Media Release - NRF REPORT SEES THE LIGHT AFTER OPPOSITION PRESSURE

The Hon Alex Hawke MP

Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

NRF REPORT SEES THE LIGHT AFTER OPPOSITION PRESSURE

The $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) has finally released its 2024-25 Annual Report, after being ordered to do so by the Opposition in the Senate.

In response to an Opposition order for the production of documents, Industry Minister Tim Ayres released the key corporate document today, 6 November 2025.

Minister Ayres had previously stated the report would be available in “early October 2025.”

Typically, annual reports of government departments and other entities are made public by 31 October each year.

Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation, Alex Hawke, said Labor was allergic to transparency.

“It’s deeply unacceptable that under Labor, it takes an official order of the Senate to extract something as basic as an annual report for a government agency,” Mr Hawke said.

“Minister Ayres is still yet to explain why he allowed the NRF to hide this government report from the public.

“Australians are right to be alarmed that the government agency entrusted with $15 billion dollars of taxpayer funds was keeping their annual report secret. If this was a listed company, there would be serious repercussions.

“This kind of lazy corporate governance is exactly the type of blunder that the Productivity Commission has warned erodes public and investor confidence in so-called modern industry policy.

“The NRF’s rolling corporate governance failures raises more questions as to the fitness of this major entity’s capacity to deliver on its ‘Future Made in Australia’ objectives.”

Other NRF transparency failures exposed by the Opposition include:

  • The Secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources admitting that the appointment process for NRF Board Member, union boss and close personal friend of Tim Ayres, Glenn Thompson, had involved a serious “misstep.”
  • The Auditor-General finding that the appointment process for Mr Thompson involved an “all verbal” due diligence check - a practice not followed for other board appointments.
  • Having 39 outstanding board-approved corporate policies in June 2024, including a sexual harassment policy.
  • Not having a board-approved financial or investment strategy, nor an impact framework, despite spending over $400 million of taxpayer funds.

ENDS