Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

A Future Made in Australia is about maximising the opportunities of our goal of net zero for workers and businesses, and, very importantly, securing Australia's position in what is a changing global and strategic landscape. Our journey to net zero is the biggest opportunity in decades. However, a failure to act now—as many commentators important to these industries recognise—would jeopardise our economy and our livelihoods, and the lack of support from the coalition for this bill represents a real risk to our future.

The global path to net zero runs through the Australian resources sector and is indeed paved with Western Australia's critical minerals, because these resources are needed by the world—resources produced sustainably. We want to see smart, sensible approaches to cutting emissions. We want to create thousands of secure jobs in my home state of Western Australia. These minerals are needed for solar panels, storage batteries, wind turbines. The world cannot transition to net zero without them.

However, critical minerals are also needed for so many other industries. Perhaps it is the opposition's ideological crusade against renewables and net zero that is seeing them not support this legislation. However, even if that was your frame, these critical minerals are needed by Australia and the world. They're vital components in communications, advanced technology and defence applications. They are also directly relevant for the national security of Australia and its allies.

A lack of diversity in existing supply chains currently represents a very real risk to our security. Currently, we ship critical minerals overseas to be refined before they can be manufactured into solar panels, storage batteries, phones, computers, wind turbines and defence equipment. We have highly concentrated supply chains in the world. These undercut our sovereign capability and lead to jobs and investment leaving Australia. We are missing out on all the jobs that can and should be created by building processing facilities in Australia and operating these facilities here.

Building a booming critical minerals industry will boost Western Australia's economy and create secure jobs in the very important resources sector. We have an absolute abundance of projects ready to go in Western Australia that could get off the ground with the right support. There are more than 38 listed projects already in Western Australia. Coalition senators opposite are failing to represent these projects and Western Australia's ambitions to move up the supply chain with our exports. Western Australians know—although much of the rest of the country doesn't always recognise it—that we are the engine room of the Australian economy, but the nation cannot take this for granted. We must innovate and invest in the future of these industries in our state. If we do, we will turbocharge the resources sector and create jobs.

The Albanese government's last budget delivered the most significant initiatives for the future of Australia's resources in a generation, an agenda that is visionary. But those opposite have their heads in the sand. You offer a policy vacuum—a long list of noes. Peter Dutton said no to cost of living relief, no to higher wages, no to cheaper medicines and, in this case, no to an investment in more jobs in Western Australia. So let's be clear. Having production tax credits for critical minerals is a zero-risk approach for Australia.