I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal 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. Australia’s First Nations peoples were the original miners, mappers and navigators of this vast island continent, and they continue to play an important role in the industry.

I’d also like to acknowledge:

• His Excellency Kazuhiro Suzuki, Japan’s Ambassador to Australia – I was fortunate to visit Japan for the fifth time as Resources Minister just a week ago to attend the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial Forum hosted by the Government of Japan, and the US Government.  
• John Hopkins, the CEO of Export Finance Australia – who also attended meetings alongside me at the Forum in Japan.

I look forward to joining you both on the panel discussion shortly.

I also offer my congratulations to Brandon Craig on his appointment as the Chief Executive of BHP. I remember well spending some time with Brandon as he hosted a tour of the massive Mount Whaleback mine in Newman, Western Australia.

It should be a matter of great national pride that the biggest resources company in the world – the Big Australian – is now under the leadership of a CEO well versed in the Australian industry – in coal and iron ore operations, and an engineer! And there is also the London based Rio Tinto – a giant of the industry, with a CEO from the wheatbelt of Western Australia, Simon Trott.

I also congratulate Liz Westcott, who was last week appointed CEO of Woodside, another Western Australian leading a great resources company.  

I look forward to working with Brandon, Liz and Simon as they lead these three great Australian companies that are global leaders in resources and energy.

I also want to acknowledge the work of the Minerals Council of Australia, its leadership, and the many industry representatives here this morning.

I especially want to take a moment to acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues here this morning, and those at the dinner on Monday.  

MPs and Senators represent broad communities of interest – across their states, and their electorates. Many of us spend a great deal of time and effort talking to others in Parliament about your industry and reminding some that would talk it down, that without it, the Australian economy stops.

Many of us represent the mining workers of Australia, and that representation is across the inner city, outer suburbs and regional and remote areas.

Resources sector workers – be they diesel mechanics, drill rig operators, cooks, geologists, engineers, paramedics, management – they all live throughout the community of Australia, and they all get to vote.

At events such as this, I think it is important to remind us all of something important:  

Australia’s mining industry has never been the sole province of one party, one company, or one generation.

It is a national endeavour that’s been built, nurtured and strengthened over generations – by explorers, pioneers, workers, engineers, geologists, investors and successive governments. Yes, even the elected among us have played a role.

Indeed, the Labor Party in Australia has championed the industry, and its workers, since the party was formed more than 130 years ago.

We continue to support the mining sector today, and we will continue to support the sector to grow and contribute to our economic wellbeing.

Mining is an industry whose contributions – good, secure jobs, technological progress, the prosperity that underwrites our economy and our standard of living – are impossible to overstate.

Australia’s resources and energy sector accounts for around 11 percent of our GDP and directly employs around 300,000 people.

The Government’s approach is clear.  

We want to make sure Australia maximises the returns and benefits of the resources that ultimately belong to the nation –

• to make sure that the women and men who work in our mining industries enjoy the benefits of secure and well-paid jobs.
• and that all Australians benefit from the services paid for through the taxes and royalties generated by our resources sector.

Australia’s resources and energy contributions are more important than ever.

Because the world is more uncertain than ever.

The consensus that trade should be open and markets free is fraying.

There are undoubtedly significant geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts going on around us.

But uncertainty also creates opportunity:

Because, in an uncertain world, our resources are instruments of economic resilience and sources of strategic strength and relevance.

Our deposits of both traditional commodities – such as iron ore, coal and gold - and our deposits of critical minerals and rare earths are the envy of the world.

Despite what some might say when they miss the point of Donald Horne’s now immortal words, it wasn’t luck.

This great resources sector - that has delivered Australia security and prosperity and strategic relevance in a difficult world - was built through sheer hard work and commitment by generations of Australians.

Australia will continue to mine. That is not in question.

Instead, the question before us is how we can best pair our geological advantage with a strategy fit for a changing world.

One that builds our industrial and strategic capability while strengthening our communities.

This is the ambitious task the Albanese Government has set for itself through the Future Made in Australia agenda –

Our $22 billion plan to provide targeted support to sectors that are vital to Australia’s long-term prosperity.  

Critical minerals and rare earths are an important focus. The Albanese Government is committed to building this sector in Australia.

Here, as with so many other resources, Australia has abundant reserves. But we don’t stumble upon them by chance.

It requites hard work and good policy, like the $3.4 billion Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity initiative, for Geoscience Australia to map our mineral potential and accelerate the discovery and development resources across the nation.

And our Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive: it will help create more diverse, resilient and sustainable global supply chains for minerals that are crucial to renewable energy technologies, consumer electronics and defence manufacturing.

Our financing facilities are also providing much-needed capital to de-risk projects.  

The Critical Minerals Facility, for example, has committed over $3 billion for projects that, together with partners like the US, Japan, Korea and Canada, will allow us to develop the projects that, together, diversify supply chains.  

And we will be providing more direct support through our $1.2 billion Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve.

Since coming to office, the Albanese government has provided more than $28 billion in support to our critical minerals sector – the largest government investment in the resources industry in this nation’s history.

These examples remind us of how the government and industry can continue to work together to achieve nation building outcomes and set up our country and our industry to grow and succeed into the future.

It is something we don’t recall enough – how the resources sector worked together with governments during the covid crisis, in the national interest, to ensure workers kept their jobs, and the wheels of the economy kept turning.

And in particular, how in my own home state, the sector ensured remote First Nations communities remained safe from the pandemic.

Today, as we navigate the current crisis in the Middle East, this steady pillar of our economy will be just as important. Our ongoing trade in resources and energy, particularly our coal and gas, will be vital to the region.

Industry and Governments must continue to work together, and I thank the industry for its constructive role in our substantial reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which passed through Parliament late last year.

These reforms will streamline the environmental approvals that had long been a cause of angst for the industry, and which had also let down the environment they seek to protect. We have all waited for these changes for a long time.

Because they are indispensable to the technologies that will define the future, critical minerals are increasingly central to Australia’s economic and strategic security.

Put plainly: our international partners need critical minerals and rare earths.

And Australia is very well-placed to meet that need.

However, significant market dysfunction is making it difficult for Australia’s critical minerals, produced to high standards, to compete. I call it a market, but in fact, that is a mirage.  

And that is why the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve is so important.

It will secure priority critical minerals in a form that addresses vulnerable supply chains.

Importantly, the Reserve gives Australia the tools to construct deals between Australia, our strategic partners, and the private sector to build out critical minerals supply chains.

When it commences in the second half of this year, the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve will initially focus on antimony, gallium, and rare earth elements.  

These minerals are vital inputs for defence technologies.  

Secure supply will support our domestic defence capabilities and enable Australia to reap the strategic and economic benefits of supplying our partners.

Establishing the Strategic Reserve is recognition that critical minerals are not peripheral commodities.

Much like the iron ore, copper and LNG that Australia produces in such extraordinary amounts – they are foundational to the modern global economy.

The Albanese Government is taking a global lead to build more diverse supply chains for critical minerals.

This is crucial work for the economic and national security needs of both Australia and our trading partners.

Last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the landmark critical minerals framework with United States President Donald Trump to accelerate development of secure supply chains for our respective industrial bases.

I’m proud to have been in meetings with two US Presidents to further Australia’s interests in building our critical minerals and rare earths sector.

I also represented Australia at G7 meetings in Toronto last October to further promote our work on critical minerals and rare earths.  

The fact Australia now attends G7+ Ministerial meetings to be part of global discussions on resources is a significant achievement for our nation and recognition of the leadership role Australia undertakes.

Just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister stood in Parliament House with the Prime Minister of Canada to lift our bilateral engagement on critical minerals and announce Australia’s membership of the G7 Production Alliance.

The Production Alliance puts us in lockstep with our closest strategic partners to mobilise capital, accelerate project development and promote innovation, economic growth and shared prosperity.

And then there is the Alcoa-Sojitz gallium recovery project in Wagerup, Western Australia, between Australia, Japan, and the United States. A potential model for future multilateral collaboration in resources project financing, and a topic of discussion at the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial Forum in Tokyo earlier this month – this project is a fantastic example of how we’re working with international partners with support from Critical Minerals Facility.  

GOOD GUIDE TO CRITICAL MINERALS

The support of the Minerals Council of Australia and those in this room is crucial to Australia capturing the great opportunities we have to build new, secure and reliable supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths.

So I’m delighted today support and help launch the Minerals Council’s latest publication – the MCA Good Guide to Critical Minerals.

This is a welcome and timely publication.

The Good Guide to Critical Minerals provides clear information about our critical minerals, our strategic materials, and cornerstone commodities such as iron ore, gold and silver.

The Good Guide to Critical Minerals publication details the uses of each of the specific minerals.

But importantly, it also spells out the opportunities for Australia to capture value in global supply chains, from mining and through to refining and further value adding.

Congratulations to Tanya (Constable) and the team at the Minerals Council for this insightful publication, and I recommend it to everyone here in this room and beyond.

As I said at the outset, there is a major economic shift underway as countries decarbonise in a fragmented geopolitical environment.

That transformation will require more mining, not less.

More minerals, not fewer.

More copper. More rare earths. More iron ore. More green metals.

Clean energy, advanced manufacturing, modern defence capability – they’re all mineral-intensive.

Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity deepen our capability, strengthen our resilience, and improve our standard of living.

Seizing it requires will, cooperation, and investment.

Mining has shaped Australia’s past and will continue to shape our future.

Australian resources can power our own economic transformation and the transformation of our most trusted international partners.

Our shared challenge is to ensure we convert the opportunity in front of us into reality.  

Thank you all for the work you do.

And thank you for the partnership that will be required to seize this moment.