the future. The NRF will move this country forward, and I implore the Senate to move forward with us.