ADAM STEPHEN: Federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres says the sale of Phosphate Hill is a positive development for the region.

AYRES: Well, this is very good news for the Phosphate Hill facility. 500 good quality jobs, good blue-collar jobs in regional Queensland but also a critical announcement for the future of the Northwest Province. Both the Mount Isa mines run by Glencore and the Phosphate Hill facility have a completely symbiotic relationship. They rely upon each other for their byproducts. So, this is very good news for every industrial facility and it's absolutely a product of the investment by the Albanese Government jointly with the Crisafulli Government in the Glencore facility and our broader Future Made in Australia agenda and the confidence boost that heavy industries got from The Albanese Government announcing that we are going to reserve Australian gas for Australian industry.

STEPHEN: So, you're confident that this decision, the new buyers coming on board, is a result of the action that the Federal and State Government took to secure the future of the Mount Isa Copper Smelter. What gives you confidence to say that?

AYRES: Well, that's what industry says to me. That the decision by the Albanese Government to intervene here jointly with the government in Queensland has created confidence and from a situation where there wasn't sufficient commercial interest in the sale of the Dyno Noble facility to having a series of buyers, to now an announcement that progress has been made securing a final bidder for this facility. So, it's another step along the way. But I just hasten to add we have still got a lot of work to do.

This set of facilities didn't have much interest from government during the Abbott and Turnbull and Morrison periods. And it is absolutely a critical part of Australia's industrial infrastructure. The Albanese Government will keep focused on working with the Queensland Government at Mount Isa mines, Phosphate Hill, but the broader industrial ecosystem here. This region should be the Silicon Valley of future critical mineral production for Australia. It is a core part of our Future Made in Australia agenda and we're going to keep focused on doing the hard work, often not in the limelight, but the hard work of Australians working together to deliver a stronger industrial future.

STEPHEN: There was some criticism of the government intervention. People didn't feel like it was you know, the place of government to be bailing out or even assisting a multi-billion dollar multinational company in Glencore in the first place. Are you feeling vindicated by the fact that that domino dropping has maybe led to this Dyno Nobel being able to offload Phosphate Hill, which isn't just important for the copper smelter, their symbiotic relationship, but also for fertiliser security in Australia?

AYRES: Well, the Albanese Government is an unashamedly pro-manufacturing government. We support blue collar jobs in the regions. This Prime Minister is our most pro-manufacturing Prime Minister ever. This is the kind of thing that the Albanese Government has done here in Mount Isa and at Phosphate Hill, but also at Whyalla, securing the future of our iron and steel sector more broadly in a series of other interventions.

We're going to back blue-collar workers and blue-collar jobs and industry. That's in the interest of Australia's future resilience. As you pointed out, fertiliser production, particularly now at a period of great geopolitical uncertainty, interruption in supply chains underscores why it is just so vital for Australia to have this kind of fertiliser production. And you know, that's just one of the many reasons that the Albanese Government stepped in to back Mount Isa and back Phosphate Hill.

STEPHEN: Is it true though that even with the $600 million package for Glencore, even with the sale here of Phosphate Hill, that the future of Mount Isa is still somewhat uncertain? This has bought time but it hasn't bought long term certainty yet.

AYRES: Well Adam, there's no guarantees here. What it requires is Australians to work together, to be optimistic, to identify what's our common interest here and to fight for jobs and to do what's necessary to create the opportunity for jobs and investment and in industry and resources in North Queensland.

That's what the Albanese Government's Future Made in Australia agenda is all about. Australians working together to re-industrialise regions like the Northwest Province. We will keep grinding away at this. If it was easy, it would have just happened by itself and wouldn't require government to be at the table. I was in Mount Isa just a few weeks ago with Queensland Minister Dale Last, working together in the national interest here to to get everybody who participates in this big industrial economy and mining economy on the same page, working together, and focused on what the common interest is. We're going to keep plugging away at that in the Albanese Government because this is an important industrial region for Australia's future.

STEPHEN: Federal industry Minister Tim Ayres.