ANDREW CLENNELL: All right. Well, joining me live now is the Resources Minister Madeleine King. Madeleine King, thanks for coming on.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Pleasure to be here, Andrew.

ANDREW CLENNELL: Dan Tehan there says the US, the administration is awake at night because they don’t have enough uranium. I think we – 12 per cent of our exports are to them, 50 per cent to Canada. Can we export them more uranium? Could that be a deal we could do with America? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, the deals that they do with purchasing uranium is done through the companies. And I was at BHP’s Olympic Dam just last week with Minister Farrell and Minister Ayres. So I’ve no doubt if they wanted to access more uranium that they could enter into the correct and normal forms of negotiations. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: So it’s all private sector based? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, it is private-sector based. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: There’s nothing you could push along for them? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, there are restrictions around what we export because it’s a dangerous commodity and has to be treated carefully. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Sure.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: And everyone agrees on that. So there will be – 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Dan Tehan might not. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, he should, because it is – you know, it can cause difficulties in its transport. So it does have to be highly regulated. But, nonetheless, they are able to access uranium, and it’s a normal commercial agreement with BHP. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: The PM is about to head to Washington to meet Donald Trump. We all know that. There’s speculation of a deal with the Americans on critical minerals. What minerals can we offer them exclusive access to? Do people – do the Americans want to see us do more processing of critical minerals at home? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, we continue to talk with the American administration, just like we talk with other countries. There’s no proposal for anyone to have exclusive access over our critical minerals – 

ANDREW CLENNELL: What about first access? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, no, you get access by, you know, negotiation and also entering into agreements and investing. I mean, that’s how the commodity markets work. Now, you have to – 

ANDREW CLENNELL: All right. Well, I’m confused then – what’s the deal we’re trying to do with them? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, like, we have had many discussions with the American administration and have had agreements with them on how we do further our cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths. And a lot of that cooperation is based around how we collaborate on investment and pathways to building processing, building more mines, builder more refineries to make sure – 

ANDREW CLENNELL: So they could – the Americans could contribute to that and then they get first access to it, basically? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: As is always the case with the development of a commodity industry. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Okay. So that’s really – which particular minerals are they after the most? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, what we know is most of the world the critical minerals are a focus, but at the moment there are a number of them that the US doesn’t have in its geology – things like antimony is one, heavy rare earths are another. It’s very difficult to extract heavy rare earths and heavy rare earths are needed in lots of modern technology but really particularly in defence technology. So it is at the very pointy end of that military need. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: All right. Going to play Sussan Ley’s new social media ad, which features you. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Sure. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: She put it up today. I knew I was having you on. Here we go. 

[Excerpt] 

SUSSAN LEY: Remember when the Prime Minister promised to make more things in Australia? Well, for 220 workers in Kwinana, that promise has been broken. Labor says one thing in Canberra and another here in WA. Under them power bills keep climbing, projects are stuck in limbo, and new rules make it harder and more expensive to do business. 

[End excerpt] 

ANDREW CLENNELL: There you go. Apparently you’re to blame for Alcoa’s Kwinana’s refinery shutting. It’s in your seat, by the way, isn’t it? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, well, it is. And let me take you through that, and all your viewers. Alcoa has three refineries in Western Australia that produce alumina. They are consolidating into two. The Kwinana refinery, it was about a year and a half ago they announced the review of its position. It is the oldest of those refineries. It needs significant upgrades to it. It needs significant investment. Alcoa would – and they engaged with us quite deeply on this – have decided, and I understand the commercial realities around this, but I also, you know, worked very hard to make sure they have invested in the workforce, made sure that the workforce that would be affected have been redeployed to the two other refineries and the other mines. 

So when Sussan Ley says that, she has no idea what she is talking about. And I’m actually really angry about this, Andrew, because this is in my electorate. This is up the road from BP, the BP refinery, which is one they saw terminate under them when they were in government, the Coalition, and did absolutely nothing. Didn’t lift a finger for the workers of BP. We made sure the workers of Alcoa refinery in Kwinana were redeployed, were paid their proper payouts if they chose a redundancy. And the reason Alcoa has done that has nothing – and they’ve said this in public statements – has nothing whatsoever to do with any state or any federal government policy. It is a consolidation of operations. And I might add, the area where that is very valuable land for the Westport development of the WA state government. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Okay, all right. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, they should do their research and not start telling lies to the Australian people. It’s total rubbish, Andrew. And, you know – 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Politicians telling lies. Who would have thought? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: No, you don’t treat workers like that. It’s terrible. And it’s rubbish. And I – you know, throw it on your social media; I really don’t care. It’s just nonsense. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: All right, fair enough. Well, you made some comments yesterday about making sure Japan has enough gas for – you say it’s for the security of the Indo-Pacific. Can you take us through that. And what are the government’s intentions around a possible gas reserve? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, well, Australia’s LNG has the vital role in the whole region. It’s – obviously it powers a lot of our country, whether it’s particularly in Western Australia but also significantly on the east coast. But it also powers, you know, most of Tokyo and a lot of Japan. Australian LNG has a vital role in the energy security of Japan but also in Korea. It plays its part in Singapore and in Malaysia and also in China. So what we know is energy security is what – is the underlying reason for prosperity in a region. So that energy security is what leads to peace and prosperity in our region. 

When people don’t have energy security, different things start to happen that we don’t like, and that’s why energy security is vitally important. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: All right. What about a gas reserve?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, we’re going through the gas market review, and the consultation paper we put out is very extensive and it does talk about how you can make sure there is through a reservation or another type of mechanism that enough of that gas is held back for use in Australia.

ANDREW CLENNELL: Would that be about 20 per cent or 10 per cent? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We’d have to work on that figure. We know what’s happened in Western Australia – it’s a 15 per cent figure. But, of course, that’s a different state with a lower population and much more gas, I might add, or easily accessible gas. So it will be different on the east coast, but the main thing and, you know, the principles behind this, is making sure Australians have affordable gas and enough of it but also that we don’t leave our friends and partners stranded and without the LNG they need for their energy security. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Just very briefly – like in 10 seconds – is there any talk of Australia perhaps compensating NuCoal investors over losing their money? This is something the Americans want over that independent commission against corruption case. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I’m sorry I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to there Andrew. But I’m more than happy to look into that. Sorry about that. 

ANDREW CLENNELL: Okay fair enough, perhaps one for the PMO. Madeleine King, Resources Minister, thanks so much for your time. That’s it.