Labor on hunt for Pocock, Lambie support, as $15b national reconstruction fund passes the House

The bill establishing the key ALP election pledge of the fund, which will provide loans, guarantees and equity to support major projects, passed the House on Thursday after the Greens secured a fossil fuel and native logging ban amendment.

Industry Minister Ed Husic has welcomed the progression of the bill, while indicating the Greens secured an empty victory, saying it was a "nation building moment" and a "country that makes things, makes great jobs".

"Friends, this is a good day for Australian manufacturing," he told Parliament. "This is a good day if you want Australia to be a country that makes things, this is a good day.

"If you are a manufacturer in regional or outer suburban areas of our country, and are looking for that growth capital to make sure that your firm is secure and grows, this is a good day. And this is a good day for jobs."

An independent expert board would be set up to oversee the fund designed to back companies in sectors such as manufacturing, technology, clean energy and medicine.

The Coalition opposes the fund as "dud", while independent MP Bob Katter now regards it as "watered down" and "woke".

The minister said he was "very keen to get this thing up and running very quickly", but the bill still needs to pass the Senate, where the Jacqui Lambie Network senators have concerns over transparency and whether there is crossover with other funding vehicles.

JLN senator Tammy Tyrrell is displeased by the Greens amendment, saying it is a "smack in the face to Tasmanians" and a broken promise to the Tasmanian Forest and Forest Products Industry.

ACT independent senator David Pocock is also not over the line, but he is supportive of rebuilding Australia's sovereign capability.

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Securing the Greens' condition of no new coal and gas mines in the NRF legislation has given party leader Adam Bandt hope he can use it in negotiations with the government over the safeguard mechanism climate abatement and housing future fund bills.

The Greens insist they are willing to forego "huge" concerns about the safeguard measure to rein in the large industrial greenhouse polluters if new coal and gas projects are halted.

"What's clear is the Parliament is willing to acknowledge that coal and gas are making the climate crisis worse," he told reporters in Canberra.

"I hope that this opens the door to an understanding that coal and gas are meant to be treated differently."

But Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Thursday told the Greens to recognise that Australia is on a massive energy transition and coal and gas are "going to be part of our future for years to come".

Mr Husic also said the point of the fund is to boost manufacturing activity in Australia, not funding extraction nor logging.

He has indicated coal and gas projects could be funded through other "vehicles".

Reporters later put to him the Greens' amendment "stops this fund doing what it was never going to do anyway". To which, he responded: "If you wish to characterise it that way."

Nonetheless, Mr Bandt - who supports greater local manufacturing - is taking the ruling out of a "slush fund" for the practices as a win for the environment.

"Public money should not go to making the climate crisis worse. And public money should not be invested in coal, gas or the destruction of our native forests," he told Parliament.

"That is what people in this country expect.

"This country has massive potential for a revitalised manufacturing industry that thrives in a zero pollution economy."

A future government could amend the law to redirect the NRF towards fossil fuel projects, but Mr Bandt said it would be a "very brave" decision to spend public money in that way.