A wait on Labor’s green tax breaks
Labor will delay introducing legislation to provide tax breaks for hydrogen and critical minerals producers until the second half of the year.
Labor will delay introducing legislation to provide tax breaks for hydrogen and critical minerals producers until the second half of the year, as senior government figures negotiate with industry and the crossbench over the final outcome of the $13.7bn package.
A government source said the Future Made in Australia Act – providing a framework for commonwealth investment – would be introduced to parliament ahead of the July winter break.
But this would not include tax production credits for hydrogen producers and critical minerals processing, with a parliamentary debate on the issue later this year.
Despite Anthony Albanese talking up Future Made in Australia as a central plank of his policy agenda, there will be no legislation introduced on the issue in parliament this week.
With the Coalition opposed to the production tax credits – the centrepiece of the Made in Australia program – Labor needs the support of the Greens and the crossbench for the legislation to pass the Senate.
Greens leader Adam Bandt said he would push for an end to new coal and gas development as part of his negotiations. He also flagged a push for a domestic hydrogen reservation scheme and a requirement for some public ownership in the sectors.
“Government and public ownership of these critical industries in the future is going to be very important to avoid making the same mistakes that Labor has made with gas where they allow the big corporations to do whatever they like and, all of a sudden, it creates a series of problems,” Mr Bandt said.
“The second issue is this: it’s becoming apparent that Labor’s Future Made in Australia is a future for coal and gas past 2050. Now, you can’t have your foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time.”
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said wealthy business people such as Andrew Forrest should not receive tax credits for producing hydrogen.
“It is the equivalent of going to every cafe owner in Australia and saying the government is going to give you a buck every time you produce a coffee,” he told Sky News.
In the first sitting week since the May 14 budget, Jim Chalmers and the Prime Minister will focus on cost-of-living relief through the budget that has provided tax cuts to workers and electricity rebates to households.
The Coalition, meanwhile, will try to keep the focus on Labor’s immigration bungles and Mr Albanese’s failure to unequivocally back Israel.
While the House of Representatives will spend the next fortnight debating in the chamber, upper house MPs will probe bureaucrats in Senate estimates.
During hearings this week, Home Affairs secretary Stephanie Foster will face a grilling over the handling of the NZYQ case and its implications.
Over the fortnight of estimates, bureaucrats are expected to be grilled on the inflationary impact of the budget, anti-Semitism in universities, Australia’s position on the Gaza conflict and the handling of the China relationship.
The Coalition is also expected to probe the $450m investment in US-based company PsiQuantum.
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