Community Benefit Principles 5 and 6 public consultation information webinar
Transcript
The following is a transcript of the above webinar held on Thursday 15 January 2026 and presented by:
Rebecca Lannen, General Manager for the Future Made in Australia Implementation Branch
Ryan Dawson, Manager Future Made in Australia Implementation.
Errors and omissions excepted. Subheadings have been added to improve readability.
Introduction
[Rebecca Lannen speaks]
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today's webinar on Future Made in Australia Community Benefit Principals 5 and 6. My name is Rebecca Lannen and I'm the General Manager for the Future Made in Australia Implementation Branch in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
I speak with you today from Brisbane, on the traditional lands of the Turrbal and Yuggera peoples. I pay my respects to the elders, past and present, and extend that respect to elders of all nations across this country.
Focus of today’s webinar
Today's webinar is the third and final of 3 webinars that we have held for the Community Benefit Principles. The purpose of today is to provide more detailed information on Principles 5 and 6 and their intended outcomes and application. I’ve got a little bit of online housekeeping, if that's okay.
This webinar is being recorded, and the recording will be made available on the department's consultation hub, the same hub where you would have found the documentation and the links to register for today. For all engagement, we'll be using the Q&A function. There'll be an opportunity to ask questions through that function, which we'll come to at the end, but you'll see the chat function will not be available for this session.
In terms of Q&A, if we don't have an answer to your question, we'll come back with an answer by posting it through the frequently asked questions document which will be posted onto the web page. If, however, your question requires a more tailored response, we'll get back to you via email, if that's all right. We've allocated an hour for today's webinar, and while this information I will share, what we hope is that we've allowed a decent amount of time at the end for the question and answers.
Consultation process
The next few slides are the same that we've used across all 3 webinars. For those of you who joined us yesterday or the day before, you'll hear the same information. But for those of you who haven't, today's webinar follows from the video presentation and guidance documentation released late last year.
Again, you may have seen the links to that video presentation on the consultation website. That presentation provided the overarching information on the context of the consultation process. It summarised elements of the Future Made in Australia agenda, the Production Tax Incentives and the Community Benefit Principles. It explained the consultation documents and the rationale for consultation, and it also outlined the feedback we are seeking and how to provide that feedback.
So, today's webinar will provide a bit of a recap on some of that information, but if you're keen to get more information, more of an overview of the Future Made in Australia agenda, I'd encourage you to go back and have a look at that video.
A Future Made in Australia
So, to recap, the government's intention for the Future Made in Australia agenda seeks to leverage our low cost renewable energy, our skilled workforce and natural resources. This aims to create new clean energy industries and make a substantial contribution to global emissions reduction and the world's net zero commitments. It's also about strengthening priority supply chains, improving economic resilience and security and remaining an indispensable part of the net zero global economy.
The Future Made in Australia Act, as part of the Future Made in Australia agenda, gives effect to the Community Benefit Principles or the Principles which I'll refer to as we move through. It also gives effect to the Future Made in Australia plans, both of which are subject to this consultation. The Act requires recipients of the Future Made in Australia support to have a Future Made in Australia plan to explain how a project would provide benefits consistent with the Community Benefit Principles to ensure accountability and transparency.
Decision-makers must give regard to the Community Benefit Principles when deciding on whether Future Made in Australia support should be provided and project proponents receiving Future Made in Australia support at or above a threshold must have in place a Future Made in Australia plan.
Also, part of the agenda is the references to the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive and the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive, which are all part of the Future Made in Australia - Production Tax Credits and Other Measures Act. These incentives will support Australia's efforts to decarbonise our industries and produce and process more the minerals needed for energy transition.
So, what are we consulting on? This consultation focuses on both the implementation of the Principles of Future Made in Australia support and the application of these Principles to the Future Made in Australia Production Tax Incentives. Sitting at the heart of this consultation is about hearing from you about the challenges and opportunities associated with ensuring funding from Future Made in Australia projects flows to communities in ways that benefit those communities, local workers and businesses.
So, it’s about how it will work practically and proportionally, how it will be flexible, how it will be fair and how it will be balanced through this consultation. We're seeking your views on implementation of the Principles including:
the minimum requirements, which are the requirements that apply to all projects seeking Future Made in Australia support
threshold requirements (and there’s two bits to this one), threshold requirements which are the requirements that apply to projects seeking Future Made in Australia support at or above the financial threshold. So, seeking views on what threshold requirements could look like but also seeking views from you about what the financial amount could be.
the considerations for Future Made in Australia plans which explain how a project would provide benefits consistent with the Principles
how commitments against each Principle would be monitored and enforced.
By now, hopefully you would have seen the documentation, the cover note and the guidance documentation. In that documentation, we've presented a proposed approach to implementing each of the Principles. Those proposed approaches serve as a starting point for discussion, a starting point for this consultation. So, it's really important for us that we hear from you about what those starting points look like and if those starting points are right and how they can be applied in practise. This is to ensure that the policy framework is practical and effective.
Insights received from consultation will be considered when drafting rules to be made under the Future Made in Australia Act. Those rules are the legislative instrument prescribing specific guidance or instructions to implement the Principles. Those rules will also guide how the Principles are put into effect. The guidance also outlines requirements proposed for inclusion and rules to be developed by the Treasurer under the taxation legislation, and insights received from this consultation will be considered when drafting those rules too.
So, well, today we're focusing on Principles 5 and 6. As I mentioned, there are 6 Principles in total. Those Principles, as you will know, are covering a wide range of policy areas, including employment and skills, supporting the transition to net zero, and the principles also speak to more traditional industry policy and tax compliance which is the subject of today. The Principles are legislated in section 10, subsection 3 of the Future Made in Australia Act.
Fundamentally, the Principles are about ensuring public investment in projects delivers benefits to local communities, business and workers, including First Nations peoples. These principles were shaped by stakeholder feedback when the Future Made in Australia Bill was introduced to Parliament in 2024 and was reviewed by a parliamentary committee. So, let's go to the last 2 Principles now.
Community Benefit Principle 5: Strengthening domestic industrial capabilities including through stronger local supply chains
Principle 5 is about project proponents strengthening domestic industrial capabilities, including stronger local supply chains. Intended outcomes and a focus for Principle 5 is around the government's vision for domestic innovation and resilience through maximised Australian industry participation in projects through full, fair and reasonable opportunities to participate. It's about knowledge creation and contribution to Australian innovation. You would have seen in the documentation, it speaks to Australian industry participation in projects, includes participation from local, small and medium enterprises, sharing knowledge, particularly through investment in research and development or contributing to Australia's innovation.
I know many of you on the call, if not all of you, will know the concepts of full, fair and reasonable, but so we're all at the same starting point:
full opportunity means Australian entities have the same opportunities as global supply chain partners to participate in all aspects of a project.
fair opportunity means Australian entities have the same opportunity as global suppliers to compete in projects on an equal and transparent basis, including being given a reasonable time in which to tender
reasonable opportunity means that tenders are free from non-market burdens that might rule out Australian entities and are structured to provide Australian entities the opportunity to participate in projects.
It's all with the intention that maximising Australian entity participation through this measure, aims to strengthen domestic industrial capabilities and local supply chains.
Thinking about industrial capabilities, and while we all have an idea of what domestic capability and strong local supply chains are, the guidance documentation outlines some thoughts in that domestic industrial capabilities are strong where Australia is innovative and adaptive to changing technologies and markets. Investment in research and development and increased Australian entity participation in each aspect of a project can help project proponents to adapt to changing technologies and markets.
Fostering collaboration contributes to sharing knowledge and contributing to Australian innovation. With increased Australian participation in project aspects such as design, engineering, project management, professional services and IT architecture will help strengthen Australia's capability across all stages of a project. Similarly, for supply chains, local supply chains are strong where there is reduced reliance on overseas logistic chains and Australia’s economic economy is resilient.
Compliance with local content requirements wherever possible, and increased Australian participation in project aspects, including transport and manufacturing contribute to strong local supply chains. Local requirements apply under the Australian Jobs Act, which many of you will be familiar with, for projects with a capital investment of $500 million or more to provide Australian entities with full, fair and reasonable opportunities to participate.
So, with that context and intent in mind, when thinking about strengthening domestic industrial capabilities, including through stronger local supply chains, what would be minimum requirements for proponents receiving Future Made in Australia support to outline the commitment underneath this Principle? You would have seen in the documentation for Principle 5, the minimum requirements for seeking your views on are whether proponents must state that they are compliant with reporting requirements under the Modern Slavery Act.
So, to give context, by complying with Modern Slavery Act, proponents are contributing to ethical, stronger and more resilient local supply chains. A question to you through the consultation - is this reasonable? Could there be additional requirements or alternative requirements as our starting point?
Threshold requirements - so, we're going beyond minimum requirements, where projects are seeking Future Made in Australia support at or above that financial threshold I spoke about earlier, asking proponents to meet threshold requirements for each Principle.
Again, you'll see from the guidance documentation for Principle 5, proponents must provide information on how a project will give local entities a full, fair and reasonable opportunity to participate. And this could include things like information on:
Key goods and services for the project and their estimated opportunity value and if there are opportunities for Australian and/or international suppliers to provide them.
It could also include details of where the organisation will publish information on the project. Where Australian suppliers will find update information about opportunities and who to contact for enquiries and if applicable, sorry.
Proponents must also provide reasons why goods and services cannot or will not be procured in Australia or via an Australian supplier.
The documentation also goes on to speak to threshold requirements that would require proponents to provide information on how the project will strengthen domestic industrial capabilities.
It could include information on how the proponent will identify and encourage new suppliers to participate in the project.
Actions the proponent will take to assist Australian entities to participate in future projects in Australia and overseas and encourage capability development and integration into global supply chains.
How the project will share knowledge and contribute to Australian innovation, including participation in shared research and development in the industry.
I’m hoping this gives you more context and intent that sits behind Principle 5 and what has been provided through the public guidance documentation. As I said before, the starting point for discussion around what could be in minimum requirements and what could be in the threshold requirements.
So that concludes the information on Principle 5 in this session. But before I move on to Principle 6, I want to take a moment to let you know that the Q&A function is now open. So, if you had questions about this, about Principle 5 and what information I've just shared with you, please feel free to put them into the chat now. As I say, we'll post these answers through the frequently asked questions document on the web page, but if your question warrants more of a detailed response for you or your organisation or your company, we'll respond to you directly via email.
Community Benefit Principle 6: Demonstrating transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs, including benefits received under Future Made in Australia supports
So, moving onto Principle 6. This is about demonstrating transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs, including benefits received under Future Made in Australia support.
Principle 6 focuses on the government's vision for integrity in the tax system through appropriate transparency, scrutiny and meeting public expectation. Appropriate engagement with Commonwealth taxation laws is crucial to ensuring the provision of Future Made in Australia support and Future Made in Australia Production Tax Incentives continues to uphold the integrity of the Commonwealth tax system.
So, what is transparency in relation to tax affairs? So, you'll see in again in the guidance documentation, it outlines the context in that transparency is displayed where companies demonstrate best practise engagement with Commonwealth taxation laws in a clear way that the public can scrutinise. It speaks to best practise in relation to tax affairs and includes public reporting in line with the Voluntary Tax Transparency Code or the Global Reporting Initiative standards where appropriate.
The documentation also outlines the minimum requirements under Community Benefit Principle 6. It points out that all project proponents seeking Future Made in Australia support set out how the project would demonstrate transparency in the management of its tax affairs by adopting the Voluntary Tax Transparency code. By way of background, for those of you who may not know, but I'm sure many of you do, the code is a set of principles and minimum standards developed by the Board of Taxation to guide medium and large businesses on public disclosure of tax information.
The code is designed to encourage greater transparency by the corporate sector and to enhance the community's understanding of the corporate sector's compliance with Australian tax laws. Our question to you through the consultation is, is this reasonable? Could there be additional requirements? Could there be an alternative requirement that could meet the minimum requirements for Community Benefit Principle 6?
You would also see it in the public guidance documentation, that Principle 6 doesn't need to meet any threshold requirements. The only requirement for Principle 6 is the minimum requirement we just discussed. Unless of course, you had other views that you wanted to share as part of this consultation on what could be a threshold requirement.
Monitoring and reporting is the other part of the consultation process which I touched on earlier and this is across all of the Community Benefit Principles. So, to achieve the vision and intended outcomes I've just described, it's important that commitments against the Principles are effectively monitored and recorded.
The guidance documentation proposes that commitments will be monitored through reporting and a process of reporting and renegotiating commitments, if any issues arise as the project progresses. We also propose that there will be consequences for non-compliance, if that non-compliance is significant and sustained. Through this consultation, we're keen to hear from you about exactly what and how we should monitor projects to ensure that project proponents are meeting the intended outcomes of the Principles.
We're interested to hear feedback on the details of the approach to monitoring and reporting for each of the Principles. You are in the best position to be able to provide that feedback. You'll be able to tap into your own experiences for relationships that you have with government and the reporting that you have back to government on how reporting and the development of plans through the Future Made in Australia agenda can reflect, complement, and interact with the reporting that you're already doing.
So, up here you'll see on the slides that we have a few questions that we're posing, and those questions are around:
how we do the reporting
the frequency of the reporting
what to report against
how do you demonstrate the delivery against? - for this webinar, Principle 5 or Principle 6
what are the appropriate mechanisms to ensure those commitments are met?
But it's really about the how and the level of detail, the frequency and the practicality of that reporting that we're keen to hear your feedback on. In general, though, your feedback - as you hopefully would have seen on the web page throughout this consultation - all your feedback can be uploaded as an attachment to the consultation page or you can send us by post. So, if you had any queries or you wanted to send your submission by post, you can contact us on the mailbox up here on the slides. If you pick CBPconsultation@industry.gov.au, we'll be in contact and make arrangements on how to do that. And we're accepting submissions until the end of the day on Monday, the 2nd of February.
As I mentioned earlier, once the public consultation process finishes, the feedback from the consultation will inform the rules under the Future Made in Australia Act and the public guidance documentation, with its intention for the public guidance documentation to be live so we can adjust and be flexible and adapt over time.
Q&A
So, if you haven't already, we've now opened up the Q&A function. As I mentioned before, we wanted to leave a healthy amount of time for Q&A. A lot of the information that I've just worked through is available through the web page.
So, I think we've had a few questions come through as part of the registration process. So many thanks for those of you who have already submitted. I'll introduce you now to Ryan Dawson. Ryan is the Manager in my team and Ryan's responsible for the Community Benefit Principles. He and his team are the ones that you might see on the screen on either side. So, Ryan, I'll hand over to you to work through our questions.
Question 1
[Ryan Dawson speaks]
Thanks, Rebecca. Yes, as Rebecca said, there are a few questions that came through prior and a few are trickling in as well right now. So first, we'll just approach the previous questions submitted prior.
Principle 5 emphasises strengthening domestic industrial capabilities and investing in R&D. Many net zero projects will require advanced manufacturing capabilities for commercialisation and scale up. How does the framework view regional innovation hubs that provide the manufacturing infrastructure and skilled workforce these projects will need, particularly in transitioning industrial hubs with existing capabilities? Can these hubs qualify for support as essential enabling infrastructure?
Answer
Thanks for the question around Community Benefit Principle 5. Principle 5 is intended to enable the strengthening of domestic industrial capabilities through supporting innovation. We acknowledge that regional innovation hubs actually provide an important role in helping proponents to facilitate this. In essence, these innovation hubs are central to the success of the Principle itself. It is the government's intention though, to set up a framework to ensure that funding from Future Made in Australia projects flows to communities in ways that benefit local workers, communities and businesses. So, it's about the general settings to enable those stakeholders, those proponents.
Question 2
Next question: Why don’t the current Community Benefit Principles define what the supply chain is? The government’s strong emphasis on the Strategic Fleet and a review in play for the for the Coastal Trading Act - revitalising Australian Shipping 2012. It seems counterproductive to not emphatically define Australian shipping or Australian crude vessels in the supply chain definition. Global geopolitics and sovereign supply chain security are integral to the Future Made in Australia agenda.
Answer
Thanks for the question and suggestion on this. I think it's important to note that the agenda is broad and captures projects that contribute to the net zero transformation in addition to projects that contribute to economic resilience and security. Supply chains will differ for different projects, and because of this, no specific supply chain has been defined.
Of course, we're interested to hear your feedback on what should be included under the requirements for implementing the Principles. So, happy to take this suggestion on board as well, and if there's any further opportunities that we can take along this line as well, we're happy to receive those as well.
Question 3
And a few questions have just started coming in from the presentation from those of you in the room today. The question is: Is the $500 million you mentioned a threshold for the Community Benefit Principles?
Answer
So, that was in reference to Community Benefit Principle 5, as part of ways to satisfy those requirements for Community Benefit Principle 5. The $500 million mentioned is in reference to the Australian Jobs Act 2013 and in that, major projects with an estimated capital expenditure of $500 million or more are subject to the Australian Jobs Act, a requirement to produce an Australian Industry Participation Plan.
It's important that when we are approaching the development of the Principles, that we keep in mind of some of the existing requirements that are placed on proponents to ensure that we're not duplicating and adding to the burden of those proponents. So ideally, we would be looking to recognise some of that compliance that those proponents are taking in their ability to satisfy the requirements of the Community Benefit Principles themselves.
Question 4
Another question on Principle 5, and again it’s probably similar to one of the previous ones: Is there a definition of what is covered under supply chain and transport? Does this include Australian shipping in both the construction phase of projects and potential export nationally and internationally?
Answer
Yeah. So, I think again, yes, but the scope of supply chains is quite broad and varied. So, we would be looking to keep it general, but happy to hear your thoughts and feedback on what should be included.
Question 5
With the thresholds not applicable to Community Benefit Principle 6, do all projects, regardless of size, have to meet CBP 6?
Answer
So, yes. Currently we are proposing that minimum requirement for Community Benefit Principle 6 is that, similar to other minimum requirements, will apply to all projects. So, if you have feedback on alternative suggestions for that minimum requirement or threshold requirements - in fact as well, we're happy to, kind of, hear your thoughts and it will add to the robust nature of the work that we're doing in terms of the Principles.
So, I think we are waiting on a few questions that may be coming through. I think it's important to note that we're happy to receive your questions outside of this webinar format as well, so if you have any thoughts that you think of later on, happy to receive them through the consultation mailbox. So, please, at any time, please let us know and we will follow up both directly and intend to publish some responses so that all of you can see those through the consultation website itself.
And also important to note that we will still be accepting submissions to the consultation up until the 2nd of February. So, no matter how much or little advice and feedback that you have, we're more than willing to accept it and give it as much weight as possible to help us develop the Community Benefit Principles, to find and strike that right balance, to ensure that both proponents and the industries that we're trying to support through this, have a focus, but as well as those community organisations and those communities.
[Rebecca Lannen speaks]
And just on that, hopefully you would have seen where the cover note has got quite a few questions outlined. We do mention in the cover note that you can answer all the questions or some of the questions. Or if, as Ryan says, if you want to provide feedback just generally on how implementation could work and considerations that you think that should be taken into place, as Ryan mentioned, equally as important.
Question 6
[Ryan Dawson speaks]
Thanks, Rebecca. There is an additional question coming in now: So, does the assurance of reported information requirement extend to Principle 6 tax compliance and transparency requirements? For example, does the voluntary tax compliance require auditor sign off?
Answer
So, very much happy to hear your thoughts about additional oversight in relation to particular elements of the Principles. There are considerations, especially within this question, that we might need to follow up offline and reply to you in-depth, either through email and/or through the frequently asked questions, because we do note, like Rebecca mentioned earlier, the approach to applying the Community Benefit Principles in relation to the Production Tax Incentives and programs and initiatives through Future Made in Australia support are slightly different. So, we will certainly give this the utmost consideration and how it should be implemented in practice.
I think we have run the course in terms of questions as a result of today's presentation right now, but I'm sure there will be more. So, please do send your thoughts to us via the consultation mailbox, and yeah, happy to answer anything that that you think of beyond this presentation today. Otherwise, I'll pass back to Rebecca.
Conclusion
[Rebecca Lannen speaks]
Thank you, Ryan, and thank you everyone again, for those of you who submitted your questions beforehand. Those who have been active on the Q&A function just now. Thank you all though for your participation. Even the questions themselves provide important insights into what should be considered. We're absolutely interested in your views on the how we might answer those questions, or how it might be implemented. But I think it's also equally important, even if you're not sure, to present and submit those considerations through this process. It's also important to make sure that those issues are considered when developing the rules and developing the public guidance.
But thank you again for your participation. As Ryan said, sometimes it takes a while after you jump off the webinar to come to think, oh, I should have asked this or I wouldn't mind some more information on this. The CBP consultation industry mailbox is monitored by Ryan and his team, so there are people behind the inbox. So, please feel free to contact us that way, but in the meantime have a great rest of the week and thank you again for your participation.
[Transcript ends]