Check against delivery

I begin by acknowledging the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather today.

I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with us today.

I’d also like to acknowledge:

• The Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook
• Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Economy, Trade and Industry and Parliamentary Vice-Minister to the Cabinet Office, Akiyoshi Kato
• Japan’s Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Kazuhiro Suzuki
• Australia’s Ambassador to Japan, His Excellency Justin Hayhurst
• Mr Peter Grey, the President of AJBCC
• Mr Michiaki Hirose, Chairman of JABCC

Sincere thanks to the Australia-Japan Business Cooperation Committee for inviting me to speak.

And I am as delighted to be here today as I was at this conference in Nagoya around about this time last year.

Democracy is one of the many shared values between our two countries.

I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Prime Minister Ishiba and his Cabinet to the leadership of Japan.

As I am sure everyone here is aware, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan elected Sanae Takaichi as its leader yesterday and I congratulate and recognise her on her historic achievement.

I understand there are some further processes to go through, and the Australian Government looks forward to working with the incoming Japanese leadership.  

As many of you know I was in Japan two weeks ago, and I went directly to visit the 2025 World Expo in Osaka. It really was a remarkable event, on such an enormous scale that is difficult to imagine. I am so glad I got to see it.

World Expo 20025 has clearly been a great success, and it truly is a tribute to the wonderful hospitality of Japan that you attracted more than 30 million visitors from around the world to be part of it.

My congratulations to all involved from Osaka and to the organisers from across Japan.

I was also there with my good friends Premier Roger Cook and the WA State Minister for Mines and Petroleum, David Michael.

We witnessed the signing of an important new Memorandum of Understanding between Woodside, Japan Suiso Energy and Kansai Electric to establish a liquid hydrogen supply chain: one of a number of significant projects that businesses in Japan and Australia are working on together to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

It is no secret that Japan is one of my favourite destinations – both as a government minister and a private citizen.

And I am not alone. Tourist numbers from Australia to Japan are at record highs and I can understand why.

The hospitality, the wonderful cuisine, the people and the extraordinary landscapes – and the snow!

And then there is Tokyo: a great world city that continually reinvents itself while holding onto important and endearing traditions.

Navigating new realties

We are here today to reflect on how far both the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee, and the Australia-Japan relationship more broadly, has come.

It is a good time to remind ourselves and others outside this room what this relationship has meant for the prosperity of both our nations.

But this is also a timely opportunity to talk about how global events demand we need to work even closer together into the future.

Not just to the benefit of our complementary economies, but for the shared security of our two nations and for our region as we confront change and challenges.

It is no exaggeration to say that Japan helped build our economy as we know it today.

When Japanese steel mills signed the first contract for the supply over 22 years of 100 million tonnes of Mt Newman iron ore back in 1965, it effectively marked the beginning of what’s become one of Australia’s most important economic and diplomatic relationships.

At the time, it was the biggest single raw materials contract ever negotiated anywhere in the world.

Japanese companies were not just buying Australian ore – they were laying the foundations for the modern Australian resources industry.

And when Australia first began exporting LNG in earnest, in the 1980s and 1990s, Japan was there again – as our first major customer, and for many years our largest.

For Japan, those shipments provided energy security at a critical moment.

For Australia, they underpinned new industries, regional development and created jobs and wealth.

Once again, our two countries grew stronger together, building lasting legacies that have spanned generations of the Japanese and Australian people.

Today, our relationship is underpinned by shared values, shared interests, and genuine friendship.

Japan is Australia’s second-largest resources and energy export market, and our third-largest trading partner.

Japan continues to invest in Australia’s resources sector.

Partnerships like the one our countries have built – with the aid of groups like the AJBCC – are more important now than ever.

As the theme of this year’s conference says: we are navigating new realities.

The global economic, political and security environment has experienced a series of shocks that few would have predicted.

As the old rules are tested, nations are focussing on domestic industrial policies designed to hedge against global uncertainty.

I want to make an important point about this: Taking steps to strengthen domestic industries, does not mean we should cast important friendships aside.  

To the contrary.

When you’re navigating uncharted waters, you need your friends by your side, and you need to work together.

Just as Australia and Japan are, pursuing our common commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

Both our nations are looking for the best way to meet those commitments while capitalising on the economic opportunities the global energy transition is creating.

Critical Minerals and Rare Earths

One of the biggest opportunities is in critical minerals and rare earths.

Japan is one of Australia’s biggest sources of inbound investment in critical minerals projects.

Lynas’ partnership with Sojitz and JOGMEC – one of Japan’s pioneering investments in Australia’s critical minerals and rare earths sector – continues to deliver economic benefits for both countries.

And new partnerships are emerging in gallium, fluorite and nickel, which could reliably supply Japan with these metals and minerals for decades to come.

Given the increasing geostrategic importance of critical minerals and rare earths, these collaborations wouldn’t be possible without the decades of trust that’s been built between our two nations.

Encouraging and nurturing more investments of this nature is essential. After all, investment is integral to our partnership and shared future in the Indo-Pacific.

The Albanese Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy aims to encourage investment in critical minerals and rare earths, and to ensure Australia can build our sovereign capability to process those minerals for the benefit of the Australian people but also for our partners in the region.

An integral part of this support is our commitment to create an Australian Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve which will mean Australia can better deal with trade and market disruptions from a position of strength.

We know these minerals and metals are subject to price manipulation and that western producers are all too often priced out of the market. We see rare earths and critical minerals, processing technology and know-how, are becoming increasingly subject to arbitrary export bans or controls.

Japan knows this better than any other country, having been at the coal face (so to speak) of intensive supply disruptions of rare earths.

Both of our countries believe open, transparent and diversified markets are good for producers, for investors, and for the ultimate consumers of the modern technology we enjoy.

But as a government, we also need the tools to be able to react to, and counter, market manipulation that is damaging to our emerging industry.

We can build a more reliable and predictable market in these essential products. And we simply must.

Naturally, that will be of benefit to Australia, but importantly, it will benefit our trading partners that know the great value of the commodities this industry produces.

The Australian Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve will give confidence to our critical minerals sector – and all those that seek to invest in it, while developing secure supply chains with key international partners.

And it will enable novel means of investment into a sector that faces so many challenges in an opaque market that is subject to damaging and destructive manipulation.

I am committed – the Australian Government is committed – to pursuing the development of a rare earths processing industry to diversify global supply chains: for our clean energy future but also because these commodities are essential for defence technologies.

Defence technologies like those found aboard upgraded Japanese Mogami-class frigates.

As everyone here knows, the Mogami-class has been selected by the Albanese Government for the Royal Australian Navy for its future fleet of general purpose frigates – the purchase of which was announced by my good friend, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles in August.

The first three Mogamis will be built in Japan and the remainder will be built right here in Western Australia.

This shared enterprise captures a momentous moment point in time in our relationship, for both Australia and Japan.

The agreement will transform the shipbuilding industry here in Western Australia.

Back in March, I was fortunate to go aboard a Mogami class frigate - the JS Noshiro - when the ship visited HMAS Stirling, the largest naval base in Australia, not very far from where I live, in Rockingham.

The JS Noshiro was a deeply impressive naval vessel, and I am glad to be here today, knowing that in future, ships of the stature and technical capability of the Noshiro will form part of Australia’s defence in future years.

CCS

When I was in Japan the week before last, I spoke about another significant area of our bilateral collaboration: offshore carbon capture and storage.

To cite just two examples:

INPEX and Chubu Electric Power are jointly studying a Nagoya-to-Australia CCS value chain that would capture CO₂ around the Port of Nagoya and ship it to the Bonaparte Basin.

And while Woodside Energy has signed that MOU with Sumitomo Corporation as I mentioned earlier – Toho Gas and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are assessing a similar Japan-Australia CCS corridor for the Chūbu region.

Projects such as these support decarbonisation in Australia’s resources sector and our hard-to-abate industries, while also providing Japanese industry with a decarbonisation pathway.

Japan and Australia both need gas to achieve our net zero goals.

But in order to use gas for industrial processes with no alternatives – and for energy security - we need CCS.

While on this subject, if I could make something clear:

The Australian Government is conducting a review of our gas market. We want to make sure that Australians and Australian industry get access to affordable Australian gas.

That is only fair.

But this Government is acutely aware that Australia would not have the developed gas fields it has today without Japanese investment.

We will not be doing anything that harms investment or alters existing contracts, or which jeopardises Japan’s energy security.

Conclusion

Friends, by working together, we can achieve more than we ever could alone.

The true value our shared relationship cannot be measured in a single contract or project.

We are building lasting friendships, trust and shared security and prosperity for generations to come.

We are important to one another.

The world might be changing and becoming increasingly uncertain. That is why trust and interdependence between us will be increasingly essential in a contested Indo-Pacific.

But I can assure you one thing will remain constant:

Australia will be there for Japan.

Thank you.