Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The criteria in the national interest framework will help Treasury focus on sectors where Australia is strong and where investment is key to keeping the economy secure and growing, ensuring that projects supported by the Future Made in Australia program benefit the Australian people, not just the companies involved. This is achieved through community benefit principles which decision-makers must consider when deciding how and when to provide support.

Including the community benefit principles in this bill embeds into law that every Australian is part of this transition to clean energy. It embeds into law that no-one is to be left behind and that the benefits are to be shared by all. New industry means new jobs. Two of these community benefit principles focus on jobs. It's so important that we ensure that these are Australian jobs. These are core principles of the Albanese Labor government—making sure that jobs are secure and fairly paid. We want to make sure that all Australians from all walks of life have a crack at the jobs in these new industries.

The workforce across the renewable sector is anticipated to rise from 26,000 to 85,000 workers by 2030 and to 194,000 workers by 2050. In my home state of Victoria we can look to the town of Portland on Gunditjmara country, where the Southern Ocean offshore wind zone has been declared. Some 1,470 will be created to build this project, with 870 ongoing jobs—jobs for engineers, jobs for operators, jobs for riggers, jobs for divers and jobs for administrators to keep it running. The Albanese Labor government is committed to ensuring that these are Australian jobs by building skills and investing in training right here. We want our workforce to be renowned worldwide for excellence and expertise.

We've also committed $70 million to establish the Clean Energy Skills National Centre of Excellence in Western Australia—more jobs for West Australians. This week we also announced a new TAFE centre of excellence in Queensland that will deliver innovative, clean energy training to Queenslanders—more jobs for Queenslanders. I know how important jobs are for Queenslanders. My colleague Senator Chisholm is a passionate advocate for jobs for Queenslanders. We talk about jobs often. We want to make sure that these jobs are available to everyone in the community.

Historically, there have been challenges with diversifying the job market in the energy sector. The Future Made in Australia program and the net zero energy transition gives us all an opportunity to rewrite that story. We want women bringing their minds and hearts to this sector, and so we have committed $55.6 million to the Building Women's Careers Program to expand support for women's training in clean energy. This means more jobs for women.

We have heard there is more to be done to bring First Nations people into this workforce, and we are committed to doing what it takes to build opportunities to support First Nations people to take up the education and training required to be part of this new world. To clarify how important it is to the Albanese Labor government that these programs benefit First Nations communities, we propose adding a new community benefit principle of supporting First Nations communities and traditional owners to participate in, and share in the benefits of, the transition to net zero—more jobs for mobs.

Through the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry on First Nations' economic prosperity, we've heard from businesses and communities at the cutting edge of entrepreneurship. They've told us they're looking at renewable energy for their future. In Gippsland this is happening in real time. The Gippsland offshore wind zone falls on Gunaikurnai country. The Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation know that clean energy is the future. Troy, Daniel and the team are doing incredible work. They understand the impact that climate change has had on their country through fire, flood and extreme weather. They know that the transition to renewable energy is important and will reduce the effects of climate change. They can also see the enormous opportunity for their people in being at the forefront of building cleaner, cheap energy stations on their land.

And so they are organising and preparing themselves for negotiations with developers. They are doing this knowing their negotiation position is strengthened by the fact that government is looking for projects with meaningful engagement with First Nations people and communities and delivering genuine ongoing benefits for mob. This means we're talking about truly pivoting to economic opportunities for First Nations communities through these arrangements. We are talking about truly transforming the economic future of a generation of First Nations Australians.

We know this is possible because we can learn from Canada, where First Nations people have been involved in the renewable energy sector for the past 20 years. Canada had mandated project ownership targets where projects are built on First Nations lands. In this context, First Nations led initiatives have fostered 200 medium to large renewable energy projects and have helped generate $1.5 billion in Indigenous and employment contracts. We are getting started with a similar approach in Australia. Through the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry into economic prosperity for First Nations Australians, we have heard about the East Kimberley Clean Energy Project, which will construct the largest solar farm in Australia—900 megawatts—and a 50,000 tonne hydrogen facility. These are really significant and mind-boggling numbers. And you know what? It's created jobs there too.

But it doesn't take a clean-energy scientist to understand that these projects are groundbreaking and arrangements with traditional owners as equal partners are truly transformational, positioning First Nations people in the driver's seat of harnessing the community benefits from the clean-energy transition. To quote Minister Bowen, who is doing such fantastic work in this space: 'Indigenous participation should be the norm, not the exception.' That is exactly what this government wants to achieve, and I, for one, am very excited about that future—a future of cheaper, cleaner energy for all Australians; a future with more jobs for all Australians; a future where failing coal stations don't lead to higher energy bills; a future where my kids have the option of learning from world renowned clean energy researchers at our universities or from highly skilled technicians in our TAFE systems; a future where we build and make our clean-energy gear right here in Australia and the quality means that our products are shipped around the world; a future where regional communities are thriving not only with jobs on renewable energy farms but with jobs in schools, hospitality and businesses that spring up to serve those projects; and a future where First Nations people and communities are a central part of the clean energy industry, where they have negotiated steady, sustainable revenue streams and are no longer defined by a deficit narrative but rather recognised for their contribution, their skills and their knowledge. Let's move forward towards a future made in Australia.