Delays in setting up the NRF to threaten emissions target
The Coalition is warning delays setting up Labor’s marquee $15bn off-budget manufacturing fund could derail the nation’s ability to reach its 43 per cent emissions reductions target.
The Coalition says delays in setting up Labor’s marquee $15bn off-budget manufacturing fund could derail the nation’s ability to reach its 43 per cent emissions reductions target, after modelling found the investment vehicle was responsible for cutting a third of all emissions.
According to Labor’s Powering Australia plan, which underpins its promise to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, the National Reconstruction Fund is responsible for cutting greenhouse gas by 7 per cent.
Coalition analysis shows the NRF is assumed to deliver 33 million tonnes of emissions deductions across industry by 2030, which is six million tonnes higher than the impact assumed by the safeguard mechanism.
Ramping up attacks on Labor’s manufacturing off-budget fund, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said delays in distributing money from the NRF was placing the government’s emissions reductions target out of reach.
The NRF is yet to distribute any funds to businesses, with acting NRF chief executive Rebecca Manen telling Senate estimates in February that “there have been no decisions taken in relation to investment inquiries”.
Ms Ley questioned Labor’s modelling underpinning its climate agenda, which underscores its repeated election promise to cut power bills by $275, saying the figures had become “a real problem for the government”.
“Labor bet the future of Australian manufacturing on the NRF and yet a year on and it has not spent a single cent on a single project in the middle of an insolvency crisis,” Ms Ley said.
“Now it appears the planned role for the NRF in helping industry foot the bill for the safeguards legislation appears to be dead in the water, meaning industry will cop the bill in full.
“This is a real problem for the government; the same modelling they still defend on their $275 cut to power bills assumed the NRF would reduce emissions by a third and yet it hasn’t spent a cent.”
The attacks come after The Australian revealed that Anthony Albanese’s repeated claim that the NRF was “open for business” and “money was available” to help manufacturing businesses was false according to internal government documents.
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal the NRF was not up and running in January, as the Prime Minister twice claimed in that month, with new correspondence confirming the investment vehicle’s guidelines were still being developed and no formal expression of interest process had been in place.
It comes after Mr Albanese was repeatedly asked how manufacturing businesses could apply for funding for the NRF in January. At the time, its website included a “what we do” page and a section titled “we’re just getting started”.
The Coalition have been increasingly critical of the speed at which the NRF has been set up, given it is supposed to help manufacturing businesses.
The Australian has previously revealed that almost 1650 manufacturing and construction businesses have plunged into insolvency in just six months, with thousands of jobs under threat as companies move offshore and shut operations in response to rising power prices, supply chain pressures and labour shortages.
The fund’s investment mandate was unveiled on November 30, despite its enabling legislation passing eight months earlier.
Ms Ley said just over a year out from the 2025 federal election, the NRF is “yet to release a single dollar to an Australian firm, while insolvencies are skyrocketing”.
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