Speech at Alcoa's Wagerup Alumina Refinery

I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land in which we meet.

One of the organisations I'm responsible for in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources is Geoscience Australia.

And what Geoscience Australia always say when they acknowledge country is that Australia's First Nations people were our first miners, mappers and navigators.

And I like to remember that, especially when we're at these kinds of resources-based events, where we know we live on the lands of nations that have been here so much longer than us doing so much more than us.

So thank you so much for that very generous welcome to your country. And I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and all those First Nations people here today.

It’s a delight to be back in Wagerup.

Tim Ayres and I were here last November.

Also the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was here.

What a remarkable journey it's been from when this project was first put forward to going through support from governments then to reaching final investment decision and now sod turning today, or remarkably quickly.

I do congratulate Alcoa and Sojitz for that.

I will acknowledge a few people:

My friend and colleague, Senator Tim Ayres, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Senator of New South Wales.

David Michael, another great friend. The Minister for State Development and Economic Diversification in the Western Australian Government.

I'm really pleased that we have our friends from the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry from Japan here today. Welcome you of course, Director General Nishikawa and your whole team for being here and traveling so far to be here. Also, and that is a really long list.

I won't go through it all, but to acknowledge, of course, Mr Atsushi Karimata the Consul General of Japan in Perth and also Ms Colleen Altstock, the Consul General of the United States in Perth. All of those from Sojitz as well that have played a really important role in many projects in Western Australia.

Mr Katsunori, Sojitz’s Okada Executive Officer Metals, Mineral Resources & Recycling Division and also of course, our great friends at Alcoa. So Elsabe Muller the President of Alcoa Australia, Vice- President of Operations.

Thank you so much for your support and all the work we've done together on this project and others as well.

And also Mr Paul Kuczma, the Wagerup Refinery Manager who I believe is here as well.

Friends, this is a really significant moment we're sharing here today. This project is the embodiment of a significant cooperation that is happening right now between industry and multiple governments to build critical minerals and rare earth industries and to diverse supply chains.

Once fully operational, this plant will produce up to 10 per cent of global gallium supply. Now that's really important and really significant when we know that supply is currently controlled by one country alone. So this gallium refinery will support a range of industries important to the United States, to Japan and to Australia, including defence and manufacturing, while also reinforcing Australia's role as a trusted supplier of critical minerals to the world. And the project also shows why Australia, the US and Japan have committed to partnering on critical minerals. When I travelled to Washington last October, alongside Minister Ayres and our Prime Minister, we were both privileged to witness the Prime Minister sign our landmark critical minerals framework with the United States president. And this project is the first one on that list.

And I know the Japanese Prime Minister also signed a very similar framework agreement with the US president shortly after ours. So I'd like to think we're working all very closely together and in very good order.

Together, between the United States and America we're delivering more than $5 billion of support to back projects between our two countries. And of course, more recently in May, Prime Minister Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi elevated our two countries' cooperation on critical minerals and identified key projects that will have the potential to further diversify these supply chains for critical minerals.

And I was delighted and I'm sure Minister Ayres is the same to have attended meetings in Canberra with Prime Minister Takaichi and indeed feel very honoured to have been present at those meetings. The partnerships and commitments our three countries are doing are only possible because of the trust that comes from decades of fruitful cooperation.

We cannot underestimate the importance of Japan's investment in our country. It's long been essential to our resources sector. There's a long history here. Coal was the first recorded traded commodity from Australia to Japan from the East Coast all the way back in 1865.

And of course, Western Australia's iron ore helped build Japan's economic miracle of the 1960s and 70s. And it was again investment from Japan beginning in the 1970s and 1980s that opened up Australia's LNG export industry. So this Japanese investment continues to be essential to developing our resources sector, including to secure critical minerals like the gallium project we're talking about today. And I work with Alcoa, a great American corporation has been really important to Western Australia.

Alcoa Australia was formed in 1961.

We had the Kwinana Alumina Refinery, which was in my electorate. That's now shut down, but really importantly, we have the two modern facilities in Wagerup and Pinjarra and here in Wagerup we'll make it an even more modern facility as we add this gallium project onto it. And this new facility is proof of an important economic and geopolitical fact. When it comes to critical minerals, as with so many other resources,

Australia's geology is the foundation of our economic strength and our strategic importance. We're the world's largest producer of lithium and rutile, a top producer of cobalt, lead, manganese and zircon, and a top producer of rare earth elements. But those deposits don't become extractive assets on their own, nor does it happen by luck. It happens by hard work, investment, particularly the hard work of people in this room. And I thank you for all the hard work you've done. Over many years, the work you will continue to do to build this refinery and to keep it going.

For the Australian Government's part, I can't tell you how proud we are to be supporting this project through Export Finance Australia. As I said, it was the first project on the US-Australia Critical Minerals Framework. It's also one of the first projects under the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve of this government.

So for all of those who will work on this into the future, you must know that the work you do will be vitally important to the shared economic future of Australia, of the United States and of Japan.

So I want to thank you all for that. Thanks to our partners and Sojitz, Alcoa, United States government and the Japanese government. Thank you all very much, and it's a real delight to be here again. Thank you.