A win for NSW
Federal Government’s Future Made in Australia program, industries like green aluminium, solar and battery manufacturing, green hydrogen, and critical minerals could create more than 400,000 new jobs nationally by 2040.
12 February 2025
THE Future Made in Australia Production Tax Credits Bill supporting investment in critical minerals and green hydrogen passed the Senate tonight.
Powered by new production credit incentives, the industries invested in by Future Made in Australia (FMIA) are forecast to support more than 400,000 new Australian jobs by 2040, including jobs in 15 new critical minerals facilities and hydrogen plants in New South Wales.
The overall jobs forecast is part of an earlier independent report on the sectors, commissioned by the ACTU, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
ACTU President, Michele O’Neil said, “While Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton dismisses Future Made in Australia investments as a ’con job’, these industries already support tens of thousands of actual jobs across rural and regional Australia.
“This Bill will help create hundreds of thousands more jobs with community benefits conditions ensuring the jobs created are secure and well-paid.
“With these production incentives, job numbers will skyrocket to a far larger scale by 2040 – all before the Coalition’s expensive nuclear plan would create even a single job.
“Supporting renewables investment has a proven track record in the United States, where Inflation Reduction Act tax credits have channelled more than $370 billion of new investment into clean energy and industrial projects, creating around 330,000 new jobs so far.
“The US experience proves putting the right conditions on support has meant that of the billions of dollars of new clean energy and industrial investment, three quarters has gone to workers and communities in low-income counties. Australia’s rural and regional communities deserve this economic boost too.”
Additional ACTU analysis has outlined a pipeline of hydrogen and critical minerals projects slated for New South Wales, as well as at the Tomago Aluminium Smelter in the federal electorate of Paterson, which currently supports 1200 local jobs.
The report estimates FMIA industries can create 100,000 new jobs nationally in critical minerals; 100,000 jobs in green metals, such as green aluminium; 1000,000 jobs in battery manufacture and between 30-50,000 jobs in green hydrogen.
There are 118 critical minerals projects and 69 hydrogen projects already in the development pipeline.
The jobs projection does not include 13,000 existing jobs in critical minerals and 75,000 jobs in the aluminium industry.
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