Future Made in Australia is fundamentally flawed and should not be pursued in its current form
The purpose of this letter is to provide research and analysis conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (“the IPA”) to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee (“the committee”) as it conducts its inquiry into the Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin) Bill 2024 [Provisions] and related bills (“the bills”).
The Future Made in Australia (“FMIA”) policy aims to maximise ‘the economic and industrial benefits’ of the net zero transformation and to make Australia into a ‘renewable energy superpower’. This would require substantial government intervention and $22.7 billion in government spending on what would otherwise be economically unviable manufacturing projects, in the hope of encouraging subsidiary private funding.
The bills pursue this broader policy aim through the proposed creation of a ‘guarantee of origin scheme’ (“GO scheme”). This would be an emissions accounting scheme to track and verify the emissions intensiveness of products made in Australia.
IPA analysis of the Guarantee of Origin bill finds:
- The broader Future Made in Australia policy framework is undesirable and should be abandoned.
- The Guarantee of Origin Bill will impose more regulations on businesses already struggling under record levels of red tape.
- The process of introducing the Guarantee of Origin Bill is incoherent andfundamenatlly flawed.
