The federal government plans a $45 million advertising campaign for its Future Made in Australia program.
The budget announced $22.7 billion over the next decade to encourage private sector investment to make Australia an indispensable part of the global economy.
Part of this is to make Australia a renewable energy superpower, as the world heads to net zero emissions, through the Capacity Investment Scheme by 2030.
The majority of that $22.7 billion is production tax credits for renewable hydrogen and for refining and processing minerals.
In a podcast interview with Guardian Australia, treasurer Jim Chalmers said this was a big policy change.
Chalmers was asked: "It looks like there’s something like $40 million in there for what looks like an advertising campaign. Now, you’re not actually asking Australians to do anything. You’ve just given us an explanation of what this is. So, why do we have to pay to have another don’t you do that for free."
"This is a big, ambitious vision for the future and it’s not unusual under governments of either political persuasion to make a provision for consultation or communication," he told political correspondent Karen Middleton.
"And that’s what we’ve done here. Some of these changes that we are contemplating are big, meaty changes.
"We’re talking about, over time, transforming our energy base, transforming our industrial base, our human capital base.
"And so, it’s not, I think, unreasonable or unusual to provision in a responsible way to communicate that to people, partly so they understand where things are headed, so that they can plan accordingly, but also because change can sometimes create anxiety and we want to avoid that at all costs."
James Dixon, chief data officer and partner, Atomic 212°, said it’s pleasing to see strong commitment to Future Made in Australia.
"This initiative is a modern take on nationalism, with public private partnerships playing to strengths in natural resources and a vision for global leadership in these sectors," he said.
"The budget outlines $15 billion of investment in partnerships across energy, tech and mining and is an encouraging play to make economic interventions on the basis of national interest and national sovereignty."
The federal government's media agency account contract, worth $240 million and held by IPG Mediabrand's UM, is currently up for review.
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