NARELLE GRAHAM, HOST: Labor Senator Tim Ayres is the Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation and the Minister for Science. Minister, good afternoon.

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: G'day Narelle, really good to be on the show. And did I hear you say you're also broadcasting at Gladstone in Queensland?

HOST: Oh, no, sorry, it's Gladstone –

AYRES: No, Gladstone, South Australia.

HOST: Gladstone, South Australia, yeah, everybody's got a Gladstone.

AYRES: That's quite a stretch. Yeah, there's plenty of Gladstones around.

HOST: There really are. I know.

AYRES: It's been a really big day for South Australian industry today, so you're right, that early delivery by Nyrstar of their first commercial shipment of antimony, which is a by‑product of the lead process, but as a result of the Albanese Government and the Malinauskas Government stepping in to support them lifting their capability, that protects a thousand – well and truly north of a thousand jobs at the Port Pirie smelter, but also means that we're guaranteeing future investment by developing this critical mineral capability, which is vital for blue-collar jobs, but also it's in our national interest for broader security and critical minerals supply chain reasons.

HOST: So, I said before the news at 4 o'clock this afternoon, antimony, I try and remember it using the Mary Poppins method, 'cause it sounds very Mary Poppins to me. How do you – what's your trick to remember how to pronounce this particular critical mineral?

AYRES: There is – I think there's divided views, and if you say antimony, or you say antimony, you're just as correct; it doesn't matter.

This is a metal, as I say, that it's only efficient to producers, a by‑product of lead or gold production. It's really important in the industries of the future and the defence sector. So, it's used by – in quite small quantities as part of the production of computer chips but also defence industries use it as a hardening agent for technologies like missiles and ordnances.

And at the moment, it's a distorted market where there's market concentration in one economy, non-market practices around the world, and Australia is in a position to contribute very significantly.

The plant in Port Pirie is producing around about half a tonne a day, 150 tonnes a year. They will step up production over the course of the next 18 months or so to 2,000 tonnes of antimony.

HOST: Wow, that's a lot –

AYRES: That doesn't sound like – it doesn't sound like a lot, but it will be around about 15 per cent of the globe's requirement for antimony, so it's used in quite small volumes, but security of supply is so important, it requires essentially a lead facility like this to produce it at scale. We've got one here in South Australia, and through this investment, we're delivering long-term security for blue-collar jobs and industrial capability that really matters for Australia.

HOST: The Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation, Tim Ayres, is on your radio this afternoon. So it sounds like a little antimony goes a long way. This is the first Australian-made batch of antimony, is that right?

AYRES: It's the first one at commercial scale that's being produced. I'm aware of other investments around the country, and as you may have seen, the Prime Minister, in the engagement with President Trump and the Trump Administration, Madeleine King and I were part of that discussion with President Trump that secured the critical minerals agreement between Australia and the United States, and antimony is at the centre of that discussion.

HOST: Sure.

AYRES: Now, we have all of the critical minerals that the world needs in Australia under the ground. What we need to do is to build the production capability onshore to deliver that, and the agreement with the Americans and our discussions with our North Asian partners and European partners is part of delivering investment, real investment in real jobs in regional Australia.

HOST: So, this one tonne shipment, I think Nyrstar has said it's a one tonne shipment today, where has that gone?

AYRES: Well, it's gone to an east coast manufacturer. Ultimately, it will be destined for overseas. Those details, are – the way it was explained to me, are commercial‑in‑confidence, haven't been cleared by the customer yet to be announced who the customer is.

HOST: Right.

AYRES: But ultimately it will be for an offshore partner who will be using that in their production processes. What we want to see is production levels continue to increase. So, it's a very significant announcement today, but there is so much more work to do to make this a viable facility for the future.

HOST: Is antimony used in subs manufacture? You know, we had the big sub announcement here in South Australia over the weekend. I know it's used in defence, would it be used in submarines?

AYRES: Well, it's used in armaments. I'm not certain, to be honest, that it's used in the metal on the outside of submarines. It will certainly be used in some of the internal technologies.

This has been a big day, a big couple of days for South Australian industrial production; the announcement on the weekend in relation to broader defence. Today is also, you know, we're in the week of the twelve-month anniversary of the Albanese Government and the Malinauskas Government intervening into the Whyalla Steelworks. I've gone from Port Pirie to Whyalla today –

GRAHAM: You've had a tour –

AYRES: it's – well, you know, I just love getting out into manufacturing workplaces around Australia. I'm so lucky, you know, Australians doing remarkable things with their hands and technology.

And in Whyalla, you know, we've gone from a position of complete uncertainty and a sense of hopelessness about the future of that facility, to now a position where the steelworks are stabilised, they are safer, and they're stronger. Seventy apprentices employed, including a group of new apprentices enrolled over the last couple of weeks, many more production employees working directly for the steelworks, a strengthening and hardening of the resilience of the facility, record levels of production, you know, returning from diminished production to record levels of production.

This is an intervention that's worked; we've moved from a very large group of potential buyers in a very disciplined way to a handful of five potential bidders for the future of the Whyalla facility.

So, whether it's Whyalla, Port Pirie, the AUKUS arrangements, this is a –

HOST: There's certainly a lot going on.

AYRES:  – the biggest manufacturing package in Australian history, and we're determined to deliver it.

HOST: Minister, just back to Nyrstar, and with that scale up that you're saying at the moment it's half a tonne a day, and they're hoping to be able to produce 2,000 tonnes a year. Does that require more government money to be invested in that facility for that scale-up to occur?

AYRES: Well, if I can give you two answers really quickly: the first is that it's a modular production process, so it is quite straightforward, the process of expanding production, and that work will be going on over the course of the next 18 months or so.

We are working very closely with the South Australian Government and with Nyrstar and their parent company, Trafigura, to determine and to finalise what is the right supports that are required, what are the accountabilities here in terms of investment from Trafigura and Nyrstar themselves in jobs and capital and capability, and we are working very closely and have been over the course of this whole agreement, and of course the details of that, we are continuing to work through.

HOST: So, I'm hearing there may be some more taxpayer money going in, but you want some guarantees before any more investment about jobs, et cetera.

AYRES: What I can say, my confidence in this has been buoyed by the fact that they have delivered early on commercial production. This is no longer a pilot demonstration plan; it is a real plan delivering this critical mineral as a metal product, with value added here in Port Pirie to customers already.

And of course, there's more work to do, it's not just the governments and the company here. I'll tell you what, the people of Port Pirie, the trade unions, the suppliers, the local community have all pitched in together. I think in a way that just shows that when Australians work together, we can have real confidence in our manufacturing capability.

HOST: There's certainly been a lot of people who have been very vocal about having more manufacturing in Australia. I think they would also like to know that the government's holding a stake in maybe some of these things with taxpayer money being invested.

I'll move to what farmers are concerned about, and that is the critical mineral mining and whether or not the expansion of critical mining in Australia and in particular in South Australia, in this case, is going to encroach on their viable farming land. Is protection of farmland, is that a State Government issue or a Federal Government issue? Who do farmers turn to, to make sure that they're able to continue with their business?

AYRES: Well, we all have a stake in an approval process. The approval process for a critical mineral mine, or a coal mine or an iron ore facility, you know, they all have to go through their proper environmental processes.

Your listeners will have seen that we moved with generational reforms to the environmental regulation at a Commonwealth level, to make sure that proponents of projects like a critical minerals mine get to a faster yes or a faster no.

You know, we are determined to support the expansion of mining and resources and manufacturing, but it has to be good environmental outcomes too, and good outcomes for communities.

We've just provided major project status. I signed off on that just a few weeks ago, I think it's been announced today as well for the Razorback Mine, which is not too far again from here, that will be a $3.8 billion investment in more iron ore capability for South Australia.

There will, of course, be more critical minerals facilities as these minerals become more and more valuable, and as governments like the Australian Government and the Government of the United States and the European Union, NATO, and our North Asian partners are all acting together to make sure there is a properly functioning market in this area.

HOST: Yeah.

AYRES: That, you know, that means there will be more mining, more jobs, more resources, more manufacturing for Australia.

HOST: Will there be export limits, Minister? 

AYRES: That's what the Future Made in Australia is about.

HOST: Will there be limits on the amount of these critical minerals that can be exported? We're in a situation –

AYRES: There's a range of –

HOST: ‑‑ with gas where too much is being exported, and we want to make sure that we get it right with critical minerals, that it's not all just being exported overseas.

AYRES: Yeah. Well, if I can take that question in two parts too, if that's all right, Narelle?

HOST: Sure, yes.

AYRES: First thing is, we've announced a gas reserve; in that market we are determined to make sure that Australian gas is there for Australian users. I'm particularly focused on heavy industry, heavy industry where gas is a feedstock. It's absolutely vital to support big industrial facilities, that we make sure that we've got a reservation strategy in place. We announced that we're moving to that measure just before Christmas, that is a very significant intervention again in the national interest by the Albanese Government in terms of critical minerals.

The critical minerals strategic reserve has been announced. That includes antimony, a range of other products. It will – final design will be developed over the course of the next few months, but it is designed to operate in tandem with the critical minerals reserves and other interventions like that of our partner economies.

So, this is not just about Australia's requirement internally for security around these issues, but it's about us providing not just certainty of supply for our partners, but that we're moving up the value chain, and we've got the best mining industry in the world, and that's terrific, but I want to see us manufacturing here onshore more.

Port Pirie is a demonstration of what can be achieved with a Federal Government that's got a pro-manufacturing agenda, doesn't just talk about it, but delivers with the biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history. No Australian Government has delivered a larger pro‑manufacturing pro‑blue-collar package than the Albanese Government has. My job is to deliver that with impact for regional jobs and outer suburban jobs, because I know how much that matters for regional communities like the Upper Spencer Gulf.

HOST: Thank you. Tim Ayres there, the Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation.