Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are hungry for sustainable energy that is clean and affordable. They want it without raising taxes, without suffering from an electricity grid that cannot keep up with demand and without soaring electricity prices. The coalition understands that. In order to achieve net zero by 2050, significant investment is required to bolster our infrastructure, industries and critical-minerals mining capabilities.

The technology we need to transition successfully to cleaner sources of energy, such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and wind turbines requires a diverse mix of critical minerals. The demand for this resource will only further rise to meet the needs of developed nations across the world that are pursuing their own clean energy agenda. Critical minerals are therefore becoming a highly sought after commodity, placing Australia in a unique position to reap the rewards of these natural resources that are abundant across our nation, especially in my fabulous electorate of Durack.

Whilst in government the coalition recognised the strategic value of ready access to our critical minerals, and it developed policies to drive investment and secure production domestically. It was under the coalition government that a $1.25 billion loan was provided to the Australian company Iluka Resources in my electorate of Durack to develop Australia's first integrated rare earth refinery in Western Australia. The refinery will produce separated rare earth oxide products, which are used in a wide range of technologies, including electric vehicles and clean energy generation. Under the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, the coalition also contributed $49 million towards the Australian Vanadium project to process high-grade vanadium from its Meekatharra mine, which is also in the great electorate of Durack. This highly sought after critical mineral will eventually be transformed into energy-storing batteries to fuel the growing domestic and overseas markets. Not only are these projects shoring up our domestic supply and export opportunities, they are also contributing significantly to the employment opportunities and local economies of the surrounding communities.

It therefore baffles me that Labor have decided to abandon the resources sector, and the hundreds of thousands of workers and families that it supports, by cutting over $100 million from the rebranded Critical Minerals Development Program. Now is not the time to take our foot off the accelerator. A quick rebranding and slashing millions of dollars in funding is counterproductive and puts our climate targets at risk.

Remember, if Minister Bowen's target of renewables making up 82 per cent of the electricity grid by 2030 is to be achieved, we'll need—and these are his words—22,000 solar panels to be installed each and every day for the next eight years, and we will have to install 40 seven-megawatt wind turbines a month. Now, you don't have to be an industrial engineer—I am not one, I can assure you—to see there is a flaw in Labor's logic. Where are we going to get the materials to ensure that Australia reduces its carbon footprint? And why would Labor punish the very industry they need to meet their ambitious targets? If our international partners are not sourcing their critical minerals from Australia, you can guarantee they will be sourcing these critical minerals from other countries, the mining practices of which perhaps don't come close to the standards that we have set ourselves, which, potentially, could drive up emissions further.

Labor needs to stop punishing this crucial sector, drop the politics and continue to build on the hard work that we developed over the last nine years, the good work done by the coalition, to make sure that Australia is known right across the globe as the trusted source, the best source, of critical minerals. Labor should not put that at risk. Drop the politics. Follow our lead.

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