Latest news with #NationalReconstructionFund
Sky News AU
25-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Significant announcements': Industry Minister Tim Ayres defends $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund
Industry Minister Tim Ayres has defended the Albanese government's $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), insisting 'significant announcements' have been made. His comments come in response to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley's criticism that not a 'single cent' from the fund had been spent in support of manufacturing. 'We've seen significant announcements over the last few months. I'm very focused of course on making sure that we deliver here,' Mr Ayres told Sky News Sunday Agenda. 'I expect to be out there working with the fund on our future pipeline of decisions. Of course it has taken time to develop that capability.' During the election campaign, the Coalition claimed the fund had failed to deliver any tangible outcomes for the manufacturing sector. 'The only things manufacturers are getting from Labor are promises without plans and lots of spin with no spend,' Ms Ley said earlier this year. According to the National Reconstruction Fund Annual Report, after about a year in operation, no investments had been finalised by June 30, 2024. The first investments were announced in November, but as of May 2025, Ms Ley expressed concern the fund hadn't spent a single cent on manufacturing. Mr Ayres rejected those claims, saying critics were misrepresenting the pace and purpose of the fund. 'The Liberals opposed the fund being established at all. They wanted to let the market rip and let the IP to be developed in Australia but then commercialised offshore,' he said. 'It's a bit hard to accept. They're complaining about the fund—they didn't want it to exist. 'It's sort of the arsonist complaining about the fire brigade turning up too late. It is not a serious proposition.' Since its establishment, the NRF has committed nearly $450 million across seven investments. These include a $200 million equity injection into Arafura Rare Earths and a $32 million stake in Sydney-based AI start-up These early projects aim to foster Australian-led innovation and advanced manufacturing in emerging industries. Mr Ayres said further investments were in the pipeline and reiterated the fund's central role in Labor's nation-building agenda. 'I expect to be out there working with the fund on our future pipeline of decisions,' he said. 'I'm just focused on making sure we continue to deliver this work, that we intensify our work. 'Because that will deliver good industrial jobs in Sydney's western suburbs, in Melbourne's outer suburbs, in the Hunter, the Illawarra and central Queensland.' The NRF is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's 'Future Made in Australia' plan, which also includes the $20 billion Rewiring the Nation Fund. Former opposition leader Peter Dutton pledged to repurpose the NRF and Rewiring the nation Fund billion for other priorities if he had been elected.
The Australian
01-05-2025
- Business
- The Australian
Coalition costings: Is this a joke? Am I being pranked?
'The impression you get is that the Coalition is too afraid to come clean on the need to hack into the vast thicket of wasteful government spending.' You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback. You can now listen to The Australian's articles. From the immortal words of Sonia in Gavin and Stacey (a pal put me on to this comedy): 'Is this a joke? Am I being pranked?' This was my reaction to the extremely late-in-the-day release of the Coalition's election costings. A $14bn reduction in the cumulative budget deficits over four years and a $40bn cut to government debt. In fact, the underlying cash deficits are forecast to be higher than Labor's in the first two years of the forward estimates. The gains come in the last two years and are effectively achieved by taking back the recent two-part tax cut Labor has legislated. Just consider those figures in percentage terms. Labor's cumulative budget deficits – underlying cash balances – over the forward estimates total $152bn. So, a cut of $14bn is 9 per cent over four years. The cut to debt is lower, at 3.3 per cent of the estimated 2028-29 total. That figure is definitely a joke. If the Coalition is claiming to be the superior budget manager, these figures are a poor start. In fact, they underline an unwillingness to confront the real fiscal challenges ahead of us; the fact is we are spending far too much. Our scope to collect more by way of tax is also limited by the economic harm tax measures impose as well as the unwillingness of voters to cough up. What I don't understand about the Coalition's costings is that there is a clear intention to cut out whole spending programs, at least in the off-budget account – the National Reconstruction Fund, Housing Australia Future Fund, Rewiring the Nation – as well as refrain from forgiving student debt (estimated cost $16bn). So far, so good. But then a mere $40bn reduction in government debt is achieved. Should I be suspicious of the funding of regional boondoggles so beloved by the Nats? What is this proposed Regional Australia Future Fund? Why is the cut to government debt so inconsequential? Government spending on the development of nuclear plants is not scheduled to commence before the mid-2030s. The impression you get is that the Coalition is too afraid to come clean on the need to hack into the vast thicket of wasteful government spending for fear of the political repercussions of doing so. It's in every department, every program. The NDIS simply cannot go on as it is, even if spending growth is kept to 8 per cent per year. This is around three times the rate at which the economy is likely to grow. In turn, this means spending on the NDIS will be consuming more and more of the economy's output each year. But the Coalition is simply mirroring the ineffective approach of the government in relation to the NDIS. There is a need to confront the wildly dysfunctional state of federal-state financial relations. We really need to kickstart the reform of the federation rather than allow the states to transfer more and more spending responsibility to the commonwealth without any real accountability. The most recently concluded state education agreements are a case in point. Don't get me wrong here: what Labor has offered up in terms of its election costings is complete nonsense. Saving all those billions by not using consultants, cutting back on travel and other expenses – it's just made up. Failing to account for some of the proposed (big) spending – for example, in relation to housing – in its figures is completely unforgivable. So, the idea that Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher have miraculously shaved one billion dollars from the cumulative budget deficits over the forwards is total claptrap. The only conclusion to reach is that Coalition or Labor, we are up a creek without a paddle, fiscally speaking.
