Thank you, Cosima (Marriner – AFR Editor) for the introduction.

I am really looking forward to our chat in a moment. 

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on here in Perth, the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, and pay my respects to their elders, past and present.

I extend that respect to First Nations peoples present.

The resources industry is the largest employer of Aboriginal people and makes a huge contribution to the wellbeing of First Nations communities.  First Nations people were the first miners, mappers and navigators of this incredible island continent and 

We should always remember that the resource riches of our nation are mined, produced or refined on Aboriginal lands. 

Can I acknowledge a few other people in the room. 

James Chessell – Editor in Chief of the Australian Financial Review. And Clive Bingwa, the Managing Director of Nine here in Perth.

I know my good friend and constituent Premier Roger Cook was here earlier. 

It’s always great as Federal Resources Minister to be involved in a mining conference run by the Australian Financial Review.

And it’s always good to see representatives of the Fin Review make the trek from North Sydney to Western Australia to have a look up close at engine room of the economy. 

Just like the North Sydney Bears – you have realised that Western Australia is the future. Mind you, not for your printed edition. 

However, I must endorse the AFR digital offering. It is exceptional, and I do read it every day. As I remarked to both James and Clive beforehand, the long form pieces in the Fin are genuinely good reading. 

The theme for this year’s Financial Review Mining summit is Regime Change. 

Now I know this conference was locked in some time back, but I’m not sure what kind of regime change the Financial Review was expecting or hoping for at this point. 

As you have reported, the Albanese Labor Government has been returned to power with an increased majority.  I was honoured last week to be reappointed to serve as Federal Resources Minister and as Minister for Northern Australia. 

I was also very happy to gain the support of two talented Queensland assistant Ministers in my portfolios – Senator Anthony Chisholm as Assistant Minister for Resources and Senator Nita Green as Assistant Minister for Northern Australia. And my good friend Luke Gosling from Darwin will continue as Special Envoy for Northern Australia.

I am really pleased to have the opportunity to work further with my friend, Amanda Rishworth – a great South Australian, and now the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. I know she will be deeply engaged with the workforce and industry here in WA. 

And Senator Murray Watt as Environment Minister, as is widely reported, has his feet on the ground here in WA to discuss important reforms to our environmental laws.

So there is no regime change here in Australia I am afraid. However, there is a solid majority that provides certainty and must be respected by everyone, and the trust the voters of Australia have placed in this government will never be taken for granted. 

The certainty delivered by Australians at the recent election does not prevail everywhere. And when we look around the region, and around the world, we are seeing an absence of such certainty. 

The rules based global order that we have enjoyed and prospered from, is being tested. 

Tariffs and trade tensions cast a shadow over the global economy. 

Which is why the Future Made in Australia agenda the Albanese Labor Government took the election is so important. 

And it is I believe a big part of the reason Australians put their trust in this Government for another three years. 

Because voters here in Australia quite rightly wanted certainty when there was so much uncertainty everywhere else. 

Because Labor presented a credible plan for the future to the Australian people. 

And I am very proud that a great deal of that plan – that plan to build for Australia, our plans for productivity and growth – grew out of and were anchored in the resources portfolio. 

Production Tax Credits to grow and build a critical minerals and rare earths industry here in Australia. 

Generational funding for Geoscience Australia to produce precompetitive data that will help companies identify new deposits of minerals to support our economy into the future. 

And during the campaign we announced a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. 

In a time of global uncertainty, Australia will be stronger and safer by developing our critical national assets to create economic opportunity and resilience.

A Strategic Reserve will mean Government has the power to purchase, own and sell critical minerals found here in Australia. 

It will allow us to deal with trade and market disruptions from a position of strength. 

We know these minerals are subject to price manipulation and that western producers are all too often priced out of the market, or that rare earths and critical minerals are subject to arbitrary export bans or controls. 

Everyone is aware of China’s recent export restrictions for rare earths, tungsten and graphite, and before that, bans on germanium and gallium. This is in addition to restrictions on the export of intellectual property and hardware required to build rare earth refineries.

These are issues that industry raised with me repeatedly during the last three years of the Albanese Government. 

Our Strategic Reserve is first and foremost an asset of the Australian people. But it will no doubt be part of ongoing discussions with the United States, European economies and partners like Japan and Korea in our region. 

It has been interesting to say the least to see some commentators claim the Government will distort market prices when these markets aren’t functioning properly in the first place.

And of course, our most successful critical minerals and rare earths producers got off the ground through a combination of hard work, innovation, commitment, and helped along from time to time with targeted support from government – both ours and those of our partners. 

I would expect the reserve will generate cashflow from sales to key partners and deliver a return to government. 

Where it is required or advantageous given market conditions, stockpiles of bespoke critical minerals may be accumulated. It is anticipated in most cases these will be small and temporary.

Participation in offtake agreements will be voluntary – there will be no obligations on industry.

Offtake agreements are intended to secure offtake of priority minerals for strategic reasons – rather than to support commerciality of projects. But naturally, certainty of offtake may also help in some cases. 

I will soon establish a Taskforce made up of the private and public sectors to finalise the design of the Reserve, including on the detail around what price the Government may offer, how a reserve would function and where reserves could be located.

There has understandably been a lot of discussion about the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. But I would remind everyone that it is one important element of an extensive package we have built in the first term of government.

Lest anyone forget the achievements of the resources portfolio over the past three years that I will be building on in the next: 

There is the:

• Critical Minerals Strategy;
• Critical Minerals Development Program;
• International Partnerships Program;
• Shared infrastructure commitments with the WA government, which I aim to extend;
• $500 million committed to Critical Minerals projects from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility;
• Investments into projects under the Critical Minerals Facility and NAIF at a value of over $2 billion;
• $3.4 billion to Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity through geoscience and exploration; and
•  really very importantly - $17 billion Production Tax Credit incentive for critical minerals processing.

Now … I know there is more to do. There is always more to do. But this combination of policies is a very solid foundation from which this government will support industry to build this emerging critical minerals and rare earths opportunity.

To be taken seriously on critical minerals globally, we need to do more than simply rely on the great gift that is Australia’s geology.

The Albanese Labor Government has brought together this extensive and complimentary suite of policies and commitments over the past term, to build on into the next. 

Our resources industry underwrites this nation’s prosperity. It has done so for decades. The times… as they are… present us with the opportunity to build on our traditional resources industry by developing a new industry in mining and processing the commodities the world needs for the future of energy and the future of our national security.

I am determined that Australia will step up and we will lead on critical minerals and rare earths globally.