In his address to Labor’s traditionally triennial national conference,to be held for the first time online,Mr Albanese will tell party faithful the coronavirus pandemic had exposed serious deficiencies in the economy,in particular Australia’s ability tomanufacture products and be globally competitive when it comes to innovation and technology.
Mr Albanese’s first speech to the conference as leader has been boosted by a deepening crisis within the Morrison government over a series of scandals surrounding behaviour and attitudes towards women. Despite a last-minute bid to stop the conference going ahead from the Right-faction aligned Health Workers Union,Mr Albanese’s support within his ranks has firmed in the past month.
“Australia must be a country that makes things,to have our own industrial and manufacturing capabilities,” Mr Albanese will say,according to a draft version of the speech.
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“Building new industries and boosting our existing industries represents an opportunity for Australia to recover from the COVID pandemic with a stronger economy.”
Should Labor win the next election scheduled between August 2021 and May next year,the fund would be legislated and be governed by an independent board using the same financing model as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
It will provide $15 billion of investment through a combination of loans,equity,co-investment and guarantees and be administered on the basis that it will achieve a return to cover borrowing costs,with an expected positive underlying cash impact.