Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

It's clear that the Albanese Labor government loves bureaucracy and waste. It's everywhere you look. Their Future Made in Australia legislation is only going to make the problem worse. We need to be encouraging and supporting the development and growth of business across this country. During the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the coalition acted as we had to and provided all-important relief to Australians. We ensured that business could continue to operate and everyday Aussies could keep their jobs. We knew that desperate times called for desperate measures. As it turned out, we knew a thing or two, because those measures stood Australia in good stead. They ensured that we were able to weather the storm of the pandemic. In fact, we didn't just weather the storm; we came out of it with record low unemployment rates, low interest rates and the biggest turnaround to the budget bottom line in 70 years.

But what we also knew and said from the start was that those measures were only ever temporary, and the fact is we are no longer in that period of desperation. So, just as that period has gone, so too should those temporary measures and the government intervention that was justified for a moment. Serious action needs to be taken to rein in inflation and to ensure we return to a sustainable budget, yet that's not what the Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credits and Other Measures) Bill 2024 does. So it's no wonder that our economy has slipped from being a world leader to being one that is falling behind the pack. Take any measure—interest rates, inflation, productivity or growth. We don't have much to be proud of under Labor.

The truth is the coalition will not stand for subsidising business because of the actions of a poorly run Labor government. While the coalition undoubtedly believes in lower taxation, this policy from Labor doesn't deliver widespread tax relief. The bill introduces various tax offsets for businesses, but it won't actually provide tax relief for businesses for years. Let's be clear; Labor's policies are strangling our manufacturing and resources industries. Australian miners need a change in government if there is any hope for their sector to grow and thrive as it should. Small businesses in Australia don't benefit a cent from this legislation, yet the policy is costing billions of dollars. Simply applying these tax credits would cost a business something in the realm of $100,000 in the first year, and that's according to Labor's own analysis. Then after the first year there are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of costs which they would have to foot over the life of operations. It's not cheap for the taxpayer and it's not cheap for businesses. Under this legislation, no-one wins.

There are a number of reasons why that is the case. The red tape that businesses face just to simply access the tax credits is unreasonable. They would have to go through the Clean Energy Regulator; the Department of Industry, Science and Resources; and ARENA—that's all before the business even gets to the tax office. In addition to that, there is the requirement for businesses that want to access the tax credit to meet the community benefit principles. These are the same principles that are littered throughout the Albanese government's Future Made in Australia plan, yet we ask: what are the principles? Right now we don't know, and, worse, we are supposed to be content with the fact that the Treasurer will make them up via regulations. The uncertainty is troubling. It puts the Treasurer at the top of the hierarchy, holding all of the power. They are the ones who get to decide which sector of the economy deserves investment.

Let's just remind ourselves who we're talking about here. Dr Chalmers spent a whopping six months in the private sector and has never run a business in his life. He is the one who we're supposed to trust with setting the conditions for businesses to operate and seek funding. He and the ever-increasing bureaucracy are who we are meant to put our faith in to set the conditions for businesses to operate and seek funding.

We already know from estimates that some of Australia's key investments like carbon capture and storage, gas, blue hydrogen, uranium or nuclear will not be eligible for investment and have not been considered as part of the Future Made in Australia policy. The situation is made more troubling when we look at the way state Labor governments have approached similar situations. When we look at those state Labor governments we see a surreptitious pathway for social procurement and an entry point for the CFMEU. We all know that this means that, in all likelihood, if the unions don't agree then the business doesn't get the tax credit. We know that this is the kind of conduct which takes union involvement in workplaces permanent and enables corruption. It's exactly what we've seen at a state level, and we don't need more ways for these unions to replicate that behaviour. The fact is this terrible policy, and no business would be blamed if they wanted nothing to do with it.

But it's not just me that has an issue with Labor's Future Made in Australia. It's not just the coalition saying this. The fact is there are myriad other stakeholders and voices who are saying the same things. Take the Productivity Commission, for example. The commission has been clear that the Future Made in Australia policy is not tax reform. The commissioner has also noted that, if we support businesses that don't have a long-term competitive advantage, that can create an ongoing cost. She warned that it can divert resources away from part of the economy where they might otherwise generate high-value income. This, she said, risked creating a class of businesses that is reliant on business subsidies and there can be very effective in coming back for more. The former productivity commissioner, Gary Banks, described the Future Made in Australia as 'a fool's errand'. Mr Banks was clear that the scheme risks propping up political favourites. I don't know about you, but that's not the kind of Australia that I want to live in.

In addition to the Productivity Commission, independent economist Steven Hamilton believes Future Made in Australia is one of the big problems with industry policy. Mr Hamilton pointed out that this is a return to unlearnt lessons of the past. Even the union backers, like the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, aren't happy about the role of Treasury in the Future Made in Australia, because of what they described as limited expertise.

Future Made in Australia was supposed to be the Albanese Labor government's winning economic agenda. Unfortunately for Mr Albanese, it is going no better than their economic plan in the first term. However, there is hope—and thank goodness, because, honestly, Australians deserve so much better than this. While the Albanese Labor government is preoccupied with keeping themselves at the centre of the economic universe, the coalition's plan will get Australia back on track. The coalition will ensure we cut the waste and restore efficient and effective government. We will play to Australia's strengths and ensure that our mining, manufacturing and agricultural industries go from strength to strength. We will get back to economic basics. That means reining in inflationary spending and dealing with the enormous amount of waste that this Labor government has created. The $13.7 billion that this government has wasted on tax production credits is just the tip of the iceberg. We'll decrease regulation and cut the red tape, the green tape and the black tape that is holding back business and, ultimately, keeping our country's economy from getting ahead.

We'll work to remove the burden of Labor's industrial relations agenda from businesses. We'll make sure that there are lower and fairer taxes for all Australians. We'll make sure our competition policy gives consumers and small businesses, instead of lobbyists and big corporations, a decent chance. Finally, we're committed to ensuring affordable and reliable energy—a world away from Labor's failing plan for a future made in Australia. The coalition is committed to implementing these simple and effective economic settings that will get our country back on track.