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2 August, 2023
AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION
Submission to the Hydrogen Headstart Consultation
To whom it may concern,
The AMWU has organised and represented workers in the Australian manufacturing sector for 170 years.
Today, the AMWU represents nearly 70,000 members in every Australian city and region. The AMWU has been working with environmental and community organisations to advocate for economic diversification and industrial renewal in legacy coal regions like the Hunter Valley, Central Queensland, south-west
Western Australia, and the La Trobe Valley in Victoria. A Headstart for hydrogen industries in Australia presents a major opportunity for economic diversification to manufacturing and energy industries that assists these, and many other regions, across Australia to be active participants in the nation’s renewable energy future.
For too long, environmental sustainability and creating more jobs in the manufacturing and energy production sectors have been seen as incompatible with one another. The AMWU rejects this framing.
We therefore welcome the opportunity to make a submission to the Hydrogen Headstart Consultation.
Our response is informed by, and of relevance to, the work of our members in decarbonising and new clean energy industries. We welcome further discussion and collaboration on the decarbonisation of existing industries and the creation of new clean energy industries.
The AMWU is supportive of a plan for hydrogen to aid domestic decarbonisation of energy and manufacturing industries and its role in building industry capability to provide new economic opportunities to transitioning energy workers and their communities, and for maximising high-value export opportunities.
The AMWU views the development of a hydrogen industry focused on energy supply for manufacturing decarbonisation as a major pathway to developing and retaining industrial investment in Australia’s domestic supply chains, attracting skilled labour and developing the workforce. It can form a major input to a competitive hydrogen energy industry in Australia, from which can grow innovative technologies, business models and cheap, renewable supply of resources for advanced manufacturing industries that export to global markets.
The AMWU stands firmly on a commitment to environmental and climate change Australian Manufacturing
Workers' Union adaptation objectives in the growth and development of Australia’s hydrogen industry. As Registered as AFMEPKIU such, the production of hydrogen in Australia must be renewable, with no SMR or CCS National Office technologies being part of the technology mix in the whole of Australia’s hydrogen industry, Level 4
133 Parramatta Road beyond just projects eligible for funding via the Hydrogen Headstart program. Granville NSW 2142
Telephone: 02 8868 1500
Facsimile: 02 9897 9274
amwu@amwu.asn.au s:\national administration\corres\national secretary\nat sec letters 23\sm2023147.docx
Furthermore, the AMWU believes that Hydrogen Headstart funding support should not only be focused on projects located in Australia, but additionally, favour the development of local industries including startups, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and workforces directly employed by companies that are committed to developing Australia’s new economy. Along with evaluating projects based on their emissions reduction potential and benefit to regional development, weight should be given to the magnitude of potential job creation. As a condition of tendering, companies must have in place standards to ensure that jobs have fair wages, safe working conditions, support for collective bargaining and ready access to unionisation, and commitments to workforce development, training, and apprenticeships — especially for women and ATSI workers.
The Government’s proposed secure jobs code should represent best practice in this regard and apply to the Hydrogen Headstart program, as well as other government funding and procurement allocated to hydrogen projects. The Hydrogen Headstart program can also support local employment by ensuring that where applications must have a valid commercial case for the end use of the hydrogen the produce, this use helps to support domestic supply chains and industrial development in Australia ahead of any export of hydrogen resources that do not contribute to value-adding industries and projects aimed at maximising
Australian manufacturing industry, jobs and skills.
There are tangible industrial and policy initiatives that can be implemented rapidly to facilitate an increased participation of women in growing hydrogen industries that the Hydrogen Headstart program is nominally proposed to support. First, any project or applicant attracting government support in the form of finance, grants, or equity should have a mandated ratio of apprentices to tradespeople, and a requirement that at least 50% of new apprentices should be women. Secondly, employers must be required to provide appropriate support and facilities to women workers, including bathrooms and changerooms. Additionally, the federal government should consider a national program to encourage young women to consider an apprenticeship in trades related to hydrogen industries.
In its consideration of mechanisms to support local industry developments over exports, offtake agreements will help to achieve the supply chain outcomes Hydrogen Headstart hopes to develop. The
AMWU would thus encourage that the program either strongly favour applicants with at least a conditional offtake agreement that support domestic manufacturing supply chains or other local firms and industries that are committed to decarbonising their production activities.
To avoid duplication in investment, the AMWU supports the creation of Common User Facilities (CUFs) for hydrogen industry development. CUFs in the vein of the Australian Marine Complex1 Western Australia have a demonstrated capacity to facilitate the growth of small and medium enterprises, diversify industry, and support the development of advanced manufacturing, including through the retraining and redeployment of workers in new industries. The AMC CUF in Henderson is a large, 40ha integrated facility and has supported the development of a world class shipbuilding and maintenance industry in Western
Australia. Since its establishment the AMC has delivered hundreds of infrastructure projects and tens of thousands of jobs.2 The AMC CUF also supports fabrication and manufacturing for the WA mining, oil and gas industries.
1
Development WA. Australian Marine Complex. https://developmentwa.com.au/projects/industrial-and-commercial/australian-marine-complex/about- the-amc
2
Government of Western Australia Department of Commerce. 2016. Australian Marine Complex Brochure.
https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/amc_brochure_may_2016.pdf s:\national administration\corres\national secretary\nat sec letters 23\sm2023147.docx
This model is applicable to the hydrogen industry, where scale remains an issue due to the fledgling nature of many hydrogen ‘start-ups’ seeking to attract investment to develop scalable facilities and technologies, and many of which will seek out funding from the Hydrogen Headstart program. A hydrogen production
CUF would provide publicly owned infrastructure through which Australian hydrogen SMEs – including those receiving Government funding – can build scale in a context of minimised risk. It would also facilitate downstream supply chain linkages to consumers of hydrogen for manufacturing production including green steel and other green-powered manufacturing facilities.
It is important that the Hydrogen Headstart program realise the massive potential of hydrogen industries to support Australia’s advanced manufacturing revival. Green steel, battery, fuel cell and critical mineral processing industries are all high-value opportunities for Australia to develop a world-leading advantage in the renewable industries of the future.
The AMWU welcomes further discussion and collaboration on this important issue, and we thank you for the opportunity to make a submission. If you require any further information, please contact Mark Dean
(mark.dean@amwu.org.au or 0402 669 242) in the first instance.
Yours sincerely,
STEVE MURPHY
NATIONAL SECRETARY s:\national administration\corres\national secretary\nat sec letters 23\sm2023147.docx
