Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and the Future Made in Australia (Omnibus Amendments No. 1) Bill 2024. These bills seek to retrofit some form of a principle based framework to the government's hodgepodge of announcements that it has rolled together in its Future Made in Australia agenda.

The coalition will oppose these bills, and we encourage all of those in this chamber to oppose them, because, the more we learn about Labor's Future Made in Australia plan, the more clearly we see that the emperor has no clothes on at all. The more we learn about Labor's Future Made in Australia, the more obvious it is that there is no new paradigm, no new economic orthodoxy, as the Treasurer is so fond of claiming and, indeed, penning 6,000-word essays about. No, there is just the same old Labor with the same old industry policy, picking winners, ideologically driven priorities and wrongheaded subsidies, all at the expense of the taxpayer.

It could not be clearer that this does not stack up. It's a plan for pork-barrelling; it's not a plan for building a strong economy. It's a plan that would lead to more government intervention, not more business investment. Worst of all, it's a plan for more inflation at a time when Australian families and businesses are already struggling under the weight of the Labor government's economic mismanagement.

Australia has a proud and strong manufacturing history and a proud and strong manufacturing industry, and, while for decades the coalition has been a champion of this vital sector by supporting manufacturing, it requires far more than simply empty slogans to keep it going. It requires effective economic management, a management style that gets back to basics: affordable and reliable energy, flexible workplace practices that work for both the employee and the employer, less regulation and red tape and green tape, and an incentive based tax system that rewards risk and provides an incentive for people's efforts. These are the pillars of a successful economy, pillars that Labor policies are steadily eroding.

Let's make it clear: the Future Made in Australia Bill is not about securing our future; it's about securing Labor's political interests. Labor is using this bill as a vehicle for pork-barrelling, handing out taxpayer money to favoured sectors without any proper scrutiny. It's not the way to build a strong and resilient economy. Labor's plan fundamentally misunderstands what it is that drives business investment. It's not more government grants and handouts that Australian businesses need, and it's certainly not what they're crying out for. What they need is less red tape, less green tape, less regulation, lower taxes and a regulatory environment that encourages growth and innovation but doesn't stymie it.

Instead, these bills dramatically increase the ability for the government to essentially funnel taxpayer money through the Export Finance Australia organisation and ARENA, transforming them into tools for political gain rather than tools for economic development. The changes to ARENA, in particular, are alarming. ARENA was established as a research and development agency. Previously Labor opposed even expanding the remit of this organisation to cover sensible net zero and related R&D expenditure initiatives, including into carbon capture and storage and blue hydrogen. Labor opposed that. But now, under this bill, ARENA's role is expanded to include deployment, manufacturing and commercialisation—areas that are so far removed from its original purpose.

Labor's changes give the minister for climate change the power to boost ARENA's funding without parliamentary oversight, allowing $3.98 billion to be spent with the stroke of a pen—$3.98 billion of taxpayer money, without scrutiny. This is nothing more than a slush fund for the minister for climate change, Mr Bowen, who will now have the power to roll out billions of dollars without any parliamentary oversight. This is the same old industry policy for the same old Labor.

Let's see how well they're doing so far. We have $1 billion that has already been shelled out for solar panel manufacturers that even the Treasurer's own hand-picked Productivity Commissioner doesn't believe will economically stack up—$1 billion of your money. There's half a billion dollars to an American quantum computing company, and there are serious questions to answer on the process for the funding that the ANAO may inquire into. An American quantum computing company, for a Future Made in Australia: I ask you, how does that stack up?

There is the Solar Sunshot program, which even the Treasury secretary refuses to endorse. I think that's quite extraordinary. And the biggest booster of green hydrogen, Fortescue, are scaling back their ambitions for green hydrogen, not expanding them, despite the promise of tax credits for just existing, for just doing what they were always going to do—tax credits for 'just being'. This is the Labor government's idea of a future made in Australia. Former productivity commissioner Mr Gary Banks described the government's policy as a fool's errand that risks repeating the mistakes of the past by propping up, in his words, 'political favourites'.

Let us consider why the Australian manufacturing industry are in this position to begin with. Labor's policy on energy, on industrial relations and on taxation are making Australia a less attractive place to do business. Insolvencies in this country have skyrocketed. Around 19,000 businesses have gone under since Labor took office. That is 19,000, just in the past 2½ years alone. And there is every indication that there is more to come. That's the highest number of insolvencies on record. Productivity is down by 6.3 per cent in the last two years, and businesses are struggling just to keep their doors open.

The Future Made in Australia Bill does absolutely nothing to address these challenges. In fact, by throwing money into a flawed system, it's likely to make things worse. Inflation is already, in the words of the RBA governor, both 'home grown' and 'sticky'. Prices have risen by 10 per cent, and for working households the cost of living has surged by over 18 per cent. No wonder Australians feel that they're doing it tough; they are doing it tough. No wonder they feel that they're poorer; they are poorer, under Labor. Personal income taxes are up by 20 per cent. Real wages have collapsed by nine per cent, and household savings are down by 10 per cent. In Australia a typical family with a mortgage of around $750,000 is now $35,000 worse off a year. They have to find $35,000 more a year to pay that mortgage. That's not the sort of money you find down the back of a couch.

These are the facts, and they paint a very bleak picture of Labor's economic legacy. Since taking office, Labor has spent an additional $315 billion. That's over $30,000 per household in Australia. And I haven't met a family yet who's feeling $30,000 better off under this government. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer may be trying to pick winners, but the problem is that it's Australian families that will lose under this plan. Australians deserve so much better. They deserve a government that will address cost-of-living issues head on and put their needs first—not the needs of their mates and not the needs of their political favourites. They need a government that will make the tough decisions that are required to secure our nation's economic future.

The coalition's plan is very clear. We will get back to basics. First, we will rein in inflationary spending. We will not spend billions of dollars on corporate welfare for green hydrogen and critical minerals. Instead we will prioritise responsible spending that delivers real benefits for Australian families and Australian businesses. Second, we will cut red tape, removing those regulatory roadblocks that are stifling innovation and suffocating our economy. We will make it easier for businesses to grow and to create jobs; we will not make it harder for them. That's what they are asking of us. Third, we will provide lower, simpler and fairer taxes for all Australians. Everyone should be able to keep more of what they earn, and we will ensure that that happens, injecting that sense of aspiration and opportunity back into our economy. We've already announced our plan to increase the instant asset write-off to $30,000, and not only will we increase it but we will make it permanent. It's a genuine productivity-enhancing policy that will benefit small businesses, which—we must all remind ourselves every single day—are the engine room of the Australian economy.

Fourth, we will deliver affordable and reliable energy by getting more gas into the system to support manufacturers and provide secure base-load power. That 24/7 power is necessary in order for our manufacturers to be viable. This will support businesses with the power that they need to thrive and will ensure that households are not burdened with the skyrocketing energy bills that we've seen over the last two years. Our plan is not about slogans, and it's not about handouts. It's about real and practical solutions that will restore confidence in our economy and rebuild Australia's competitiveness. It's not about ideology, and it's not about playing favourites and picking winners. It's about getting back to basics and getting our economy back on an even keel so that we can all prosper and thrive.

In conclusion, the Future Made in Australia Bill is not the answer to our nation's economic challenges. It is, unfortunately, simply a misguided attempt to paper over the cracks of Labor's economic policies, and it uses taxpayer money to do it. It uses taxpayer money to fund political priorities rather than pulling the levers on those drivers of a strong economy, like energy prices and energy reliability or an industrial relations system that is flexible for employees and for employers, so that it works for all of us and not just for some of us and returns productivity to our economy. It's about reducing red tape, brown tape, green tape and every other kind of tape which this government has wrapped our economy in and which has slowed down business, stifled innovation and made people walk away from their own businesses because it's all too hard. It's about a tax system that gets productivity going and restores that sense of opportunity, so that people know that, if they work hard and take a risk, it will be worth their while.

Most importantly, it's about tackling inflation—the ultimate thief in the night that eats away at your income, erodes your savings, reduces your standard of living and, overall, reduces your quality of life. If you cannot tackle inflation, then as a government, you are not doing your first job, which is to raise people's standard of living, not lower it. That's what we've seen in the last two years. Most importantly it's to address the real needs of Australian families and businesses, to improve their quality of life and make sure that they've got more money in their pockets so that they can have the choices and the opportunities that they deserve and that they expect in what should be and can be—and will be, under a coalition government—a prosperous and thriving society.

The coalition offers a much better way: a return to sound economic management, to responsible use of taxpayer money and to policies that will secure Australians' future.