Pre-election boost for Albanese as $13.7bn core of Future Made in Australia passes | Australian politics

A centrepiece of Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan has passed the Senate in a pre-election boost for Anthony Albanese.

The government’s $13.7bn worth of tax breaks for critical minerals processing and green hydrogen production cleared the upper house on Monday night with the support of the Greens and crossbenchers.

The Coalition voted against the concessions which it had previously rubbished as “billions for billionaires”.

Labor wants to use the tax breaks to kickstart emerging green industries and help protect Australia from China’s stranglehold on the global critical minerals supply chain.

Critical minerals are used for clean energy technologies such batteries and wind turbines, as well as in submarines and aircraft.

Under a scheme unveiled in last year’s federal budget, a 10% tax concession will be offered to subsidise the costs of processing and refining critical minerals, such as lithium and nickel, from 2027-2040.

Green hydrogen makers will be offered a $2 incentive per kilogram produced over the same period.

In a joint statement, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, resources minister, Madeleine King, energy minister, Chris Bowen, and assistant minister for a Future Made in Australia, Tim Ayres, hailed the tax breaks as critical to “seizing the vast economic and industrial opportunities” of the net zero transition.

“We recognise that the best opportunities for Australia and its people lie at the intersection of industry, energy, resources, skills and our ability to attract and deploy investment,” the statement read.

“These tax incentives will leverage traditional strengths and encourage and enable new industries which help maximise our opportunities in the global net zero transformation.”

Labor will attempt to weaponise the tax breaks into an election issue in WA and Queensland, painting the Coalition as “anti-mining” for opposing billions of dollars in subsidies for the resources sector.

The Greens supported the legislation after securing an amendment to prevent funding for uranium mining.

“This legislation ensures taxpayer money goes where it should – into clean manufacturing, critical minerals processing, and green hydrogen, not into dangerous climate-wrecking industries of the past,” the Greens resources spokesperson, Dorinda Cox, said.

The bill will return to the lower house to be rubber-stamped before becoming law.