The Australian government’s $22.7 billion (USD 15.24 billion) Future Made in Australia Bill has been presented to parliament with the objective of powering the economy with renewable energy by bringing into law investment supports for clean energy industries and a focus on community benefit principles.
Community benefit principles serve as a guarantee that investment benefits flow to local workers, industry and communities by developing a more skilled and inclusive workforce, stronger local supply chains and engage collaboratively with and achieve positive outcomes for local communities such as First Nations and those directly affected by the transition to net zero.
The legislation will establish the Future Made in Australia Plans designed to guide renewables investment and a Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund that will support emerging technologies in industries like green metals, clean energy manufacturing and low carbon liquid fuels.
It’s intended to promote investment certainty through amendments such as reintroducing guaranteed statutory funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which lapsed under the previous government.
Federal Treasure Jim Chalmers said Australia has been dealt the most incredible set of cards to make it the primary beneficiary of the net zero economy.
“We have a unique combination of geological, meteorological, geographical and geopolitical comparative advantages and we know it would be an egregious breach of our generational responsibilities as a government if we didn’t play this winning hand,” Chalmers said.
“If we get stuck in the past, this country will be poorer, it will be more vulnerable, and we won’t make the most of the golden opportunity in front of us.”
He said the Future Made in Australia Bill will help make Australia a renewable energy superpower, and an indispensable part of the global net zero economy.
Popular content
“This Bill helps to modernise and strengthen our economy in a world built on cheaper and cleaner energy and grab the vast industrial and economic opportunities from the world’s shift to net zero and share the benefits of those opportunities with every Australian,” Chalmers said.
A statement from the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office, said the Bill embeds into law a disciplined and rigorous approach that will govern Future Made in Australia investments, to make the most of our net zero potential and ensure the benefits of these investments are widely shared and flow to local communities.
“The Government recognises that the best opportunities for Australia and its people lie at the intersection of industry, energy, resources, skills and our ability to attract and deploy investment,” the statement said.
“The Future Made in Australia package improves our investment environment and encourages new industries that put us on a path to net zero and strengthen our economic resilience.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.