ROB KIDD: Senator Anthony Chisholm, the Federal Assistant Minister for Resources and Regional Development is in Mackay today, at the Resources Centre of Excellence, to speak at an industry breakfast. He'll also be delivering a keynote address later today for the Local Government Association of Queensland's Resources Conference. And he's kindly joined us in the ABC Tropical North studio this morning. Good morning to you. How are you?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Yeah, good Rob, good to be with you in person.

ROB KIDD: Thank you very much for being here today. Does the government have a long-term strategy to develop Central Queensland as a hub for critical minerals?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: We do and we think that there's great opportunity throughout regional Queensland and obviously mining and resources and investment has been integral to the development of this part of the world for many decades and we think that's still got a bright future in coal. But we think there's other opportunities around critical minerals as well. In my role I'm fortunate to engage with some international friends and the appetite from our international counterparts for our critical minerals and rare earths is astonishing. So, they know they need this to shore up their supply chains and provide that weapons manufacturing, cars, tech, all those sorts of things that they're really driving ahead on. They want reliable partners and they see Australia as potentially one of those.

ROB KIDD: Is Japan one of our partners? China's one of our partners?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: They can be.

ROB KIDD: They can be.

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Yeah, absolutely they can be. But we obviously have a critical lens over this in terms of the national security point of view and want to operate in Australia's national interests. But China and other countries are making investments in critical minerals and rare earths throughout the country. But we also want to work with our neighbours, which is why the Japan alliance is really important. We've also done a similar arrangement with America as well in recent months. And we know that to develop our resources we do need investment and that's always been the case in Queensland and that's particularly the case with critical minerals as well. When the market is quite opaque. You do need government investments as cornerstones in that. That can come from Japan, it can come from America. There are other countries that are interested in this as well.

ROB KIDD: A common feature of these minerals is that Australia has the ability to dig them up. We're very good at it, but the ability to process them into something useful lies elsewhere, like places like China. Is that true?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Look, that would historically be the case, but we don't see that that's not impossible for us in the future. So, a good example of that is Graphinex, which has its mine in Julia Creek. It's developed a prototype processing plan in Townsville and I went up there and they received some Federal Government for that. And as they prove up their concept and they develop their mine, they're looking at developing a processing operation in Townsville. And the good thing about that is that these mines, critical minerals mines, when they're operational, they're not like your traditional coal mines that are going to employ 1,000-plus people. They're a bit smaller, they're a bit more discreet. They might only have a couple of hundred jobs, but the opportunity is in the downstream processing. So, the agenda that the Albanese Government is pursuing around critical minerals is, yes, we want to develop the mines, yes, we need some support to do that, but we also want to ensure that we're doing as much of it as we can in Australia. So, that's a good example of Graphinex. They've got the prototype plan in Townsville, they've got ambitions to build something bigger. And the Future Made in Australia agenda that we've got has ensured that we can put money into those projects and if they're committed to doing it in Australia.

ROB KIDD: I'm talking to Senator Anthony Chisholm, the Federal Assistant Minister for Resources and Regional Development in Mackay today, the Resources Centre of Excellence, speaking at an industry breakfast which is not that far away. I'm sure you're going to get lots of questions. Have you got any policies to incentivise processing capability in Australia for anyone?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: We do. And obviously there's the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund which is providing support for critical minerals projects already. There's also the Future Made in Australia agenda, which is also what we're using to support industry. So, they've been active, particularly at the moment, supporting Mount Isa and Townsville with what we've seen with the challenges there with Glencore's operations. But they're also looking at what they can do to invest in future opportunities as well. And that goes to that point I was making earlier about that downstream processing. We don't want to just ship it off and see it go to other countries, whilst in some places that's fine, we want to be able to develop those opportunities, high skilled jobs, processing plants and send these things off and value-add to them at the same time. So, there's various ways that we're doing it. We're always happy to engage with industry. That's part of why I turn up at events like this today, because you do get that opportunity to talk to people who are out there looking to make these projects work.

ROB KIDD: Yeah, I'm sure there'll be more business owners and developers that will be looking at actually setting up businesses here in the Central Queensland region. You'll be speaking to a lot of those people today. Are you ready for the conversations?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Absolutely. Really looking forward to it. And the story that we can tell, we've obviously got the resources in the ground, we've got the know-how and capability in terms of our skilled workforce and experience in mining. And then we know that we're a secure place for other people to come and invest at the same time. So, for those reasons we think we're attractive, and we think there's going to be enormous opportunity for this region to be part of that, given its skill and know-how.

ROB KIDD: What would you say to any capital fund or any businesses that are looking to inject capital and their money into our region in the mining sector? What would you say to them right now?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: We're a stable operation. You know, you can invest here for the long term. We've got a skilled workforce that are ready to go. And you've got a government that wants to put its shoulder to the wheel and support you as well.

ROB KIDD: Are you getting support from the Queensland Government?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Yeah, we work constructively with Minister Last. He's in town today as well, I believe, and speaking at the same conference. The Graphinex example that I was talking about before, that's one that's had both federal and state investment into it. And we make no qualms about operating in the national interest. That includes working with the state government on things that are going to improve economic opportunity, create jobs and wealth and opportunity for people in this part of the world.

ROB KIDD: We wish you all the very best for all the conversations today. Senator Anthony Chisholm, thank you so much for joining us on ABC Tropical North.

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Thanks.