Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Just yesterday this chamber finished debate on the National Reconstruction Fund, which, as I recall, you opposed. The government is very firm in its commitment to establish arrangements to support manufacturing and industrial activity. The safeguard mechanism is part of that. It is about providing the certainty that is necessary for those businesses to make the necessary investments to remain competitive in a world that is decarbonising. The National Reconstruction Fund is part of that. It is about providing resources to ensure that we continue to be a country that makes things—and, frankly, makes more things than we do at the moment. The Powering the Regions Fund, more broadly, is designed to provide support for the transition, and notwithstanding the specific allocations for safeguard facilities, safeguard facilities will also be eligible to apply for the other resources in the Powering the Regions Fund.