Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to continue my remarks in regard to the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024, an important opportunity for our country to take the next step into a cleaner future for our nation and better local jobs for our regions. It's without question that our world is quickly changing, our global and national population is growing, economies are becoming more competitive, and we are moving towards a future where we get to decide: Do we want to fall behind on the global transition to net zero? Or do we want to invest in ourselves and ensure that Australians of today and of future generations are set up to have cheaper and cleaner energy? This is an opportunity to see Australians have more-secure and better paid jobs. It's an opportunity for Australians to see their nation become a renewable energy superpower that's taking ambitious strides towards net zero, and it's a real opportunity for regional Queenslanders to lead this change.

I want to discuss what is in this bill, because I have heard a lot of debate about what this bill means. But it's really clear that this bill provides a clear plan for the future of our industrial policy. It's a plan that looks to targeted public investment to attract private finance sectors that have comparative advantage in our net zero global economy. The bill would establish a national interest framework and introduce community benefit principles. The national interest framework would have two streams: the net zero transformation stream and the economic resilience and security stream. Together these streams would target sectors that could have a comparative advantage in the net zero economy and would look towards unlocking private investment for areas that align with Australia's national interest. This framework would have a transparency at its core and play a crucial role in attracting investment that will transform our economy. The community benefit principles are a second priority of this bill, and they're really important. Community benefit principles will be established to ensure that public investment and the private investment that it attracts will flow towards communities and benefit local workers and businesses.

There are five principles that are outlined in this legislation, and it beggars belief that those opposite would oppose these principles. They are, very simply: job security and safety, upskilling workforces, engaging collaboratively with local communities, strengthening industrial local supply chains and demonstrating transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs.

The bill, with the aim that our country becomes more competitive, productive and economically resilient, will be delivering $22.7 billion to ensure that we can have good, local, secure manufacturing jobs. Some of these commitments include $68 million over four years to attract key investments in key industries and to increase the contribution that Australia is making to innovation, science and digital capabilities.

But it's the investment that we are making in our critical minerals that I think is crucial to this bill. A key commitment of the Future Made in Australia Bill which is significant for my home state of Queensland will be the new initiative funding critical minerals. It's an important step forward because we know that this is going to be a crucial industry as we transition to net zero, and it's really important to places like Queensland that have a good resources industry. Under the Future Made in Australia policy, critical minerals will receive production tax incentives to support downstream refining and processing of Australia's 31 critical minerals over the next decade. It is, again, an exciting opportunity for those regional towns to take hold of this transformation.

The other sector that we are looking at through this bill and through our investment in manufacturing is defence manufacturing. The Future Made in Australia Bill will also look towards broader investments in the government's growth agenda, including in defence priorities and manufacturing. To achieve this, the government will provide $100 million to attract and retain a skilled industrial workforce. This funding will support Australian shipbuilding, the delivery of conventionally armed nuclear powered submarines and create new jobs and experts within our defence sector. It is an important step forward to create an industrial base that is resilient, competitive and capable, and it's exactly what our government wants to do with the Future Made in Australia Bill.

This bill before us today, the Future Made in Australia Bill, is a pivotal decision for our future. The Albanese Labor government wants to invest in and strengthen our economies, industries and supply chains. We want to make more things here in Australia. We want to create jobs for Australians and invest in our local communities and we want to equip our workforce with the skills that we need for a modern and thriving economy.

As I said at the beginning of my contribution earlier today, it is so important that we get this right. There is no community that knows that more than the community that I live in in Cairns. We have two things at stake when it comes to this bill. We have a thriving tourism economy that is dependent on us getting to net zero. We also have an incredible defence and marine manufacturing sector ready to take to the next level. We have good, local manufacturing jobs that rely on the reef. That is the economic base of our small regional community. It is really important that we support this bill, and that's why I'm doing that, to support the local community in Cairns.

It's disappointing to see, yet again, the Liberal and National parties voting against a future made in Australia and voting against all the opportunities that this bill could bring to somewhere like Far North Queensland. But this is the first opportunity for the new LNP candidate for Leichhardt, Jeremy Neal, to stand up for the community in Far North Queensland. He has a choice to make: does he support a future made in Australia or does he support Mr Peter Dutton? Because you can't do both. You can't support the LNP's position on a future made in Australia and vote down this bill that supports manufacturing and say that you support the Cairns Marine Precinct, the shipbuilders down on the wharf and the future of our tourism industry in Cairns. You can't do both. So this is the first chance for Jeremy Neal to stand up for the local community in Far North Queensland and say that he does support Labor's Future Made in Australia Bill and that he doesn't support the position of the Liberal-National coalition.

It is shameful that we again have this situation, where, no matter what single manufacturing job we talk about, the Liberal-National coalition is out to get those workers. They've been called rent-seekers. I don't see it that way. I've met with manufacturing workers in Cairns and across Queensland. They have a bright future under a Labor government, because we are looking forward to what a renewable energy future looks like for Queensland. What it means is that we're able to do two things. We're able to make more things here in Australia, and we're able to progress to a net zero economy and protect the Great Barrier Reef.

That is what these bills are about. I'm very pleased to be supporting them. I've always stood up for manufacturing workers, and I've always stood up against the attacks that manufacturing workers have suffered from those opposite. We'll continue to do that, and as a Labor government we'll continue to deliver what manufacturing workers need—good, local, secure jobs.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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. Sadly, these bills couldn't be further from the priorities that this government should be pursuing for the Australian people. We are opposing these bills, because, the more we hear about them and the more we hear about the detail, the clearer it becomes how wasteful some elements of this are. The bigger that government gets, the more intervention in the economy there is. That's what we don't need—more intervention.

This is just another thread in the fabric of this government's agenda to slowly break down small businesses in this country and give special treatment to their mates in the union movement and in the industry super funds. It's time to focus on building small businesses, not bringing them down. Labor's policies on energy, industrial relations and tax are all making it harder for Australian small businesses to survive and making Australia a much harder place to do business. This is the opposite of what we need, and this bill just adds to that significant problem.

We are now continually hearing more and more stories about the poor processes, the lack of scrutiny and the double standards that are within this program. The government continues to try to pick winners in the economy. They are spending billions of dollars of taxpayers' funds to do so, and they are pouring these billions of dollars into the economy in this way in the middle of a cost-of-living and inflationary crisis. We speak regularly about the fact that this government has poured $315 billion extra into the economy since they came to government. This is why we have homegrown inflation, this is why we have the problem with the stickiness of inflation in this country and this is why we are laggards when it comes to dealing with inflation compared to our global contemporaries.

Since Labor came to power, Australians have been paying more and more—and far more than people in comparable economies. Our core inflation is higher than the US, the UK, Canada, Japan, the EU, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand. We are now in six consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth per capita, the longest per capita recession in 50 years. Think about that. Living standards have fallen by 8.7 per cent, productivity has fallen by 6.3 per cent, household savings are down 10.2 percentage points and personal income taxes are 25.3 per cent higher.

That's not to mention what has happened to the mortgage repayments and rents of the everyday Australian. Gas is up 33 per cent, and electricity is up 14 per cent. That is even after the rebate has been added. Rents are up 16 per cent, health is up 11 per cent, education is also up 11 per cent, food is up 12 per cent and finance and insurance are up 17 per cent. A family with a mortgage of $750,000 is around $35,000 a year worse off. I'll probably hear you say, 'Yes, we've heard you say that a lot.' We say it a lot because it's really important. The average family with a mortgage of $750,000 in this country—just on that basis—is $35,000 a year worse off. That is extraordinary. We should be talking about that a lot more and we should understand the pain that the everyday Australian is feeling every single day as they struggle and juggle to pay their bills. It is unacceptable that Australians are in a full-blown cost-of-living crisis.

I have been calling, along with so many of my colleagues, for this government to address the root causes of this inflation; however, the spending continues. The Future Made in Australia Bill does nothing to alleviate these pressures on struggling families and small businesses. In fact, this big-spending agenda and this big-spending bill are likely to make inflation worse. Just like households and small businesses, governments need to manage their budgets and live within their means, but the Albanese Labor government have shown just how truly out of depth and out of touch they are. This is not just a cost-of-living crisis; it is also a cost-of-doing-business crisis and it is hitting small businesses the hardest. Small businesses across the country, particularly in my state of New South Wales, are employing fewer staff and not opening for as long. Their costs are going up. Their prices are going up. They are paying more for their loans and, sadly, they have fewer people coming through the door to buy their goods and services, so they are shuttering their doors. They are closing down. Small businesses in this country are in crisis. They are closing down because they cannot afford to continue to operate. That is happening under the watch of this government.

What does this bill do for small business? Does it do anything? No, it doesn't. In fact, it will make the problems that small businesses are facing even worse. One could call it another shot in the war against small business. That is unacceptable. Small businesses are the heavy lifters of our economy. They are the accountants, hairdressers, dentists, doctors, pharmacists, tradies, plumbers and electricians. They are people that hold our country together, yet for some reason this government continues to introduce policy mechanisms that make it harder for small businesses to survive in this country.

This legislation puts the Treasurer and his department in the position to decide whether a sector of the Australian economy deserves investment. The Treasurer has never run a business, and he described his private career as 'six long, long months'. He will now be setting the conditions for businesses to operate and seek funding under his plan. 'Six long, long months'—think about that. Every small business operator in this country that struggles to pay their bills, pay their staff and keep costs down should have a think about that and the attitude of this government to what they're going through.

The Treasurer's department will consider the investment against a very narrow set of criteria, and it has provided evidence to Senate estimates that key investments for Australia's energy future and sovereign capability, be they carbon capture and storage, gas, blue hydrogen, uranium or nuclear, will not be eligible and have not been considered as a part of this framework. The analysis to green-light these investments will be guided by a Treasurer who has never worked in business and a department of bureaucrats who, under this government, have shown that they have failed to understand Australian business, particularly Australian small businesses.

Meanwhile, the so-called community benefit principles will entrench union involvement in the workplace and replicate many of the same social procurement policies that have enabled the CFMEU's corrupt conduct to flourish at the state level. We don't need more of that; we need less of that. That is not the way to build a healthy and productive economy where everybody gets a fair go. The Business Council have warned that these procurement rules are at risk of enabling this behaviour, while risking subsiding businesses Australia would never have a comparative advantage in. The BCA rightly points out that it is important because there are taxpayer dollars at stake. We have to remember there is no government money; it's all taxpayer money. All the money that is spent in this place is taxpayer money. The BCA have been clear that this is not the best path ahead.

The coalition are not the only ones raising these serious concerns, along with the BCA. Danielle Wood, the Chair of the Productivity Commission—the government's key economic adviser, appointed by Jim Chalmers—has said:

If we are supporting industries that don't have a long-term competitive advantage, that can be an ongoing cost. It diverts resources, that's workers and capital, away from other parts of the economy where they might generate high value uses.

We risk creating a class of businesses that is reliant on government subsidies, and that can be very effective in coming back for more.

When asked whether Future Made in Australia contained tax reform, Ms Wood explicitly said, 'No, it is not a tax reform.'

There are a lot of issues here. In another example, an eminent economist, Professor Richard Holden, said:

The PM says all the wrong things … And his main argument for subsidies is that other countries are doing it.

He said it's like a primary school teacher being told, 'Someone else started it,' or, 'Somebody else has done it, so we should do it too.'

Steven Hamilton, an independent economist, has said:

There are many problems with industry policy, and this is a big one. It's why I tend to favour more neutral investment incentives like a lower corporate tax rate or accelerated depreciation.

So what is this telling us? It is telling us that across the board there are concerns with this, across the board there are red flags and industry groups and economists are saying, 'You're getting this wrong.'

Australians want and deserve something much better than this. The coalition in government will do three things. We will steer our nation out of this domestic crisis. We will not simply talk about our challenges; we will actually do something about them. More importantly, we will make decisions that will set up our nation for success in generations to come. This bill, the Future Made in Australia bill 2024, and its program are not the way to do that.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 provides a legislative framework for parts of the government 's Future Made in Australia policy. This provides for an investment of $22.7 billion over the next 10 years to 'help Australia become an indispensable part of the global economy as the world transforms to net zero emissions and undergoes the most significant changes since the industrial revolution'. The government talks about maximising the economic and industrial benefits of the move to net zero and securing Australia's place in a changing global economic and strategic landscape. Specifically, the following claim is made by the government:

Given our critical and abundant natural endowments and skilled workforce, Australia is well positioned to strengthen priority supply chains and become an indispensable part of the net zero global economy.

One Nation are big supporters of the first part of that statement. Australia is blessed with abundant and substantial mineral resources, and it's our obligation to share those with the world so other countries can enjoy the standard of living we have. That is, we used to have it. Now our economy is in a race to the bottom, with the Greens, teals and Labor in a race to see how many wealth-generating projects they can shut down.

The Future Made in Australia agenda includes broader investments in the government's growth agenda, including critical technologies, defence priorities, skills in priority sectors, a competitive business environment and reforms to better attract and deploy investment—in particular, projects where some level of domestic capability is necessary for efficient delivery of economic resilience and security and the private sector will not deliver the necessary investment in the sector in the absence of government support. That's an important point.

I have been working with the project sponsor of Capricorn Steel, a steel park project in northern Queensland, which I will speak more often a moment. This project, known also as Project Iron Boomerang, includes a railway, port and new energy efficient ships. This is a $50 billion project, initially, which is to be entirely financed through private equity, who have the money ready to go but will not commit it, because they don't trust the Australian government. After watching a litany of cancelled projects—like Adani, where a billionaire from India wanted to invest $17 billion in Australia, and we did our best as a country and as the state of Queensland to keep him out—long legal delays and general incompetence, financiers are taking their money elsewhere.

This is why the government is now creating an investment pathway to get things built again. It's the government or nothing. The prime function of the government is to build infrastructure projects that allow private enterprise to grow the economy and raise the wealth and prosperity of all Australians; to improve productivity in a way that protects the natural environment. This bill adds a layer on top, which is that the development must be net zero friendly.

One Nation doesn't believe in the United Nations' globalist net zero agenda. There is no empirical scientific data, no logical scientific points and no policy basis. We've seen that repeatedly. We believe it involves a massive transfer of wealth from everyday citizens into the pockets of the world's predatory billionaires—billionaire parasites sucking solar and wind subsidies. It forms a highly regressive tax on the poor using electricity. We wonder when the Left signed on to a crony capitalist agenda that hurts everyday Australians for no environmental benefit. That's a separate issue. One Nation does agree the national environment should be protected. We are stewards of the most fragile ecosystem in the world, and we must act with care. This bill doesn't actually mention good stewardship of the natural environment, but it's okay; One Nation does that as part of our core party values.

The Future Made in Australia policy includes the following broad stated aims: firstly, attracting investment in key industries through the national investment framework, streamlining approval processes for investment and encouraging private sector investment in sustainable industries; secondly, investing in net zero industries and increasing the demand for Australia's green exports; thirdly, strengthening resources and economic security by investing in resources and critical mineral supply chains, as well as investing in manufacturing of clean energy technology; and fourthly, investing in new technologies and capabilities, reforming tertiary education, providing a training and skills pipeline for Future Made in Australia priority industries, strengthening defence capability and increasing drought and disaster resilience, among other things.

The bill establishes the National Interest Framework, to be used for sector assessments which will determine which sectors of the economy are ones in which Australia could have a competitive advantage in a net zero economy and that require government investment, or where some degree of domestic capacity is required for the economic resilience and security. The government's stated guidelines in this section include a community benefit test which includes promoting safe, secure and well-paid work; developing skilled and inclusive workforces; working with communities to achieve positive outcomes, in particular First Nations communities and those affected by the transition to net zero; and strengthening domestic industrial capabilities, including local supply chains. This sounds like socialism—government wanting to control.

One Nation agrees with the intent. In particular, the industrial and mining sectors are being hollowed out through net zero measures to the detriment of the workers, unionists and their families. If the government is telling the truth, they will be able to rectify what they've already done in hollowing out the bush and the mining and manufacturing. Otherwise, fine Australian workers will join the tent cities that have sprung up under this Labor government. It should be pointed out that local supply chains are in fact part of the United Nations 2030 sustainability goals. It is more commonly called short supply chains. This goal encourages local supply of all goods and services, especially food. This may seem fine until you realise that, under this goal, anything which can't be supplied locally will not be available at all. That's the design. Except it will be available to the nomenklatura who can afford the carbon dioxide tax on long supply chains. If Australians want to live in a world that even vaguely resembles the world we grew up in, then local manufacturing is essential.

This bill seems to represent a newfound realisation by the Albanese Labor government that their union bosses and union members are running out of jobs, the economy is tanking and the next election is moving way out of reach.

One Nation can get on board with making things here again. We can't, though, get on board with all the net zero nonsense in this bill. The bill is written generally, allowing the minister wide powers to completely stuff things up. I don't see this as any different to the general stuffing-up the Albanese government is already doing. Giving it more ways to make mistakes seems like a bad idea.

The bill has some good qualities. The economic resilience and security stream relates to sectors where Australia requires a degree of domestic capacity and resilience for domestic, economic or security reasons, and there's an absence of private sector investment with that government support. The provisions around this section are quite extensive and seem to be a genuine attempt to provide for Australia's sovereign industrial capacity—without using the word 'sovereign', of course!

Let me give you an example of a project that fits the economic resilience and security rules like a glove and provides breadwinner, family friendly, secure jobs for tens of thousands of Australians. Capricorn Steel is a project to create an Australian steel industry using new, zero-emission steel plants located at Abbot Point near Townsville and Port Hedland in Western Australia. Boomerang ships would take beautiful Queensland coking coal around to Port Hedland in Western Australia, where it'll be used with their iron ore to produce Australian steel. This will be the world's highest-quality steel, produced at 10 to 15 per cent less than China—the cheapest quality steel in the world.

From Port Hedland this steel can be exported to markets in the subcontinent—India and Europe. The development crescent of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia will become the world's largest steel market over the next 20 years; Australia is perfectly placed to capitalise on that. Those ships will return to the Port of Gladstone carrying iron ore which will be combined with Australian coking coal to create a second steel park at Abbot Point. From there, Inland Rail can take this steel anywhere in Australia to help meet Australia's steel needs—steel that is critical to net zero, housing, construction and our modern lifestyle, steel that is critical to Australia's defence capability. Abbot Point, or the Port of Gladstone, is perfectly situated to export this steel to Asia, China and the United States.

Development of a railway across the Top End to open up areas currently served by road as well as new port facilities and new high-efficiency shipping are all projects that satisfy the development criteria in this bill—plus a water pipeline, plus a communications link to open up Central Australia and northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia. Capricorn Steel and Project Iron Boomerang will add $100 billion to Australia's gross domestic product, provide 40,000 secure breadwinner jobs and provide $25 billion in government revenue every year. Capricorn Steel will be emission free, for those who believe this global warming nonsense. Every ton of steel produced in the zero-emission steel plants to be constructed at Port Hedland and Abbot Point will save two tonnes of carbon dioxide from steel produced elsewhere. That's a reduction in carbon dioxide production of 88 million tonnes a year.

There is no net zero without steel. Yet all the messaging coming from the government around this bill is nothing but net zero, which is nonsense. I get it: even net zero carpetbaggers are running out of interest in this failed net zero scam, so the government has to steal taxpayers' money to keep net zero going.

One Nation has no confidence this bill will achieve anything positive for Australia. If the government wants to move the provisions around economic resilience and security into a new bill, with Infrastructure Australia in charge, One Nation would be delighted to support those measures.

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've only recently joined my parliamentary colleagues in the Senate, but in this short time I've already witnessed the important and ambitious work being done by the Albanese government. In my first speech I spoke about what government is for and the importance of making our time in government count. Today I rise extremely proudly in support of the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 to do exactly that. This bill is ambitious and long-lasting. It is exactly the kind of policy that's crucial for investing in our workplaces and securing our sovereign capability. It's about shaping the future we want for our country—a future where our incredibly skilled workers make more things right here in Australia.

Before I speak about the specifics of this bill, I want to share a personal story—one that highlights why I care so deeply about manufacturing in Australia and why this legislation hits close to home for me. My dad, Vince, spent all of his working life in manufacturing in Victoria. For some of this time, as a maintenance fitter, he was working at the Kodak factory in Coburg, right in my home state. He started there in 1997 and, like many working Australians—

Debate interrupted.