Thanks so much, Tim [Ayres], for your words and sentiment there. I know it’s valued by all. And I want to thank the Speaker, of course, for having us here today, my parliamentary colleagues, as Tim has noted, right across the board. And that’s a really important achievement given the magnitude of what we’re trying to achieve here for Mount Isa and, of course, right across central and northern Queensland.

I want to also acknowledge the workers here today, union leaders here today and acknowledge the important work you do right across the country in relation to refineries and smelters. I think that’s that red bell we are talking about earlier for Tim and others from the Senate.

Also, community representatives are here today and company representatives as well. I want to thank Bob Katter and his team for organising this event and having me here, and also to Robbie, the local – Robbie Katter, the local member in the Queensland parliament.

Look, you’ve heard it all from Tim. I don’t probably need to repeat what he said about how important this industry and the refining and smelting industry is as a matter of national sovereign capacity.

I guess from my – from a personal perspective as well as a West Australian, we clearly have a lot of in common with Queenslanders and that’s a very good thing. You know, in my own hometown, I’ve witnessed since coming into parliament since 2021 three different refineries shut down. And they’re unlikely to come back. It started in 2021 with BP in Kwinana. My father was one of the first workers there starting in 1956, and that just closed, you know, not that long ago. And the effect on the community is immense. Followed by Alcoa in Kwinana as well, you know, an anchor tenant in that area. And now last year Nickel West of BHP going into, you know, remission for some time. I’m hopeful it will come back. But all around 3,000 workers are affected.

And it’s a different situation in Mount Isa and Kwinana. You know, people can move around a bit more easily, but that’s not to say it hasn’t affected them deeply. People had to go find different jobs doing fly-in, fly-out. Very different to just driving 30 minutes from their home to a very modern and upgraded facility, or drive-in, drive-out.

I say this by way of trying to impart on you those affected in these parts of Queensland that I know how deeply the community feels when this uncertainty is pressing upon each and every one of you, each and every one of the families of these workers.

And that is why Minister Ayres and I and the whole Albanese Labor government are so determined to work with the company, with the workers, with the unions to find a solution to the issues we are seeing here in Queensland.

We do understand there is a lot to get through. The challenges are significant. And, as Tim said, they’re different for every single smelter, which means we have to look at every single operation on its merits, on what it does, its sovereign capacity it provides to our whole nation and, therefore, our trading partners and what it can provide into the future. And I think the focus on a regional solution, which I heard coming from Glencore, does seem to make a lot of sense and needs to be pursued.

I want to make it very clear as the Minister for Resources, the Minister for Northern Australia and responsible for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, that we remain absolutely committed to supporting the economic development opportunities in North Queensland.

There is a future in commodities like copper and others, but also in the future of critical minerals, which our regional partners need, our global partners need not only for the net zero transition, of course, but really importantly for geostrategic reasons, for defence applications. And Queensland will be part of that, as will South Australia, as will the Northern Territory, as will WA, because there is so much work to be done.

Tim and I and the rest of the government are in lockstep on the best ways to try and find economic security for the people of North Queensland. A strong north means a strong Australia. I’ve said that so many times. It remains the truth.

I really want to just reiterate, as Tim has done – and I’m sure the member for Kennedy will do so, Bob will do so – we need to work together on this. And this is a tripartite get-together today. We all know how important this is. Whether you are a member of the Nationals, the Liberals, an independent crossbench, one of my Labor colleagues, union movement, corporate Australia, investor, local government – we all need to come together to make this work.

And I’m really confident we can do that with the best will in the world. That’s good, but determination and application to making sure we keep our copper and keep the things we need to happen in Queensland. So thank you all very much.