Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the Prime Minister: would you say the North West Mineral Province is the homeland of new-age energy? Are you aware of Hughenden, with Twiggy's giant wind farm and HIPCo's pumped storage hydro? It is a world-class minerals province of copper, nickel, cadmium, lithium, cobalt and vanadium. Won't a small input of development moneys produce billions of dollars of government revenue and, more importantly, real jobs and wealth for working Australians?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kennedy for his question, his ongoing engagement with the government and his strong representation for Queensland's north-west, in particular. We certainly understand the potential of the North West Minerals Province, to go to the specifics in his question. I had a meeting with Andrew Forrest just last week. He is very passionate, as are other people in the business community, about the opportunities that are there for new critical minerals right around the country; north-west Queensland, in particular, has an extraordinary opportunity to advance.

Last month I was very pleased to see the Queensland government's Energy and Jobs Plan, which included the biggest pumped hydro scheme in the world and building transmission infrastructure from Townsville to Hughenden and eventually to Mt Isa. As the member for Kennedy knows, I've visited the Hughenden pub with him—

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twice!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twice, that's right! You've got to go back there because it's unforgettable as a location. That new link will spark significant investment along the transmission corridor, like the $2.6 billion Mount James wind farm already proposed for Hughenden. We look forward to working with the Queensland government on how we can best support the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

Just last week the Minister for Resources and I announced the development of a new national Critical Minerals Strategy, which will set out a clear vision for our growing critical minerals sector. Critical minerals, including rare earths, are crucial components in batteries, electric vehicles and solar panels, and Australia has some of the largest reserves. Since being elected, the government has committed $100 million to directly support new critical minerals projects, including Alpha HPA, EQ Resources and Lava Blue in Queensland. We will also invest $1 billion in resources value-adding and mining science through the National Reconstruction Fund. I think many of the proposed initiatives in north-west Queensland will be eligible for that and will benefit from this investment.

I want to see our critical minerals processed on shore as well. I don't want to see them all shipped off, then value-added and then imported back. We need to look at ways in which we can value-add here, taking advantage of the fact that we can be a renewable energy superpower for the world. That means not only investing in transmission, in solar and in wind generation, but also developing the regions, including manufacturing in north-west Queensland; that absolutely holds the key to our clean energy future. I very much look forward to continuing to work with the member for Kennedy in a constructive fashion.