E&OE.
It’s a great pleasure and honour to be here with you today.
Can I firstly apologise for my lateness – we’ve just flown in from Sydney. The Prime Minister and I and the Governor-General and others were there in attendance to welcome home the Paralympians from Paris.
There aren’t many good jobs being the Leader of the Opposition – but that was one of them this morning. It was truly inspirational and puts into perspective the problems we might have ourselves.
When you look at the tenacity and the expression of fortitude and the inspiration that those Paralympians have provided to our nation, but in particular to young children with disabilities, who will go on to represent their country in 2032 in Brisbane at the Olympics there and the Paralympics. It’s just phenomenal. So, my apologies for being late today.
Can I acknowledge the Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia, the CEO of the Minerals Council, to the many leaders in the room here today. I want to say thank you very much for the way in which you’ve engaged with us.
There are many companies represented here and many aspects of what is an incredibly and vitally important industry for our country, who have been in and out of our offices, not just mine, but my Shadow Ministers as well.
We’ve gained a real appreciation of some of the pressures that people are under and some of the opportunities that are forgone at the moment, and I want to touch on some of that today.
Tania, can I say to you, there are very few people at the highest levels in the corporate world at the moment who are prepared to speak up on behalf of their industry in such a forthright way, and in such a way that will make a tangible difference to the future of this sector and the leadership that you have provided to the Minerals Council and those around you is something that we really should recognise. So, thank you very much indeed.
Susie McDonald’s here with me today. Susie knows Northern Australia very well, but she has a particular insight into this sector, into the resources sector. Earl, I would have been very happy to have been the Minister in this particular portfolio, but I think my predecessor Ian Macfarlane – I’m not sure if he’s here or not – wouldn’t have easily given up that portfolio at the time.
Well, the last two years have been particularly difficult for Australia’s resource sector.
Thousands of jobs have been lost – or indeed put at risk.
None more so than in Western Australia’s nickel operations – for many reasons.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, there’s been a more than a 10 per cent fall in the number of people employed in the sector.
But it’s not only in Western Australia – it’s nationally.
Consider our three major exports – iron ore, coal, and gas.
Between 2022 and 2023, the number of these major projects in the investment pipeline dropped by 11 per cent.
Worse, almost 60 per cent of iron ore, coal and gas major projects have been delayed, disrupted or, indeed, put on hold.
That’s come at a cost of $68 billion of lost investment.
Additionally, Environment Minister Plibersek blocked Regis’s $1 billion gold mine in the central west of New South Wales.
The Prime Minister killed off a prospective uranium project in the Northern Territory.
And activists continue to wage lawfare using taxpayers’ money provided specifically and deliberately by this Government.
They tried and they failed to thwart Santos’ LNG project in the Barossa field offshore of Darwin.
They’ve zeroed-in on Woodside’s Scarborough offshore gas field in Western Australia – among many other projects.
With all that’s transpired, industry leaders – including many here today – have sounded the alarm on the flight of capital out of Australia.
Key foreign partners, in particular Japan and South Korea. are withdrawing investment.
They’re turning to other markets in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Global boards are making the decisions to deploy capital to safer markets than Australia – it’s quite remarkable.
Australia’s resource sector now presents an unacceptable risk to many of these investors because of the policies of this Government.
Such a level of risk hasn’t existed since Julia Gillard broke her promise and introduced a carbon tax in 2011.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister’s speech to the Minerals Council earlier this week, I thought was about as bad as it gets in terms of messages that you could deliver to a sector that is in pain.
Not since the days of imposing a carbon tax on your sector – or indeed, a mining tax on your sector – has a Prime Minister and a Government been so out of touch with the need to keep our mining and resource sectors strong.
But today I give you this commitment: a Dutton Coalition Government will be the best friend of the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have.
I stand unashamedly with Australia’s resources sector.
Why? Because I want to grow the number of hospitals in our country, I want to increase the investment into infrastructure, I want to make sure that we can deal with an ageing population, I want to make sure we can defend our country – and we can only do that if we have the necessary investments being made and the environment in which those investments can be made so that our country can stand strong.
Your industry, when it’s strong, means that our nation is strong.
In the last two years, as I say, the industry has faced hardships, hurdles, and headwinds due to a number of policies. Some of which have been declared, others that are clearly not being declared at the moment.
And no matter how many times the Prime Minister says he’s visited Western Australia, the fact is that his Government is hostile to mining and to other critical primary industries.
It’s important to understand what is driving such antagonistic policies.
Firstly, there is a growing activist influence in the rank-and-file of the Australian Labor Party.
This is not the Australian Labor Party of the worker.
Its members are committed to waging environmental and social crusades – especially against certain industries.
Secondly, Labor is worried, they are paranoid, about losing votes to Greens candidates in inner-city seats.
So the Party is looking to shore-up that constituency ahead of an election.
The problem is that you pay the price for it.
Thirdly, in return for years of financial support, Labor is implementing a workplace agenda at the behest of the union bosses, including, of course, the corrupt and disgraced CFMEU.
These union leaders desire power in national life akin to what their forebears held in a bygone industrial relations era.
These three factors – placating the party members, preventing a bleeding of votes, and pleasing big union bosses – are shaping much of the Government’s policy platform.
So, let’s be under no misapprehension.
The Government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of our national interest.
Consequently, we’re seeing environment, industry, industrial relations policies, and energy policies that are ideologically-driven, not economically responsible.
So, let me start, very quickly, with the Government’s environment policy.
At every turn, Labor is hindering our resource sector with red and green tape.
Nobody here in this country or, indeed, around the world could argue that we have inadequate environmental protections.
The Government’s changed the Safeguard Mechanism into a new carbon tax – one that is three times higher than that proposed by Julia Gillard.
They’ve provided millions of taxpayers’ dollars to the activist-led Environmental Defenders Office to wage lawfare.
They’ve passed new mandatory climate disclosure laws – more draconian than anywhere in the world.
When they come into effect, businesses will not simply have to account for their own emissions.
They will also have to account for emissions produced along their supply chain – including by small business suppliers, and every small business owner across the country today who doesn’t believe they will be impacted by this needs to get a better understanding of those further up the supply chain, about the cost and regulatory burden that will be imposed on those small businesses.
Tanya Plibersek is keeping her ‘Nature Positive’ reforms under wraps.
If it was such a good policy, why not declare it?
Why not have it out there ahead of the next election so that people can make a judgement on it?
Minister Plibersek touted them as the ‘biggest environmental reform agenda in a generation’.
Now, that is a surefire sign that the regulatory burdens are going to get even worse.
We can expect the Government to double-down on using Commonwealth environment and cultural heritage laws to stymie even more projects.
Another test for the Environment Minister is forthcoming.
Orpheus Uranium has been given approval by the South Australian Government to mine in that state.
A case has been put to the Minister to overturn that approval.
Should the Minister halt this project, her decision could stop all future minerals exploration in that area.
Just as there’s prejudice in the Government’s environment policy, it’s also present, of course, in its industry policy.
The signature element is the Future Made in Australia fund.
Billions-of-dollars are being handed out to subsidise uncommercial projects – like green hydrogen.
We know that from Andrew Forrest’s market-driven decision to walk-back Fortescue’s green hydrogen plans, that there is an exposure now of the Government trying to pick winners, and there being no regard for the cost to the end user.
At the same time, the Government’s excluding known market winners for political reasons.
The Prime Minister has said that ‘not a single government dollar’ would be invested in gas under his Future Made in Australia plan.
The irrationality of the Government’s industry policy is that it sidelines key resources that are our strength – like iron ore, coal, gas, and uranium.
Instead, it seeks to subsidise renewables despite Australia’s competitive disadvantage.
Subsidies, as we know, are not a solution for creating long-term commerciality.
The Government’s industrial relations agenda is also hindering the resource sector.
Multi-employer bargaining is the mechanism through which union leaders seek to exert their influence across the economy.
Multi-employer bargaining isn’t about more choice or better conditions for employees.
Those important goals are used as a smokescreen.
The real agenda, as we know, is to give more power to union bosses.
Labor gave more power to the CFMEU and allowed them to command the construction sector – and we see where we are today.
Now, Workplace Minister, Murray Watt – who was promoted after shutting down live sheep exports – wants his union mates to rule over the mining sector.
As you know, the Government’s IR laws have enabled centralised wage fixing.
As a result of those laws, the Fair Work Commission made a ruling to force multi-employer bargaining on the mining sector.
Yes, their decision centred on three coal mines in New South Wales.
But the determination sets a precedent that could be applied across operations, including in iron ore right across the Pilbara.
The Coalition is very concerned that the bad old days are returning.
Those of industry-wide wage setting with strikes like in the 1970s and 1980s.
The principles of forced collectivism have no place in a modern 21st century economy.
Roping mining companies into multi-employer bargaining will only bring uncertainty, greater costs, impositions, widespread disruption, and major risks to investment.
Labor’s changes risk undoing thousands of successful workplace arrangements.
Agreements which allowed mining to flourish and workers to receive higher wages.
More than anything else, the Government’s energy policy is proving to be disastrous for our nation, and Australian families feel it in their hip pocket.
Nowhere in the world has a renewables-only policy worked.
Yet the Government is pressing ahead with its all-eggs-in-one-basket approach.
It’s rolling-out weather-dependent energy on an industrial scale.
And it’s removing 90 per cent of essential 24/7 baseload power over the decade with nothing to replace it.
Miners and manufacturers alike have warned that exorbitant energy costs are making Australia uncompetitive.
Australia’s power prices are sometimes double or triple that of other comparable nations.
It’s a reason that we’ve seen a three-fold increase in the number of manufacturers who have closed their doors in the last two years.
It’s a reason that we’ve seen more-and-more businesses move their operations offshore.
Defying logic, Labor thinks we can run a full-time and functioning economy on part-time and unreliable power.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Albanese Government has created a perfect storm.
A perfect storm of economic self-harm through its environment, industry, industrial relations, and energy policies.
This Government’s excessive intervention, undue regulation, and skyrocketing energy costs are undermining the competitiveness of our resource sector.
Australia has a pipeline of 421 resource and energy projects with an investment value of more than $525 billion.
If these projects proceed, they could create an estimated 100,000 jobs in construction and 55,000 ongoing jobs.
But any one of those projects is at risk from the Albanese Government’s adversarial policies.
With almost 40 per cent of all projects, Western Australia is particularly exposed.
As the Minerals Council recently reported, your sector contributed some $74 billion in company tax and royalties in the 2022-23 financial year.
Now just think about that for a moment, and I’d say to people – particularly on the east coast, people who are advocating at the moment for more funding into different areas of endeavour – and very cogent, sensible, compelling arguments to put money into lifting our literacy rates or our numeracy rights, providing dignity and respect for people as they age in our society. But without that $74 billion, there is no prospect for our economy to survive and to prosper, let alone being able to invest into those necessary areas.
Over the past decade, the contribution has been much more of course than that. It’s totalled some $356 billion.
That funding goes a long way toward bettering our nation and our way of life:
In helping to fund people with disabilities in the NDIS.
In building and upgrading roads, rail, bridges, and other infrastructure across the nation.
In providing our military with state-of-the art equipment.
Our Prime Minister says that we live in the most precarious period since the Second World War.
And the intelligence that I saw as Defence Minister, and that I know of since being in this job through the briefings from the intelligence agencies, I can confirm that is exactly right.
Yet by harming this industry, we harm our national security.
I believe that your sector – and consequently the prosperity of all Australians – is at risk at the next election if Labor is returned to government.
Labor returned to majority government will just see it as an encouragement to double-down on its current policy platform.
Labor returned in a minority government will see the Green-Teals and/or the Greens Party hold the balance of power.
Almost all of the Teals have demanded that there be no new gas projects.
The Greens have proposed a $500 billion so-called ‘Robin Hood’ tax that not only targets miners but that would de-industrialise our economy as we know it.
So, Australians must be clear-eyed about the implications of a Labor minority government involving Green-Teals and/or Greens.
Every credible political commentator in the country at the moment, says that this Government, has only prospect of survival after the next election in a minority government form.
Twelve months, 18 months ago, the same analysts were saying that the Albanese Government would be in for two or three terms.
My intention is to make sure that we continue the pressure on the Government to make sure that we can form a majority government after the next election – and I believe that we can.
But I also want Australians – and your sector – to be assured that where we head will be in our country’s best interests.
I want to turbocharge our mining sector so that we can steer through the current economic headwinds and ride a new wave of prosperity.
I want to build on our strengths in major commodities like iron ore, coal, gas, gold, and copper.
And I want to lean into growing opportunities like critical minerals, rare earths, and uranium.
As I have announced, an incoming Coalition Government will overturn Minister Plibersek’s decision on the Regis gold mine.
But that is just a start.
A Government that I lead will not allow activists to dictate economic policy and to pull the handbrake on our prosperity.
We will defund the Environmental Defenders Office.
There will be people who are protesting in Melbourne right now who will be horrified at that very thought.
We will limit the ability of third parties to challenge decisions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
And we will cut green tape while striking the right balance between our responsibilities to the environment and the economy.
Our industrial relations policy will involve the removal of the complexity and draconian parts of Labor’s workplace policies which pit employees and employers against each other – where there was no preexisting tension.
Ahead of the election, we will make an announcement on how we will make the system functional and fit again for a modern economy.
I want to see more excavators digging, I want to see more gas flowing, and more trucks moving.
That requires removing those regulatory roadblocks which have needlessly inhibited projects coming online until years after they should have started.
By capping timeframes and restricting ‘stop the clock’ provisions, we seek to slash project approval timeframes in half.
We will also accredit the states and territories to provide approvals which meet Commonwealth requirements.
And we will bring back ministerial accountability for decisions.
I also want to see more projects in the pipeline.
That’s why a Coalition Government will re-introduce geological bio-regional assessments in key regions to deliver projects.
As I’ve often said, energy is the economy.
The soaring cost of energy is having an inflationary impact right across our economy.
We desperately need to reduce power prices to improve our economic competitiveness and to prevent businesses from closing or moving offshore.
Renewables alone will not be sufficient to power our nation – especially as we look to expand mining, to grow manufacturing, and handle the potential growth of data centres and use of AI.
Look at the announcement by Oracle today, where in a new plant they will require three small modular reactors to deal with the energy requirements for the reality of that business.
All of these things are hugely, hugely energy-intensive.
The Coalition’s energy policy is sensible and it’s pragmatic.
We believe in using a mix of technologies – renewables firmed by gas and nuclear.
In the more immediate term, we will ramp-up domestic gas production to get power prices down and to restore stability to our grid.
And ultimately, we will join the other 19 top economies in the world which use zero-emissions nuclear power, or are taking the steps to put it in their mix.
By placing the latest nuclear technologies in seven locations to replace retiring coal-fired power stations, we can use the existing transmission network.
And we can maximise the highest yield of energy per square metre and minimise environmental damage.
There will be no need for Labor’s industrial-scale solar and wind farms.
Or the 28,000 kilometres of new transmission lines needed to make them work.
Australia holds the largest deposits of uranium on the planet.
Yet, we contribute less than 10 per cent of global uranium production.
We have a unique opportunity to shore-up our energy security with cheap, clean and consistent power while also growing our uranium exports.
As more countries build reactors, uranium demand is expected to climb by 28 per cent by 2030 and double that by 2040.
From just three operating mines, we’re expecting to earn about $1 billion dollars from exports from the financial year just gone.
But as the Minerals Council’s own analysis shows, if we can supply 30 per cent of the global market, we would earn as much as $9 billion per year.
So, we need to lift the ban on nuclear energy and join the nuclear league of nations.
We need to mine more uranium, export more uranium, and use more uranium for our own benefit.
These three things are essential for our long-term energy security and prosperity.
Ladies and gentlemen, only the Coalition can be counted on to stand up for your mining sector.
We do so unashamedly.
We do so with great pride, and we have so much confidence in the capacity and the ability right across this country.
To support you, to make your industry strong, is to support our country and to make our country strong into the future as well.
Thank you very much.
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