Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the wonderful member for Swan for her fine question, especially in Minerals Week, when, here in Canberra, we welcome those from the industry to come together to talk about the nation-building contribution of the resources sector, which is the engine room of Australia's economy. It is the source of well-paid jobs and billions of dollars of investment from right around the world, and it will help drive our Future Made in Australia to capitalise on the world's transition to net zero.

This government's budget in May put the resources industry at the heart of government policymaking. We have committed to $17 billion for a production tax incentive for critical minerals to encourage onshore processing and $3.4 billion for the Resourcing Australia's Prosperity program so that Geoscience Australia can identify deposits of critical minerals and map our future. It was the most significant federal budget for the resources sector in a generation, because we support the resources sector through industry backed policy not by simply attending dinners and parties in the Pilbara.

There have been alternative approaches, and we have rejected them. For instance, we won't measure our support for the industry by the number of resources ministers we have at any one time. We also won't kick the resources portfolio around like a political football, kicking it out of the cabinet room because of a Nationals leadership squabble. What the opposition are doing is standing in the way of a production tax incentive and doing communities out of jobs and investments.

As well as the production tax credit, this government supports the resources sector through the NAIF and the Critical Minerals Facility.

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