STEVE AUSTIN, HOST: Your smart phone or your smart device that uses chips, microchips that is, could soon be made up of substances dug out of the ground here in Queensland. The Federal Government has announced millions of dollars in funds for a new High Purity Alumina production plant at Gladstone, here in Queensland.

When built it will be the largest of its type in the world. Tim Ayres is the Federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. I spoke to him a short while ago.

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: It's a $75 million investment from the Albanese Government's National Reconstruction Fund into Alpha HPA, which is a High Purity Alumina proponent, in Gladstone.

That means that Alpha HPA has been able to secure additional private funding, the National Reconstruction Fund has facilitated this funding round. That will mean a factory will be built in Gladstone, 500 jobs, 420 of those in the construction phase and then 80 permanent blue collar engineering trades and technical jobs.

This is a major boost for Gladstone's industrial capability. It's also strategically important for Australia. This is a very important investment.

AUSTIN: It's interesting to me because there are historically three there, QAL, Rio and Boyne. This one is high purity. Forgive my ignorance about smelting, Tim Ayres. What is High Purity Alumina and where is used?

AYRES: It's more of a chemical process than a smelting process, and High Purity Alumina is used in the production of semiconductors, cooling systems in digital technology, has a series of defence applications and other applications.

So it is a critical mineral that Australia is now going to be exporting to the world. It means that we're adding value here in Australia and pushes Australia up the value chain in important new technology processes.

So that has strategic value for Australia, but it delivers blue collar jobs into Central Queensland.

This plant, when it's built at the end of 2027, will be the largest production facility for High Purity Alumina in the world.

AUSTIN: I'm told that High Purity Alumina is also used in actually making the lenses for things like iPhones and smart phones and the like. Is that correct?

AYRES: Yeah, right through all of these new technology processes, it's also used in battery technologies. There is a very significant market for this product. This is new Australian IP, so new Australian research and development being commercialised here because the Albanese Government's National Reconstruction Fund has that as its central purpose, making sure that Australian research and development turns into blue collar jobs onshore here in Australia.

AUSTIN: My guest is Tim Ayres. Tim Ayres is the Federal Minister for Industry, Innovation and the Minister for Science. This is 612 ABC Brisbane. Why has the Federal Government chosen the Alpha HPA plant at Gladstone; why this one and not something else to get behind with taxpayer money, Tim Ayres?

AYRES: There will be other projects that come along with similar value, and the National Reconstruction Fund is working through a pipeline of new manufacturing projects for regional Australia and outer suburban Australia. There will be more of these projects as we go.

We've recently seen the National Reconstruction Fund invest $75 million in Gilmore Space Technologies on the Gold Coast and Bowen, Queensland. So that is two very significant regional Queensland investments in new technology and manufacturing capability.

Gilmore Space Technologies, 70 per cent of the rockets that they fire off into space are made locally, engaging with local supply chain opportunities. So the benefits of this spread right through the manufacturing sector.

We're unashamedly a pro-manufacturing government, with the biggest pro-manufacturing policy package in Australian history, Future Made in Australia, the National Reconstruction Fund, all about reindustrialising our regional economies.

AUSTIN: This apparently will be operating on 100 per cent renewable electricity. Where's it coming from?

AYRES: This is the future for Gladstone and Central Queensland, whether it's Rio Tinto or the other major industrial operators there, all looking for the lowest cost clean power to power their industrial futures. They're all major users of electricity.

That means, of course, that they will be funding and supporting and underwriting the development of new wind and solar projects and transmission projects, and the Queensland Government and the Commonwealth Government will be working together to deliver low-cost electricity for these important industries.

They are not hippies, Steve, these industries; they're not in it for green power because of some virtue exercise. These companies are sourcing the lowest cost possible power, and that's why the Albanese Government's electricity strategy, renewables, plus gas, plus battery storage is the right approach for Australian industry, and that's what's going to deliver blue collar jobs into the future.

AUSTIN: Minister, the State Government here in Queensland has just announced that they're pulling their support for the Moah Creek Wind Farm in Central Queensland, although Central Queensland Power, which is building the wind farm, says it will still progress. Does that change anything for you, if you're working closer with the State Government, does it concern the Federal Government that Queensland State Government appears to be pulling back a bit from state support for some of these renewable energy projects like Moah Creek in Central Queensland?

AYRES: I don't think so. I mean there will be an ebb and flow of support for particular projects. The Queensland Government has articulated its approach to these issues.

We are in the business here of providing as much additional power for heavy industry as can possibly be provided, because that's what will drive down costs. If you go to Gladstone and spend time in Gladstone with industry, and I do, that is a pathway that local industry leaders and local government are on. They want to see more industrial development, they want to see more industrial power, that means more transmission, more wind projects, more solar projects, more battery projects, and more gas peaking capacity for the industrial sector.

And if I can make a political observation, Steve, it's why the Liberals and Nationals are so out of touch. They crap on about these issues in Canberra with sort of imported ideology from overseas, but the local leadership and local industry are determined to get on with the job.

It's hard, this is a big challenge building a brand-new electricity system for a modern Australia. But that's the future for blue collar jobs and future industrial investment and we're going to keep working with industry to deliver it.

AUSTIN: My guest is Tim Ayres, Federal Labor Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Finally, can we expect more announcements this year for Federal Government support with funds from the National Reconstruction Fund for projects here in Queensland, Tim Ayres?

AYRES: Yes, the National Reconstruction Fund is up and about, fully operational now, $15 billion of capital there, that's there to be invested, not grant funding, but equity investments and loans to drive, to power more investment in local manufacturing.

That means taxpayers make a return and take a risk as well, some of these projects have some risk attached to them. You don't build a new manufacturing sector without an active entrepreneurial government that's determined to back industry. And we'll see more investments in regional manufacturing right round Australia including in regional Queensland.

AUSTIN: Tim Ayres, thanks for your time.

AYRES: Good on you, Steve.

AUSTIN: Tim Ayres is the Federal Labor Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.