Future Made in Australia Act incentivises moves to subsidise growth industries
Anthony Albanese has made a major speech in Brisbane where he outlined the creation of a Future Made in Australia Act. The Prime Minister has said on Thursday at the Queensland Media Club, that Australia needs to stay in the global race for jobs. This is legislation that centres on using subsidies to boost domestic manufacturing and guarantee more local jobs. This package covers new and existing projects in Growth Industries like clean energy, batteries, and critical minerals. But this is not a new idea. Massive taxpayer subsidies are on offer to private companies in countries like the US with their Inflation Reduction Act, and also with the EU, Japan, and Korea, even Canada.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his speech that Australia needed to sharpen its elbows and offer these incentives or risk losing entire industries overseas. This will be a key part of the PM’s pitch for a second term in government with an election now around 12 months away.
The effort would be consolidating existing efforts under one banner, which included the Hydrogen Headstart, the Solar Sunshot and the A$15bn National Reconstruction Fund.
Also on behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced it has awarded $59.1m in funding across 21 research projects to support research and development (R&D) and commercialisation activities covering renewable hydrogen and low-emission iron & steel.
The funding has been provided to research teams from some of Australia’s top universities, research organisations, startups and companies.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said funding early-stage R&D and pushing innovation was at the core of ARENA’s mission in supporting the global transition to net zero emissions.
“We’re backing Australian technological innovation that helps build our clean industries and underpins our ambitions of becoming a renewable energy superpower.”
An initial $25m in funding was provided for each of the two funding rounds – Renewable Hydrogen and Iron & Steel. Due to the quality of applications, ARENA has increased the total funding amount to $59.1m. Grant funding for each successful applicant ranges between $1.3m and $5m.
Funding for the R&D projects will be provided over two stages, an initial core research stage followed by a research commercialisation stage aimed at scaling up and demonstrating application of research breakthroughs in the market.
“ARENA has a strong track record in funding and supporting early-stage innovation. Through our strategic priorities, we have highlighted the importance of renewable hydrogen and low emissions metals growing to become a significant export industry,” Miller said.
“Innovation starts in the lab, and we have the best minds taking our decarbonisation efforts to the next level – to the benefit of all Australians through jobs, lower emissions and cheaper energy.”
Australia is the world’s largest exporter of iron ore, supplying up to 53% of international exports each year. Decarbonisation through the iron & steel value chain will have a significant impact on global emissions reduction.
The Iron & Steel R&D round aims to support a step change in emissions abatement pathways in the production of iron and steel, and encourage additional research capacity in these sectors, facilitating collaboration between research groups and industry.
The Hydrogen R&D round aims to accelerate the commercialisation of renewable hydrogen through innovation in hydrogen production, storage and distribution technologies. Renewable hydrogen is also expected to play a large role in reducing emissions in hard-to-abate sectors like iron and steel production.