SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: Okay, well, thank you very much. I can’t tell you how great it is to be here at Nyrstar’s Hobart facility. I’m joined by Premier Jeremy Rockliff, by my federal colleagues Julie Collins, Rebecca White and Carol Brown, and state parliamentary colleagues Marcus Vermey and Felix Ellis. 

It’s a strong attendance here today from Commonwealth and State, really reflecting the importance of this facility to Tasmania and Australia’s economy. We are here today to announce an extension of the package that the Commonwealth and the State Governments are providing to Nyrstar’s facilities for them to continue their work, upgrading their capabilities and building confidence and a secure future for Hobart Nyrstar and for Port Pirie Nyrstar. 

I’m really pleased with the work that the State Governments, led by Premier Malinauskas and Premier Rockliff here in Tasmania, have done with the Albanese Government to secure a Future Made in Australia at these two important facilities. This fantastic zinc smelter, which I have to say is one of the most beautiful industrial workplaces in Australia, and the Port Pirie lead smelter are foundational Australian industrial facilities. And what is really exciting about the way forward for these facilities is that Nyrstar is investing in new equipment, new technology and new markets to develop critical minerals capability; antimony principally in Port Pirie, and germanium capability in Tasmania. 

And that means that Australia is building its position in those critical metals supply chains which are so vital for information technology, data centres, the digital economy, for the defence economy, for the energy economy of the future, for all of our partners here and around the world. 

This is not just an old facility with great capability. It is a facility that has got the capacity to punch forward in the future for good jobs here in Tasmania, and good jobs in Port Pirie and a proud industrial future for Australia. 

It’s a $105 million package which builds on the $135 million package which is jointly funded by the two State Governments and the Albanese Government. It reflects a shared commitment from the company, from the workers and the workforce here and from Federal and State Governments to building an industrial future for Nyrstar. 

I want to thank the management of the company. Todd is here, who will talk through some of these issues in detail; the trade unions, the AWU, the AMWU and the Electrical Trades Union; the whole workforce for working together so carefully, for delivering on the commitments that they have made to each other and making this facility stronger and smarter and more capable for our industrial future. 

There is still a long way to go. There is work to go to get through the whole feasibility process – if we’re not blown away [by the wind] in the meantime – to get through the whole feasibility process to make sure that this facility is match fit and ready for the future, but I’m confident that we can do that together. 

Jeremy Rockliff, the Premier, is going to make some comments, and then we’ll hear from Nyrstar themselves about the progress that’s been made so far. Happy to take some questions then in relation to this facility. I understand some of you may have a few questions for the Premier of Tasmania. I’ll leave him to your tender mercies after that and leave you to that. But if we can do it in that order, deal with the Nyrstar questions first and then make some arrangements for the Tasmanian questions. Thank you. Jeremy. 

JEREMY ROCKLIFF: Well, thanks very much, Tim, to State and Federal colleagues, to all employees of Nyrstar. It is, once again, a good opportunity for us to work together, State and Federal Governments. It’s not the first time I’ve stood alongside Tim, when it comes to supporting major industrials here in Tasmania. And they’re very important to Tasmania. Nyrstar, of course, employs some 550 people directly, 1,900 indirectly, and they’re an essential part of our economy. And it contributes to all of Tasmania when you consider the links with Rosebery mine in the west coast as well. 

Our commitment is $7.5 million to this new package. We’ve already previously committed $22.5 million which takes our commitment up to a $30 million commitment in partnership, again, with the South Australian Government, Premier Malinauskas and his team, our team and, indeed, the Albanese Government and Minister Tim Ayres and their teams. 

It is important we all work together, and we’ve demonstrated how important that is, because at the end of the day this is about not only our national sovereignty, not only the importance of this major industrial to the state and the links to essential government businesses such as Tas [indistinct] and Tas Networks; but, most importantly, to the people it effects on the ground. Families, individuals, communities. There are people that have worked five decades here at Nyrstar, fathers and sons and family members for generations. And so, it’s important that we do dig in. 

If we lose major industrials such as Nyrstar, we will never get them back. And that’s why it’s important that we do all we can to provide that support and allow that seven months for greater feasibility to produce what is high, critical minerals going into essential products whether in defence systems or, indeed, fibre optics and telecommunications. 

So, thank you, Tim. Thanks to the Nyrstar, and I’ll now hand over to Todd to say a few words. 

TODD MILNE: My name is Todd Milne, I’m the General Manager of the facility here in Hobart. So, thanks, Premier, thanks, Minister. I’d first like to start off by reiterating our thanks to the Australian Government and the Governments of Tasmania and South Australia for their ongoing partnership and support. The announcement today of this funding package helps Nyrstar move forward in the pre-feasibility studies that we’ve been undertaking into critical metals production and upgrade of our facilities and move on to more detailed engineering work, and full feasibility studies that will help to shape and define the future of the operations here and in South Australia. 

But first, I guess, I’d also like to recognise our workforce. I’m really proud of our employees here who have been able to keep these smelters operating through some very difficult and challenging economic times. It’s really their expertise and capability that is absolutely critical as we seek to play an increasing role in the metals processing future in Australia. 

The work they’re doing is really important. What we’re hoping to do through our modernisation program is build Australia’s sovereign capability in the production of critical and strategic metals in Australia. 

And the modernisation program that we’re laying out ahead of us seeks to really build not only the critical minerals production capacity but also build more resilient, sustainable and competitive facilities that will lock in the future industrial security and manufacturing capability that we do today in Australia for the future. 

JOURNALIST: So how did you settle on this figure amount that you’ve put to the State and Federal Governments? Did you negotiate this amount and is it going to be all that you need to finish this study? 

MILNE: Yeah, so the announcement is a continuation of the support that we’ve been receiving over the past nine months and it allows us to keep operating the facilities while we finish these studies and get to build a picture of what the future looks like for the site. Around the middle of next year. 

JOURNALIST: Will this cover, this funding, will it only cover the pre-feasibility study and then you’ll take on the feasibility, the full feasibility study yourselves? 

MILNE: So, we’ll finish the pre-feasibility study in the next month or so and then the detailed feasibility work will continue through into the middle of next year. This support package will see us through to the end of this year. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think Nyrstar will have to seek further support packages going forward? 

MILNE: Look, I think we’ve partnered really well with government. And given the circumstances that we’re operating in today, which is a very skewed market, it’s difficult to operate without that support and that partnership. So, I see that continuing through till we can articulate what the future of the operations look like. 

JOURNALIST: So that means you think there might be future support packages from the Government? 

MILNE: Potentially yes, support packages, different [indistinct] frameworks that help sustain these kinds of operations within Australia are really important. 

JOURNALIST: And your parent company recently announced a $4 billion profit. Why do you think it’s necessary for public funds to be provided to a private company given the parent company is still making significant profits? 

MILNE: We’ve been really fortunate to be able to continue to operate these facilities in really challenging environments and times. Our parent company has invested really heavily in enabling us to keep operating so that we can work through the modernisation program and allowed us to keep operating and keep these jobs here in Tasmania and South Australia. 

JOURNALIST: Concerns have been raised about the manoeuvres that China has been making in the metal materials market globally. If they continue to do so, how confident are you that the viability of this facility is still intact moving forward? 

MILNE: Look, we’ve been viable for a long time. As I said previously, we’ve been operating in a really skewed market now. So, we think it’s absolutely critical that we maintain diversity in global supply chains for really important metals, critical metals and base metals into the future, and ensure that that capacity stays in Australia to treat the mineral products that are coming out of our mining industry. 

JOURNALIST: How soon will we see some return on investment for these feasibility works? And are we already seeing that happening? 

MILNE: So, I believe Nyrstar has an enormous return on investment in the economies of South Australia and Tasmania already. As we work through [indistinct] what we’re really going to do is bed in the future capability of these sites, but not only supply the base metals and the critical metals in the future but also important aspects of Australia’s manufacturing supply chain. Things like sulphuric acid that we produce here has been absolutely essential in Australia riding through some of the recent conflicts, like in the Strait of Hormuz. Where Australian manufacturing needs acid supply, facilities like this deliver. 

JOURNALIST: How close has the company come to shutting down this facility and the one in Port Pirie, and would you have shut down if you didn’t have this government support? 

MILNE: Look, we came, we certainly were quite open about that last year. We were facing a challenge in these difficult economic times, that it was difficult to foresee our parent company continuing to sustain those losses without some support and partnership to work through this challenging environment. 

JOURNALIST: This is, of course, the second significant joint bailout, equity injection, however you might want to characterise it, into Nyrstar. Is there, do you envisage a world where this facility, Nyrstar’s operations here in Tasmania and in South Australia, potentially become nationalised or owned by some sort of State and Federal agreement? 

MILNE: Probably a bit early for me to comment on that. We hope to – through the modernisation program and the policy frameworks that we’ve been cooperating on – build a sustainable future for the site. 

AYRES: I might jump in and add. Sort of listening to some of those questions, I was itching to answer them myself as well. 

JOURNALIST: What proportion is divvied up between various Governments? 

AYRES: So, this is a shared commitment between the Albanese Government and the Malinauskas Government and the Rockliff Government here in Tasmania. It’s equally shared. And that’s an important part of the overall approach here, that it’s a shared approach where there’s close relationship between the State Government and the Federal Government to deliver on shared objectives with Nyrstar. 

JOURNALIST: Shared objectives, but how much are you providing each? 

AYRES: We’re providing, so this package is $105 million. The package from Tasmania is the $7.5 million. There’s a split for the rest of it. What I can say about those amounts is that this is – we’ve just reached the end of the first phase of Commonwealth and State support for these packages. This now secures funding for the second phase, and there will be a requirement for a shared approach to the final phase to get through to the end of that two-year feasibility study. And that will represent in the end an equal contribution between the Commonwealth and the States and a contribution from Nyrstar themselves to investment in this facility and the Port Pirie facility. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, do you think that China has been deliberately driving down the price of smelters locally? 

AYRES: Well, there are certainly challenges in the metal processing sector that are represented by market concentration and industrial subsidies, not just in China but around the world as industrial economies respond to this set of challenges. There is – it is really important that as Australians we value these facilities and think carefully about the industrial capability that we need for the future. 

There is a self-defeating story that Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan and Pauline Hanson want to tell Australians about manufacturing in Australia not being competitive. We are competitive if the playing field is level. This is an excellent facility. This is a facility that is capable of matching it in the global economy, in metal smelting, and that is why I am determined and the Albanese Government is determined to make sure we’re getting all Australians to lift, to reindustrialise our economy, to make sure that that Future Made in Australia is there to shape a future economy that’s in not just the interests of good jobs here in Tasmania but is in the interests of our future economic resilience, our strategic capability and making sure Australia has what it needs for the challenging decades ahead. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think there are parallels between the closure of oil refineries under the last government and trying to ensure the longevity of this site? 

AYRES: Well, we have turned the ship around. Under the previous Liberal Governments manufacturing flooded offshore. The auto industry closed. Smelters closed all over Australia. The plastics industry closed down. Nothing happened in the gas sector to restore Australian competitiveness in energy terms or in electricity terms. And we saw 4 out of our 6 oil refineries close their doors forever. 

Under the Albanese Government’s Future Made in Australia what we’ve seen is intervention in Whyalla to secure the future of the steel industry, intervention in copper manufacturing in Mount Isa, in the Boyne aluminium smelter in Queensland, a tough-minded approach to securing the future for Australian manufacturing with the biggest pro-industry package in Australian history. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, on Whyalla, when do you expect a decision on it? And what do you think about proposals involving a new gas pipeline to fuel the furnace there? 

AYRES: Well, we have just made announcements on time around the Whyalla facility to downselect to two preferred bidders in that process. And, of course, as everybody knows, BlueScope has also got a right of final offer in that process. So, we are moving steadily towards the conclusion of that Whyalla sales process. The future for Whyalla is with a commercial owner with a private owner that’s prepared to invest in the future of that facility. Now, we’re listening carefully, and the joint taskforce between South Australia and the Commonwealth is working carefully with proponents to understand what their investment models would be in terms of electronic arc furnaces and making sure that there is a pit-to-port steelmaking capacity there in South Australia. 

On the broader question of gas, the reason we have acted so decisively in the gas market with a historic landmark Labor reform to secure 20 % of our export production of Australian gas for Australian industry and Australian households is that gas is a crucial feedstock for our manufacturing sector. It is fundamental to us achieving a modern electricity and a modern industrial system with a lower emissions profile. And we are absolutely determined to make sure that we deliver that, even if you are all blown away [by the wind], that we deliver that in a way that delivers for the lowest possible cost and availability for Australian industry. 

JOURNALIST: On artificial intelligence, do you believe we need further regulations around AI in Australia? And, if so, what would that look like and what work is being done to get there? 

AYRES: So, Australian law applies now to artificial intelligence. The approach that the Government is taking is making sure that all of our agencies are seized of their role regulating and making sure there is compliance in terms of artificial intelligence. 

We’ve built the Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, which is operating now, looking under the bonnet of frontier models, making sure we’re lifting the capability of Australia. But there are parallel risks here. Of course, we must deal effectively with the risks and opportunities that this technology presents for Australians. But there is also a risk that if we are flatfooted, that investment will happen somewhere else and Australia will become less economically resilient. 

This Government is all about making sure we seize the opportunities here because that’s in our economic resilience interests and in our strategic interests too. 

JOURNALIST: And one more on AI. David Pocock says tech companies are using land, energy and water for AI and that they should pay their fair share of tax. Do you agree? Is this something the Government is looking at? 

AYRES: Tax compliance is absolutely fundamental, whether it’s data centre companies or mining companies. Making sure that major companies pay their fair share of tax of course is fundamental to the operation of the tax system. But in terms of data centres, we have stepped out very aggressively, not waiting, as some other countries have, very aggressively with the Data Centre Expectations which make it very clear that data centre development here happens on Australia’s terms. 

In terms of electricity use, that means investment in new electricity generation and transmission to underpin those developments and make sure that we’re using it to drive investment in the electricity network. Delivering on water security. We have made good progress on those in terms of direct arrangements with the companies themselves, but also where the rubber hits the road in approval processes with the states. I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made, particularly that work led by Minister Chris Bowen on the electricity network. 

JOURNALIST: And, Minister, just coming back to the Nyrstar announcement, obviously there are still some feasibility studies to come. But this is the second large bailout that the governments have come together to provide Nyrstar here in Hobart and in Port Pirie as well. Do you envisage a world where we have to nationalise these two sites or there’s some sort of state and federal ownership model for these two sites? 

AYRES: Well, I’m really pleased with the progress that Nyrstar has made. We had always envisaged that there would be a series of phases to this feasibility process. They have met their milestones here. The workforce, the management, Nyrstar as an investor with the Commonwealth and the Tasmanian Governments’ support are delivering here. In Port Pirie, they’re already exporting antimony metal to customers in Australia and around the world ahead of schedule. 

There are a series of strong government interventions from the Albanese Government in this critical metals area. Production credits, Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve to provide a floor price for key minerals. I am determined and the Albanese Government is determined to make sure that Australia – with all of the critical minerals that the world wants, with limitless reserves of solar and wind and a future competitive advantage in energy – that Australia becomes a critical metals powerhouse for the world. We are standing with the workers and the companies in this sector, investing in research and development, investing in future production credits, critical minerals strategic reserves, all of the measures to provide confidence that we drive investment into this important manufacturing sector for Australia. 

Anything else for me? Thanks, team.