$15b fund boss aims to pull investors back from Biden’s IRA

afr.com:

The inaugural chairman of the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, Labor’s primary vehicle to reboot domestic manufacturing, says he aims to lure back investment dollars that would otherwise flow to Joe Biden’s vast clean industry program.

Martijn Wilder, founder of climate investor and consultant Pollination, said he wanted the new fund to help the economy “reposition itself” to the reality of rapidly expanding global industry policy.

Martijn Wilder: “If you can crowd in some of that finance that would have otherwise gone overseas, that’s really important.”  Oscar Colman

“You’ve got this tremendous sort of coming together of the UK, the US, Australia, Germany and Japan all looking at things around critical minerals, around hydrogen, around manufacturing,” Mr Wilder told The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday.

“There’s an opportunity for us to actually value-add on those existing industries that we have and to actually build some of that manufacturing base here.”

Industry Minister Ed Husic announced the makeup of the fund’s eight-member board, which will include formerLiberal minister Kelly O’Dwyer, former Australian Workers Union secretary Dan Walton, and former Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour.

Mr Wilder is a former chairman of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and a former member of the Climate Council and Clean Energy Finance Corporation boards.

The National Reconstruction Fund was established by parliament in late March, with the support of Greens and the crossbench. It will provide finance to seven priority areas, including renewables, medical science, transport, agriculture, resources and defence. The board is charged with ensuring the NRF generates a commercial rate of return.

Mr Husic described