REINVESTING IN MANUFACTURING AND IDENTIFYING VULNERABILITIES

And in more detail...

We believe a free enterprise market economy is the driving force for increasing prosperity and well-being for all Australians. Recent world economic shocks, such as the global financial crisis and the COVID pandemic, have shaken faith in the globalisation of world economies. Severe supply chain issues have highlighted these vulnerabilities along with our nation's fragile interdependence on the supply of vital manufactured goods.

The Good Party believes it's time to seriously ramp up local manufacturing of essential goods, focussing on areas where we have a particular competitive advantage through our natural resources and well-educated, skilled workforce.

Tackling the area of local manufacturing, the government needs a taxation strategy that directs private investment into areas such as:

• the production of green metals like steel and aluminium, utilising our abundant sources of renewable energy either directly or in the production of green hydrogen
• developing hydrogen as the near future energy source
• the production and export of green hydrogen in the form of safely transportable ammonia
• the manufacture of renewable energy components such as solar panels and wind turbine components
• upgrading our fledgling space and aerospace industries, including satellite manufacturing and launch capability
• the Australian defence industry, encouraging the manufacture of small arms, man-portable missiles, ammunition, and future generations of globally competitive systems like the Bushmaster vehicle and the Ghost Bat drone
• the manufacture of locally designed state-of-the-art semi-conductors so that Australia can participate in the ever-growing trillion-dollar global market

The Good Party believes it's time to seriously ramp up local manufacturing of essential goods, focussing on areas where we have a particular competitive advantage through our natural resources and well-educated, skilled workforce

Reinvesting in the CSIRO

In 2008, Australia spent the same on R&D as the OECD average. However, this has declined steadily to 65% of the OECD average, smaller than countries like Israel, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Iceland.

Given that research is the foundation on which almost all innovation is based, the nation's goal should be to reverse the trend with a target that at least matches the OECD average.

Reinvesting in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation would be a significant step in the right direction. The CSIRO, the Australian agency internationally regarded for its many breakthroughs in various fields from quantum computing to food technology, has endured emasculating cuts over the last decade, the victim of populist disbelief in the value of science and the general dumbing down of Australia.

Leveraging the Australian Future Fund

Links must also be strengthened between tertiary institutions, corporations and start-ups.

Monetising promising technology should be a government priority, and this can be achieved through support for the venture capital industry, a current systemic weakness in the path to production. As a result, too much promising Australian research and too many start-ups are being forced offshore to raise funds.

A percentage of the Australia Future Fund (Australia's Sovereign Wealth Fund) could and should be directed towards venture capital underwriting Australian innovation. This would be a most worthwhile investment in the nation's future.

Bringing wealth and hope to regional Australia through the development of Technology Zones

Australia is the world's most urbanised country. Around 40% of our total population is concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne. Perhaps it's for this reason that governments left and right, federal and state, have largely ignored what's required to build healthy regional self-sustaining growth centres. As a result, no cohesive national plan exists.

While being mindful of the ecological and environmental realities of a regional centre's propensity to absorb the influx of significantly more people, the Good Party would see the larger country towns (such as Tamworth in NSW, Toowoomba in Qld., Ballarat in Vic., Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA., Mount Gambier in SA., Devonport in Tasmania, and Katherine in the NT ), centres with existing road, rail and air links, host Special Technology Zones geared to attracting investment in the industries listed above (the production of green metals, green hydrogen, defence, et cetera).

While being mindful of the ecological and environmental realities of a regional centre's propensity to absorb the influx of significantly more people, the Good Party would see the larger country towns (such as Tamworth in NSW, Toowoomba in Qld., Ballarat in Vic., Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA., Mount Gambier in SA., Devonport in Tasmania, and Katherine in the NT ), centres with existing road, rail and air links, host Special Technology Zones geared to attracting investment in the industries listed above (the production of green metals, green hydrogen, defence, et cetera).

These zones would include infrastructure to make them desirable places not just to work but to live — housing, roads, swimming pools, cycleways, theatres, cinemas, open spaces, biodiversity offsets, education facilities, health facilities, water treatment plants, cultural centres, and more.

The Good Party would work in concert with state governments through the National Advisory Council to provide the federal mechanisms that would facilitate these Zones, creating a new national high-technology manufacturing base where one didn't previously exist, bringing jobs, training, additional infrastructure, and essential services to Regional Australia, providing a future with a beating, self-sustaining heart that benefits the nation.

Sydney's Aerotropolis, a good working model

The Aerotropolis currently taking shape around western Sydney's new Nancy Bird International Airport is a suitable model for these Special Technology Zones, as does its Special Infrastructure Contribution mechanism, a fund that allows for contributions of up to $1.1 billion from developers to assist in building the necessary infrastructure. Australia must move into its heartland, and the Special Technology Zones can drive it.

The distortion of GDP figures

Widely reported raw GDP growth figures are a poor indicator of the economy's health. Things like price spikes in raw material exports or high immigration rates can distort them. Instead, the focus should be on actual growth from productivity, innovation, and efficiency.

The Good Party's policy effect on the budget

The Good Party's policies are not an expensive wishlist with little regard for fiscal realities. Many of our policy initiatives will have little impact on Federal and State budgets. Some will be beneficial, such as cancelling the stage three tax cuts to maintain revenues. Other effects:

• The significant increase in health funding, an absolute necessity, will come from the new Bank Transaction Tax (BaTT) tax system (link to our Taxation policy)
• Cashflow support for business will also flow from the BaTT
• The adoption of the BaTT will see the end of personal income tax and payroll tax
• With no need for the collection and supervision of personal income tax, the billions required to operate the ATO will significantly decline
• Ramping up the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by imposing fleet emission standards — no effect on the budget while making EVs cheaper
• An end to the war on drugs will result in significant savings in policing, courts, and jails
• Charging royalties matching the levels imposed by countries like Norway and Qatar on the export of gas, coal, crude oil, metals and minerals, would raise billions in annual revenues and can nom longer be ignored
• While the 100% mortgage program funding for nurses, police, EMTs, and firefighters will raise gross debt, net debt will not increase. However, there will likely be a modest negative impact on the budget from an expected small default rate.

Would there be additional costs?

The highest cost to the budget will be the changes made to early learning when the school starting age is reduced. However, this will be partially offset by parents re-entering the workforce earlier. But any improvements in education are an investment in the future, with payoffs down the track in lower levels of social security, employability of school graduates, and crime rates.

There will be a cost involved in providing timely real improvements to the lives, health and education of First Nations people.

Defence spending will increase, although changing the mix of defence purchases towards lower-cost high-tech weapons rather than big-ticket items like tanks should defray this to some extent.

Finally, there will be a ramping up of government contributions to research and development in various fields undertaken by the private sector and government institutions.