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

I rise to speak on the government's bill to provide Future Made in Australia production tax credits. Only the Liberals could oppose this bill. Production tax credits will be a critical enabler for Australia's renewable hydrogen future and our critical minerals processing sectors.

The Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credits and Other Measures) Bill 2024 will directly support the government's work to accelerate investment in the net zero transition, and it will build economic resilience and security in our country. Renewable hydrogen will be absolutely critical for the production of green metals and the future of manufacturing in this country. While Australia does do a great job of digging and shipping our significant minerals reserves, there are a lot of value-adding and downstream processing opportunities to take advantage of. That's what we want to do, and that's what we will do with this bill. Importantly, these production tax credits will reward production. There are no blank cheques in this bill. There are no complicated guidelines or risks to investment certainty. This bill is simple and it's efficient, and the production tax credits will be applied at tax time.

This government is focused on a future made in Australia, a future of making more things in our own backyard right here, on our own shores. It's hard to think why anybody in this chamber wouldn't support that. But the Liberal Party don't. Those opposite have decided to stand against Australian jobs once again. They have decided to stand alone and oppose this bill. They oppose this critical support for Australian industries. They oppose the jobs and the industry across regional Australia that will be supported by this bill. They are saying no to more jobs in Western Australia, no to more jobs in Queensland, and no to jobs in areas like Gippsland in my home state of Victoria. The Liberals, right here today, are choosing to oppose new industries and new job opportunities for Australians, just as they always have.

We all remember when they drove Australia's car industry off a cliff. We remember when they cost working class suburbs across our country tens of thousands of jobs in production and in the supply chain. Labor, on the other hand, believe in good, secure jobs. We believe in our manufacturing industry in this country. We believe we can do more than dig and ship. We believe in a future made in Australia. We believe in onshoring jobs that we've lost to overseas. And the Liberals oppose jobs, oppose Australian manufacturing and oppose a future made in Australia.

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which I chair, was overwhelmed with support for these production tax credits. Indeed, the Minerals Council of Australia told us, 'We support this bill,' because the bill is going to help to reduce the cost of production for people that develop facilities downstream. And witnesses to the hearing wanted the bill to pass ASAP. The Australian Hydrogen Council told us how keen their members are for this bill to pass, saying:

From our perspective and based on the things I've personally heard from members, the most important thing here is to get this bill passed and to get it done in a timely fashion.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia said—and I'm sure my Western Australian colleagues across the chamber will be interested in this:

The CME support the swift passage of the bill to implement the CMPTI and HPTI in order to support Australia's investment attractiveness in these strategic industries.

The Clean Energy Council labelled the production tax credits 'a no-regrets measure' and urged swift passage. Michele O'Neil, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, endorsed the bill, saying:

If we fail to pass this bill, we'll be foregoing to the opportunity to create, conservatively, hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions in domestic economic activity.

It really could not be any clearer. Everyone wants this bill to pass, except the Liberals.

What this government wants is a future made in Australia. What those opposite, the Liberals, want is a future made overseas. That is what they are coming into the chamber and voting for today. We are getting on with the job of delivering a future made in Australia, of building the jobs and opportunities of the future. As part of that future, it is important that the benefits are shared with the community. Ensuring that our communities feel the real benefits is what the community benefit principles in this bill are about.

The community benefit principles are six principles that recipients of Future Made in Australia support must have, including safe and secure jobs, positive outcomes for local communities, support of First Nations communities and traditional owners, strengthening of domestic industrial capabilities, and transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs. Who could oppose that? Who could oppose all of those community benefits? You guessed it—the Liberals. They are the ones in this chamber today opposing a future made in Australia and opposing safe and secure jobs and benefits to local communities. It is these community benefit principles that will ensure our Future Made in Australia agenda has a wider impact and delivers real opportunities for Australian industry, workers, First Nations and our community. This bill is industry building, it is job creating and it's proudly building a future made in Australia, and it must pass.