Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee

Barbara Pocock

I move:

That the following matter be referred to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 April 2026:

The capacity of the existing legislative framework that created and governs Australia's specialist investment vehicles (SIVs), with particular reference to:

(a) the effectiveness of the following Acts:

(i) Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012,

(ii) Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011,

(iii) National Reconstruction Fund Act 2023,

(iv) Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund Act 2016,

(v) Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act 1991, and

(vi) Regional Investment Corporation Act 2018;

(b) the importance of countering the threat of investment uncertainty and higher energy and capital costs that would result from abandoning net zero by 2050;

(c) how existing SIVs can be improved, restructured and harmonised to create a stable, long-term investment environment for the widespread deployment of clean technologies in Australia;

(d) whether the current structures of financing offered by SIVs and the targeting of finance at different points in the research, pilot and commercialisation stages are fit for purpose and where they can be improved;

(e) how the various application processes can be streamlined and improved, particularly for early-stage businesses and technologies;

(f) any other related potential changes to the law to ensure investment certainty and guard against a future federal government that is hostile to clean technologies;

(g) lessons to promote to potential investors how the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency successfully generated billions of dollars of investment while withstanding multiple attempts by previous Coalition federal governments to dismantle and interfere with their capital deployment and statutory responsibilities; and

(h) any other related matters.

Sue Lines

The question is that business of the Senate No. 1 standing in the name of Senator Barbara Pocock be agreed to.