Australian minerals industry parliamentary dinner

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Every year, Minerals Week gives us the opportunity to celebrate the contribution the resources industry makes to our nation.

Tonight, this great hall is home to some of our nation's biggest exporters and employers.

Some of the oldest firms in Australian business - and some of the most exciting new growth stories in the Australian economy.

All of you belong to an industry that has been creating good jobs and driving national prosperity for more than a century.

And the measure of your success has always run deeper than longevity.

As an industry, your story is much more than a tale of endurance through times of change, or resilience in the face of uncertainty.

You have endured because you have evolved.

Big firms and small, old and new, you have put yourselves at the cutting edge of exploration and evolution.

Together you have built a rich history, by looking to the future.

Time and time again, you have prospered by anticipating change, embracing it and working to shape it.

Your industry has had the courage and foresight to seek new markets in our region and build new trade connections with the world.

Not just benefitting from the growth and transformation in Asia but helping to power it and secure it.

You've led the way in adopting new technologies to unlock productivity gains.

You've set new global standards in sustainability and workplace safety.

And you have built new infrastructure and brought secure, well-paid jobs to regional communities across Australia.

This is a record of a profound achievement.

Together, we can make it the foundation for even greater success.

Because the biggest global economic shift since the industrial revolution is underway.

And the resources industry is front and centre in our Government's plan for Australia to make the most of this transformative opportunity.

Already, 92 per cent of the global economy is signed up to net zero, including 97 per cent of our trading partners.

The global imperative to cut emissions is Australia's opportunity to grow our economy - and diversify it.

That's what I mean when I talk about a future made in Australia.

Making more things here.

Adding value here.

Turning the resources the world needs into products the world wants.

And making our economy more resilient and more secure in the process.

Because a strong, growing, productive economy benefits us all.

Our Future Made in Australia strategy is an economic plan focused on creating good jobs, driving new investment and delivering stronger growth.

And the resources industry is at the core of it.

Because every nation committed to net zero will need more of the resources and technology that go into producing clean energy and green steel and cement.

Including the metals, rare earths and other critical minerals that Australia has in abundance.

That's why Madeleine King always says:

"The road to net zero runs through the Australian resources industry."

And that road is no goat track - it's a global superhighway.

The International Energy Agency projects that - without any change to current policies - mineral demand for clean energy technologies will double between now and 2030.

But if - as you would expect - countries continue to ramp up their efforts to meet net zero, demand will triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040.

This points to the scale of the opportunity before us.

And it speaks to the need for urgency that drives us.

Because while the world wants what Australia has - it won't wait around for us.

If we hesitate, or hang back.

If we let points of disagreement delay us.

If we abandon co-operation for conflict.

If we listen to those who spend all their time talking Australia down and saying our companies can't compete and our workers shouldn't try.

Then the world will go right past us.

You understand that.

You didn't build your businesses with negativity, you don't look to the future as something to fear.

You face it with optimism and determination.

And that's the spirit of our Government's investment in your industry.

Including the landmark new funding that this year's Budget delivered for GeoScience Australia.

Launching a new era in minerals exploration and enabling the first comprehensive map of Australia's critical minerals and strategic materials

We know that when the Minerals Council talks about 'unearthing the future' - that also means unearthing the next generation of skilled workers.

That's why we have delivered 500,000 fee-free TAFE places and are expanding access to university in the regions and suburbs.

We're creating clean energy apprenticeships and driving new investment in innovation, robotics and automation.

And we are investing in our international relationships as well.

The patient, deliberate and calibrated approach our Government has taken to stabilising our ties with China has removed more than $20 billion in trade impediments.

Delivering significant benefits for Australian coal and copper, as well as our farmers, growers and producers.

We are opening and expanding markets in India and South East Asia.

And we have created a new critical minerals framework with the United States of America.

Those of you who were with us in Washington DC last year, know that American interest in Australian resources goes all the way to the highest levels of government and business.

Of course, the most significant new investment our Government is making in your industry are our Future Made in Australia Production Tax Credits

In the Parliament, I've heard some call this: 'corporate welfare' and 'billions for billionaires'.

That tough talk tends to drop off as they get closer to workplaces, mines, processing plants and ports.

My colleagues and I are clear about where we stand - whichever part of the country we are in.

We are proud to be investing in jobs in the regions.

We are proud to be backing the expansion of a world-leading Australian industry.

And we know tax credits built on rewarding success, in areas crucial to our comparative advantage and economic resilience, serve the national interest.

This is about attracting private capital, not replacing it.

Aligning our national security and our economic security.

And making Government a catalyst for new investment in critical minerals - at every stage.

Creating new mining jobs, processing and refining jobs, technology and manufacturing jobs.

Forging these new links in the resources value chain, right here in Australia.

Making the most of our unique combination of national strengths - our sunlight, our skilled workers and our space - to build new industrial centres powered by clean energy.

And in doing so, creating a new and lasting comparative advantage for Australia.

The other essential role Government has to play is in streamlining investment - and speeding-up the approval process for projects.

We know that for far too many years, there have been far too many barriers between regional and remote communities and good job-creating projects.

We've made major investments in accelerating approvals for renewable energy and critical minerals, in particular.

And we are focused on building a stronger and better framework - that delivers long-term clarity, certainty and confidence to industry, investors and locals alike.

Getting this right will deliver better and faster decision-making.

And one of the key priorities we have is ensuring that remote communities are empowered by the dignity, security and intergenerational opportunity of good jobs.

In one forum or another, I've been talking about building these links between mining, renewable energy, skills and manufacturing since practically my first day as Labor Leader.

What's changed the most in those five years is that we are no longer dealing in the language of 'possible' and 'potential'.

We're no longer seeing companies and communities acting in the absence of Government leadership - or in spite of Government policy.

Instead, business, workers and every level of government are working together to lead the way.

Bringing together resources, energy and manufacturing to secure the economic future of their communities.

I saw that in Collie last week, during my 23rd visit to Western Australia as Prime Minister.
Collie is concrete proof of two essential facts.

One, the shift to clean energy is not a theory, or a distant future prospect.

It's happening, right now.

And two, the resources industry is helping drive it.

In Collie, the catalyst for change has been the staged closure of the coal-fired power stations.

That's a big thing for a small town, where - for decades - mining jobs and power station jobs have been built on coal.

But the community together with business and the WA government - is rising to the challenge.

The new big battery - just up the road from the power station - will employ 500 people in construction and store enough power for up to 860,000 homes.

And that's just the beginning.

International Graphite are developing a new plant to process Australian graphite mined in the south west, a vital component in making batteries.

Magnium Australia are using CSIRO-developed technology in a net-zero magnesium refinery

And new electric arc furnace technology can bring hundreds more jobs in green steel.

Together, the people of Collie are building a new generation of prosperity and security.

Not in 2040 or 2050. Right now.

That's what happens when we work to shape the future, rather than waiting for the future to shape us.

And this same story is being written in regional communities in every part of our country.

I've seen it myself in Gladstone and the Hunter, Tassie and the Illawarra, the Pilbara and the Upper Spencer gulf.

Every time I see Australians engaged in this work of transformation, I come away more optimistic than ever about the future of our nation.

And more determined than ever for Australia to seize the opportunities of this decisive decade.

That brings me back to the story of your industry and its enduring success.

Because there have always been other countries that have some of the same resources we do, in similar quantities.

More often than not they have larger populations, and people willing to work for less money in more dangerous conditions.

But at every turn your companies have shown that Australia doesn't compete and succeed by copying that model, by cutting wages or cutting corners.

We make our own way.

We succeed by setting standards in quality and safety, productivity and sustainability.

We prosper by drawing on all our nation's resources - not just what's under the soil and the seabed - but the skills and smarts of our workers and researchers and innovators.

And we grow and thrive by playing to our strengths as a great trading nation, engaged with our region.

As a great investment destination, a stable democracy, a multicultural society with diaspora communities that give us a family connection to every nation on earth.

And a dynamic, outward-looking economy where wages and productivity grow together.

This is how we can compete and succeed in the years ahead.

This is how Australia can make this decisive decade our own.

This is how we will unearth the future and shape it together.

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