As Albanese pushes Future Made in Australia, one key body worries about green protectionism
The Productivity Commission has published its sharpest warning yet that industry policies like the Future Made in Australia Act could lead to protectionism.
When Danielle Wood spoke out about her concerns with the government’s flagship Future Made in Australia program earlier this year, it put Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the spot. He was required to answer press questions about why his handpicked Productivity Commission chair and one of the nation’s top economic thinkers appeared so out of step with the government’s biggest first term policy agenda.
It's not entirely surprising that Wood was warning the government off picking winners, after all many other mainstream economists were horrified and the Productivity Commission has long championed a free market approach. Chalmers appeared publicly unfazed by the response and ultimately agreed with her comments that there needed to be an "exit ramp" for any investments to avoid pouring money into infant industries that never become self sustainable.
Still, Productivity Commission deputy chair Alex Robson was careful when speaking to Capital Brief on Wednesday about the institution’s latest trade and assistance report, which included a caution that industry policies in general can quickly turn into trade protectionism.
“We don’t make an assessment as to whether these programs are good or bad, that’s for another place and for others to do,” Robson told Capital Brief, treading carefully around questions of the Albanese government’s flagship Future Made in Australia (FMIA) and similar global industry policy interventions.
