Inquiry into the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022 [Provisions]

This submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Bill 2022 supports passage of the Bill, subject to two amendments. Research Australia maintains that the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) can help build a domestic medical products industry and make Australia a net exporter of medical products, and welcomes the identification of medical products as a priority area. It places the NRF alongside overseas models such as British Patient Capital and the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, and cites recent investments including Moderna’s mRNA facility, CSL’s plasma fractionation plant and state mRNA partnerships. It supports Ministers setting priority areas and an investment mandate, and the prohibition on directing investment to specific companies, but maintains the NRF must invest for the long term in Australian manufacturing and intellectual property rather than plan exits through licensing to multinationals. Noting that existing research and innovation funding is fragmented, it proposes a National Medical Products Industry Plan and recommends that the Bill require Ministers report to Parliament on how the NRF complements other Government support for research, innovation and manufacturing (clause 91). It also recommends that quarterly investment reports under clause 82 name recipients and the relevant priority area, with discretion to withhold names for commercial reasons if explained, unlike the Clean Energy Finance Corporation model.