Reactions to Budget 2025

From the enthused to the unimpressed, @AuManufacturing has collected reactions to federal budget 2025, delivered by treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday night.

AWU: Budget shows only government understands manufacturing potential

The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) endorsed budget 2025, claiming it as a long-term boost for workers and locking in “critical investments for the nation’s manufacturers under the Future Made in Australia initiative”. Citing measures including $219 million for the collapsed Whyalla steelworks, grants for green iron and steel, and credits for green aluminium, AWU National Secretary Paul Farrow said the opposition “will continue to beat the same broken free market drum that saw factories close and industry freeze investment” if elected, and the government was “securing the future of our industry with these investments”. He added that action on dumped low-cost imports and mandated local procurement were now needed.

Ai Group: “A modest budget that does not shift the economic dial” 

The budget “will not shift the economic dial, revitalise the private sector or introduce structural reform to an economy” in a time of poor productivity growth, deteriorating investment, weak consumer sentiment, and “significant global volatility”, according to the Australian Industry Group. Showing “the trough the economy is now in” the growth forecast shrunk to 1.5 per cent from 2 per cent in the previous budget, projections show public demand growth at 5 per cent in the year ahead and 3.5 per cent the year after, with “no sign from these forecasts that the private sector is expanding or driving growth.” Ai Group Chief Executive Innes Willox added that the budget contained “some commendable individual measures” but, “fails the test of setting up Australia and Australians for prosperity at a time of major domestic and international challenge.”

RSM Australia: Manufacturing support continues through FMIA initiatives

Audit, tax, and consulting firm RSM Australia said the budget saw a continued “focus on fostering growth and resilience” within manufacturing through the Future Made in Australia program. “Announced in last year’s Federal Budget as a $22.7 billion commitment over the next ten years, the next installation of the Government’s flagship agenda sees an increased focus on cleaner, cheaper energy, greater investment into infrastructure, and support for SMEs,” said RSM Australia National Manufacturing Leader, Louis Quintal. Quintal added that the firm’s manufacturing clients would also welcome measures such as spending on infrastructure including $17.1 billion over a decade on road and rail projects, the Green Aluminium Production Credit, the $20 million Buy Australian Campaign, and support for the Whyalla Steelworks.

CRA: R&D investment welcome

Cooperative Research Australia (CRA) welcomed continued support for Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) and other programs “aimed at supporting innovation and economic diversity.” CRA CEO Jane O’Dwyer said, “We welcome the ongoing commitment to the Cooperative Research Centres Program as a stalwart and centrepiece of the Australian innovation system, with funding remaining steady at $847,534 over the forward estimates.” She added that, “It is great to see funding boosts for science, such as those in CSIRO, ANSTO, and the Square Kilometre Array” and that the recent $750 million announced for green metals, “as part of the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund, is a great example of the type of bold measures Governments can take to spur innovation.”

AFGC: cost of doing business needs to be addressed

The Australian Food and Grocery Council said it welcomed commitments to easing financial pressure on households in the budget, though lasting relief “depends on a strong, viable domestic manufacturing sector that can keep shelves reliably stocked with affordable products.” The group said it encouraged “a food first approach to national policy, highlighting that cost-of-living support works best when paired with a robust cost-of-doing-business agenda” and added that a “cost-of-doing-business agenda” would include coordinated actions to reduce financial and regulatory strain and boost efficiency, resilience and competitiveness. For their members, such action would include government tax incentives to modernise processes, investment in resilient transport infrastructure to protect against natural disaster disruptions, ensuring access to stable, affordable energy for manufacturers, and addressing workforce shortages, particularly in regional and rural areas”.

CPA Australia: SMEs ignored

While household cost-of-living measures “were front and centre”, the government failed to deliver initiatives that would improve business productivity, innovation and growth, according to CPA Australia. The accounting body’s CEO Chris Freeland said, “Businesses and their advisers will find little in the federal Budget that will help offset the pain all-too-many small businesses have been experiencing. “The Budget lacks ambition and a thorough understanding of what business needs. Not enough is being done to slash red tape or create the conditions and improve policy development that would shift the dial on Australian productivity and competitiveness.” Freeland added that, “SMEs – many of which have thin margins – needed a Budget that would significantly alleviate the cost pressures they face every day”.

ICN Victoria: budget signals opportunity for green metals in the state

Initiatives in the budget Future Made in Australia package present opportunities to strengthen manufacturing in the state, particularly in green metals, according to ICN Victoria. Measures cited included the $2 billion Green Aluminium Production Credit, $1 billion Green Iron Investment Fund, and $1.5 billion to help drive private investment in green metals, clean energy technology manufacturing and low carbon liquid fuels via the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund. “Victorian businesses are already major contributors to Australia’s sovereign capability in industries like aluminium and steel production, renewable energy, infrastructure development and construction,” said Nicholas Foa, CEO of ICN Victoria “We’re pleased to see a focus on local manufacturing in this year’s budget, which will be key to strengthening our economic resilience here in Victoria.”

ATSE: economic resilience depends on boldness in STEM

The budget “picks a welcome winner in green metals”, an industry that is a “leading example of a deep legacy of Australian innovation”, according to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. The group representing engineers, technologists and applied scientists said measures including relief on income tax and energy bills provide “some relief for the cost of living today” though would not drive long-term economic growth, with issues such as R&D investment, the Universities Accord and Diversity in STEM reviews “ignored in tonight’s budget.” CEO Kylie Walker added, “The green metals announcements build on the Future Made in Australia agenda that has guided the past few years. Australia’s future economic resilience will be narrow if it is not built on investments in innovation and STEM skills as drivers of economic prosperity.” 

Picture: credit Martin Kingsley (CC BY 2.0)