OLIVIA CAISLEY: Government and business are busy preparing for the anticipated productivity roundtable led by Treasurer Jim Chalmers to address Australia's lagging productivity growth. The government is also holding industry‑specific roundtables to look at productivity. Resources Minister Madeleine King convened two of those with senior leaders of resources companies and specifically critical minerals firms in Perth today. She joins us now from Perth. Thanks, Minister, for joining us today. What was the outcome of those roundtables? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Good afternoon, Olivia. Well, we had two roundtables today to support the roundtable that the Treasurer will be hosting later in August. The first one was with the wider resources sector, let's say the traditional resources sector, iron ore and gas in Western Australia and others, and the second one was the critical minerals and rare earths, the emerging industry in our State. So the common theme across both of those roundtables today, and there was a few of them, in particular the need for government to invest in common user infrastructure. And that's something the Albanese Labor Government has been looking very strongly at, in particular the Western Australian Government is stepping up to the plate on that as well, but also Queensland and others. And that will be an important avenue to pursue. Also, of course, people in the industry are wanting to talk about the reform to the approvals process. And as part of that discussion we had a good discussion about the Samuel Review and how there are two parts to that, and that to progress approvals reform we also agreed that we do need stronger standards. Those two things have to go hand‑in‑hand for the benefit of the resources sector into the long‑term. And among other things, we also chatted about how you improve investment attraction that provides that capital investment into the resources sector. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Okay. Well, critical minerals, it's obviously of great interest, and it dovetails with both the Prime Minister's China visit and our trade negotiations with the US. Your government wants to develop its critical minerals reserves. Where is this up to? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, the critical minerals reserves of Australia are being developed as we speak and have been for some time. We are ramping up that industry, and that is led by industry and capital investment as well. They are the ‑ it is the industry themselves that have been investing in itself to make sure Australia can make the use of its great natural resources in the critical minerals and rare earths space. So, through our critical minerals strategy we've provided a framework to how government will support that, and indeed we have supported it through investment in a number of projects. And  I was just in Eneabba earlier this week to see the Iluka Heavy Rare Earths Project, and the significant government investment going into that, which is, you know, showing results. We've got work well underway in the construction of the facility there. And then there's also investment in Alice Springs ‑‑ 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Yeah. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: ‑‑ through the Arafura Project, which is really important. Sorry, I'm interrupting you ‑‑ 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: It's all right. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: ‑‑ sorry, Olivia. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Well, look, I was just going to say, I mean obviously a lot of interest in using Australia's own critical minerals and using what we've got in the earth here, but it's also so expensive to set up. What role do you think China should play in the establishment of a domestic critical minerals reserve? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: The truth is, and this might not be well understood, and maybe not well understood by Barnaby Joyce. And I heard his omnishambles a little bit earlier. But China invested really heavily in critical minerals and rare earths processing decades ago. They invested in the research and development needed to drive this industry. So they've got a head start on Australia, that is fair to say. And you know, I take my hat off to that effort. So now though Australia has a decision to make, and indeed this Government has made this decision, that we are going to compete with China in that industry. Now we cannot compete overnight. We do need to invest strongly, and we need to talk with industry about how best government can help them start to compete with that Chinese development so the world can have an alternative supply chain for critical minerals and rare earths. And whether that be in the common user infrastructure or ensuring that the energy that is available to power these refineries, which are very energy intensive these at once are affordable and reliable, and that is what the Government will progress with industry. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: So sorry to cut you off again, but given ‑‑ 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: It's okay. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: ‑‑ China's monopoly in the critical minerals space, to be clear, are you open to China being involved in an Australian reserve and the establishment of that industry or not? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, China already invests into a number of deposits here through companies, and most of them are State‑owned, and that is because they invested long before Australian Governments invested, so ‑‑ 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Okay, but fresh investment. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: ‑‑ that is now passed ‑ pardon me? 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: But fresh investment. I'm not talking about sort of the legacy investments. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Understood, understood, sorry about that. Any investment that comes through now are subject to the rules of the Foreign Investment Review Board. So that applies to every international investment, whether it be from Japan or Korea or indeed the United States or the United Kingdom, and the same goes for Chinese investment. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: I guess on this topic, how plugged in have you been to meetings in China by the Prime Minister around green steel? What do you think the visit's done potentially for a green steel industry? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, green steel is a very important development. There is still a long way to go in the development of green steel, but it should be pursued. It  could be very much a game‑changer for Pilbara iron ore, and indeed companies that operate here are investing in that here as well. And Rio and BHP have combined with Woodside on the NeoSmelt ‑ and BlueScope steel ‑ on the NeoSmelt program in Kwinana.

So I think for the development of green steel, it's an international effort. Because if we can decarbonise the steelmaking process, that of course is good for the environment, because steel forms the basis of our cities and towns and all the things we like, whether that be vehicles or our buildings. So it's an integral part of modern life and has been for a long time. And China with its population, you know, if it can decarbonise green steel, we want to be part of that because we're already part of China's steelmaking industry with the coal that comes from the East Coast and the iron ore that comes from West Coast of Australia. So, if we can help work on those green steel initiatives, that is a very good thing. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: All right. So the federal government, they announced a review of domestic gas regulation last month, and that kind of opens the door to establishing an East Coast reservation that would force producers to quarantine a set amount for local consumers of bringing down prices amid warnings of supply of shortages. Where is in up to and will it have an impact on customers in Japan and China? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, the Gas Market Review has been programmed for some time, ever since we legislated the Gas Code of Conduct shortly coming into Government in 2022, in December of 2022. We made sure a review was baked into that legislation. And we've brought together the Domestic Security Mechanism, as well as the Heads of Agreement. So, we're doing it all at once. So this is no surprise, this review, it really is a part of a well‑planned review of legislation. It does give the opportunity to look at how we make the gas market on the East Coast work better. What we know is that Western Australia has its own Domestic Gas Reservation Policy that has worked well to keep energy prices stable for industry and for domestic consumers. Now whether we do that on the East Coast, well, that remains an open question. And the consultation paper that has been circulated does discuss it. There is certainly a lot of support for it. We know the Coalition in the election campaign wanted to have some kind of gas reserve that we couldn't quite figure out how it went. But we intend to consult very widely, and indeed that has started on the gas market. But to go to the final part of your question on the exports, the Prime Minister's been very clear and I've been very clear and Minister Bowen has been very clear, it will not affect the long‑term contracts that already exist for our export partners, whether that be Japan, Singapore, Korea and others that have made really significant capital investment into the gas industry facilities. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Minister, in 10 seconds, if you can, former Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry says the status quo when it comes to the environmental protections isn't doing anyone any favours. What were your immediate thoughts about that? We are nearing the end of the show. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I mean I agree with Ken Henry, we need to reform. And that's why we are reforming the EPBC Act to make sure that the environment is protected, and industry can work within that framework to keep projects going so that Australians continue to have well‑paid jobs, and we have the economy we need and indeed deserve. 

OLIVIA CAISLEY: Minister, thanks for your time.