Interview with Simon Beaumont, 6PR

SIMON BEAUMONT: Thanks for listening in today. The Prime Minister is in the north of our state. He's flying to Karratha today. And this is a feasibility, a concept about a new oil refinery, the first in 60 years, possibly coming to WA and coming to the Pilbara. Madeleine King is the Minister for Resources, the Minister for Northern Australia, joins me now. Minister, g'day, how are you?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, g'day, how are you, Simon? It's a pleasure to be here from Karratha, just tripping into Dampier at the moment, just in front of the Red Dog statue. So, yeah, it's a real delight to be here.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Yeah, nice, it's a great part of the world, isn't it?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Beautiful part.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Minister, where are we at with this? Is this feasibility? Is there a chat? I know the Prime Minister did meet with Mr. Rambal from Perdaman, who are of course, a fertiliser giant in the state and in the area. Where are we at with this?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, it's a really important initiative. It's a co-commitment from the Federal Government with the Prime Minister and Premier Roger Cook, who's up here today as well, to do a $4 million feasibility study into a new refinery on the west coast. And that's really important. As we know, in about 2020, start of 2021, the BP refinery in Kwinana, where that's my neck of the woods, that, that shut down and so ended capacity on the west coast to refine crude oil into petrol and other fuels. So, this is about resilience, about making sure we can have refined fuel here. It would have been better if BP hadn't shut down, what, six years ago? But there were other people in charge of the country then, the Coalition government and they let that happen. We're looking at how to reinvigorate and make sure we can make those kind of petrol and fuels for the resilience of our farmers, our miners, but also everyday people that just want to get around. And you know, we see difficult times abroad, how we can be at the end of a supply chain, and that just creates risks for Australians. So, we're a government, two governments, Federal and State Labor governments that are about delivering for Australians, and that's what this feasibility study into a new fuel refinery in Western Australia is all about.

SIMON BEAUMONT: The past is the past and what's gone is gone, minister. But I think we had a State Labor government when the BP refinery did close down. So, yes, it was a Coalition Federal Government, but it just wasn't viable at the time. I mean, we know now what the Strait of Hormuz effect that can have on our crude - refined oil importation. But to be fair, we had a State Labor government, didn't we at the time?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We also had a Federal Government and a Federal Coalition Government. And I would note that when the two remaining refineries in Australia were under pressure around fuel prices, the Federal Government, our Labor Federal Government, did step in. So, my point is, I guess the four refineries we lost under the Coalition saw nothing happen, not even a step in and attempt to keep the likes of BP going. And BP especially, going since 1956 and was the only capacity on the west coast. But you're right to say that is in the past. That's right. It's a shame, and we do need to move into the future, and I think everything that we see in the Middle East has - is very much focused everyone's minds on how we need to make sure there are resilient supply chains, whether that be in fuel or fertiliser or in things I work with a lot around critical minerals and rare earths. We're making sure all of that, all of these things are available to Australians to be able to make more things here and not have to depend on others.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Well, you know, I'm from, I'm from - I grew up in Kwinana, so I'm amazed at everything.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Oh really.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Yeah, yeah. So, I'm with you. I, I just grew up with BP being the biggest employer in the area.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Totally.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Minister, what- is there a site, like today when you're up there with Premier and with Prime Minister, is there an actual site, a place?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, no, that's why we're having this study to figure out exactly what the best site is. But it is Western Australia, that's for sure. It may be the Midwest, it might be on the north coast or in the south. So, that's a sensible thing to do to go through different options as to where it will be, and Perdaman is the company that will run this, and I've just been to their urea plant, which the government has supported over the last few years, and making sure that gets up and running. And what I can tell you is, Perdaman, they deliver, and they have built this plant that will be supplying fertiliser to Australian farmers but also our near neighbours as well. So, I'm really confident they can come up with a good project, and then we have to look at next steps after that. But yeah, I grew up with BP as well. My dad worked there, one of the first workers there, and I grew up in Rockingham, so I get what you're saying, Simon. It was a massive employer; mates from high school that worked in the operations centre, people that did shutdowns, and I remember being - getting home to Perth from Canberra, hearing the news, and I was in opposition that it was shutting down. It was a very sad day indeed.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Yeah, unbelievable, isn't it. So -

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Unbelievable.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Minister, what comes first? The chunk of land or a port?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: For the refinery?

SIMON BEAUMONT: Yep, yep.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Sometimes these refineries have their own import facilities. That's what BP had, and that's the same. But we're putting a lot of money into ports up here. I mean, part of this Perdaman urea project was about expanding the port here up in Karratha, so - and Dampier, sorry. So - and really that's what the study has to figure out is whether there is a whole new outlet port, or import for the crude oil, or it tacks onto something else, because we can have pipelines to do that. That's not impossible, but I wouldn't pretend to be an expert. It was my dad that worked there, not me. So, I just think we've got to leave this to the experts to figure out the best solution.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Thanks, Minister. A couple of other news of the day stories, if I may.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Certainly.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Victorian Labor have a new premier. You would have noticed that while you were perhaps on flight or in transit today. That's 121 days out from the election. What do you think?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, it really is a matter of course for the Victorian Labor Party. What they, what has happened over the past 24 hours, so to speak. But the people of Victoria will go to the polls in an orderly democratic process, and obviously everyone will respect that process and those decisions. But I would say about Jacinta Allan is she's done a lot of hard work for Victorians. It's a super tough game and, you know, the Labor Party, like other parties, is democratic within itself and those caucus members have made their decision and so, of course, has Jacinta.

SIMON BEAUMONT: A tricky one for you to comment on, perhaps as a federal politician, but you are the Resources Minister. The ABC's apparently satirical take on Gina Rinehart. Gina's in resources, you're in resources. They haven't apologised. It's still up online. What do you say, as the Resources Minister?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Look, I haven't seen the clip. I've read the reports, obviously. I find that, that kind of accusation, the kind of characterisation about anyone, pretty gross and horrible, and I know it's been sort of, I don't know, termed as satire, but it just sounded from my reports that I've seen violent and pretty, just bloody awful. So, I, I'm not a fan of that, no matter who it is. And - but I, I also, I know people have a lot of differences with Ms. Rinehart, but to my mind, I know she employs a lot of people, has created a lot of jobs in Western Australia, built an iron ore mine, right now at the Commonwealth Games, she's supporting athletes where no one else is. So, I have a lot of respect for that, a lot of respect for the work Hancock Prospecting do. I don't agree with everything she says, far from it, but I don't think anyone, anyone deserves that kind of treatment, be it satirical or otherwise, with these sort of violent connotations of what people will do. And, and as a female politician who has had certain threats against me, I find it even, even more disgusting.

SIMON BEAUMONT: Is there an Australian Government department - will it a crack a mention at Cabinet, this one?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Oh, I'm not sure about that. I mean, yeah, possibly, I suppose, but even if it did, I wouldn't be discussing it because we don't, we don't talk about what goes on in Cabinet. It's a confidential way we run the government, the country.

SIMON BEAUMONT: All right, Minister, thank you for talking to our listeners at 6PR. Have a good day.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, thanks, Simon. All the best to you.

SIMON BEAUMONT: See you later. Madeleine King, the Minister of Resources, so still very much a concept of feasibility at this stage.