Farmers have called on Labor to increase domestic food processing and help firm up local suppliers of critical farm inputs as part of a "Future Made in Australia" Act that will bet taxpayer dollars on initiatives to kickstart investments in clean energy and clean technology manufacturing.
National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar made the comments after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week announced plans for the interventionist green industry policy aiming to safeguard sovereignty and help Australia join the global decarbonisation race.
The purse strings will be loosened in the forthcoming Budget to signal to private capital and encourage investment "at scale" of renewables and cleantech, like batteries and solar panels, in old coal producing areas and across regional Australia.
It is a direct response to the US Inflation Reduction Act and will bundle new and existing green and other manufacturing initiatives into a centrepiece legislation, including the $15b National Reconstruction Fund that was introduced in 2022.
Full details are yet to be provided as to how it will operate but several policy economists have already questioned the initiative, including current Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood who said low-emissions manufacturing subsidies would "take jobs and capital investments from elsewhere in the economy where they could generate higher value."
The NFF has been supportive of the NRF and Mr Mahar urged the government not to lose sight of its stated focus on increasing "domestic value adding in the agricultural supply chain."
"We can't just throw taxpayer dollars at things that aren't going to stack up long term," he said.
"We can't lose sight of our natural advantages in areas like agriculture, with food processing already our biggest manufacturing sector."
Meanwhile, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Sunday that the Act would be a "generational" economic change and seek to leverage Australia's "genuine advantages and compelling imperatives."
A "combination" of levers would be used to incentivise manufacturing and increase export opportunities, including tax breaks and subsidies.
"Whether they are geographical or geological, meteorological, geopolitical. We want to apply that to our thinking about the future of the economy," he said.
"We are looking for where we can make our businesses more competitive, build the capacity of our people and our regions and become part of the net zero global economy."
However, Mr Mahar said the Government must ensure its policy settings supported its agenda, because "in many instances that's not what we're seeing."
"If we look at the decision that was made around water buybacks and the question mark that's placed over food processing jobs in the Murray Darling Basin, that's certainly not supporting manufacturers," he said.
"It's the same story with worker shortages and the decisions they've made around visa programs and industrial relations laws. At this stage 'A Future Made in Australia' is a great campaign slogan, but when we're experiencing policies that actually make it harder to grow and make things in Australia it's hard not to be a bit cynical."
While the US Inflation Act - introduced in 2022 with the twin aims of cutting inflation and tackling climate change through green manufacturing - is drawing billions into the US economy, Conry Tech chief executive Sam Ringwaldt said when it comes to Australian manufacturing "it's always tomorrow's problem."
"We need to start putting these words into action," he said.
"The NRF is a prime example, the timeline reads like a Utopia TV show script. The program gets announced to great fanfare, the $15bn funding gets confirmed. A year on, before it has achieved anything of note, it gets consolidated into a bigger manufacturing program with an even more ambitious objective... (and) is yet to spend a cent."
A NRFC spokesperson said it was "building a national financial institution with urgency and prudence" and its first investments would be made in 2024.
"To do this, we are actively speaking to businesses, entrepreneurs, agencies, financiers and investors all over Australia," she said.
"We have strong processes in place to manage risk and to progress a solid pipeline of opportunities to have an impact quickly."
The National Rural Health Alliance and Regional Australia Institute added that regional Australia could only be the renewable engine room with supercharged investment and better long-range planning to address lagging infrastructure and essential services in the bush.
