JOURNALIST: The new Rio Tinto CEO's from WA?  

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: This is great in my view. So, Simon Trott has been named the CEO of Rio Tinto. And Simon, although born in South Perth, I believe, he's grown up in the beautiful Wheatbelt town of Wickepin. A great Western Australian who has worked for Rio for 25 years, done the fly‑in fly‑out, and only people that have done fly‑in fly‑out in the resources sector really know how hard that is. So, I think his elevation to this role is going to be at once good for the workforce, but also good for Rio, which is headquartered in London. So, to have a Western Australian running this now global resources company that can tie its London headquarters to where the bulk of its wealth, and it's two‑thirds of Rio's revenue comes from the Pilbara in Western Australia, is really a very, very good thing. And I'm glad this appointment has been made to link, for the hopefully foreseeable future, London with the Pilbara. 

JOURNALIST: Talking of the headquarters, Gina Rinehart suggested that they could move their headquarters from London over here to Perth, do you agree? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I would not disagree with Ms Rinehart on that assessment. As I said, the bulk of Rio Tinto's revenue comes from the Pilbara. I also think BHP, why wouldn't they relocate from Melbourne to Perth given the bulk of their revenue also comes from the Pilbara. But of course, these are commercial decisions. The more global companies that are based in Western Australia, and particularly Perth, the better, I say. So, let them come. 

JOURNALIST: On critical mineral reserves, have you designed the taskforce yet? have you decided who would be sitting on it?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We're still working through that.  It will have a number of interests covered, so to speak. We want to – just like we were talking about the design of the Goldsworthy Centre, we want to get this right. And the Strategic Reserve has been talked about as many different things – as stockpile, but also a way of stabilising price – and the truth is, the reserve can actually play a number of roles. But we do want to get it right, because it's significant investment of the Australian Government, so therefore, it is a significant investment of the Australian taxpayer, and they deserve to have their funds applied in the best way in the national interest. And that's what the Strategic Reserve's all about: creating a national asset for all Australians that will underpin the rare earths and critical minerals industry that is vital for renewable energy. But really the pivotal strategic role of rare earths is in defence applications, which we see here all the time in Rockingham through the work of the Royal Australian Navy and others.

JOURNALIST: And have you got any idea of which critical minerals will be part of that stockpiling? Could we see that [indistinct] back here in Western Australia? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, I wouldn't want anyone to get too excited about the stockpiling aspect as if there's going to be a shed such as this one full of piles of critical minerals and rare earths, because these are really low‑volume commodities. So, you know, a stockpile in a physical sense could amount to not much more than a boot-full, you know, of a car. So, it's not – people are starting to think about it like the old-style wheat stockpile, or the wool, and it's just not in the same realm whatsoever. So, stockpiles, if we need to have indeed a physical stockpile, will be where they need to be and where it works the best in the national interest. I think the more important part about the reserve is how it works in pricing and price setting, and we saw just this week the Department of Defense in the US announced its really important investment for the Mountain Pass refinery and mine in the US, and they've set a price floor which helps stabilise the rare earth price. So, we're obviously looking at that really closely as well. 

All good? Thank you. Thanks for coming to Rockingham.