Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

There are a number of areas in Australia that are already seeing benefits from critical minerals, such as the Parkes precinct in your home state of New South Wales, Senator Davey. The New South Wales government estimates that, through continued investment in critical minerals, more than 2,300 construction and ongoing jobs could be created for central New South Wales. The nine most advanced critical minerals projects in Australia could support 7,000 jobs and will unlock nearly $8 billion in investment for regional and rural communities alone. Australia's current battery industry is estimated to already contributed $1.3 billion to our GDP and 6,000 jobs, mostly in regional Australia. The Future Batteries Industries CRC estimated diversified battery industries could add 34,700 new jobs in Australia and $7.4 billion to Australia's economy, much of which will be to the benefit of rural and regional Australia. (Time expired)