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

I thank the member for Bullwinkel for her terrific question. Australia has all the critical minerals the world needs to reach net zero and all the rare earths we need for our national security. The Albanese Labor government is committed to creating new jobs by boosting the all-important critical minerals industry. We want to mine, process, concentrate and refine more critical minerals and rare earths here in Australia, and we're making that happen every single day in this place and around the country.

We've introduced $17 billion of production tax credits for critical minerals to process more here and create thousands of jobs in the process. One of the proposals that might threaten that is the opposition's continuing opposition to production tax credits. We've invested $3.4 billion in resourcing Australia's prosperity so that Geoscience Australia can keeping accumulating the all-important precompetitive data for industry. Combined with contributions from the Critical Minerals Facility, Export Finance Australia and the National Reconstruction Fund, it adds up to a $28 billion investment in the future of Australia's resources sector, which will create new jobs and new opportunities.

No government has done more for the resources industry than the Albanese Labor government. I'll turn to the NAIF for a moment. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility has invested $735 million in critical minerals projects across northern Australia, including Alpha HPA's high-purity alumina project in Gladstone, Arafura's project in Alice Springs in the NT, Element 25's Butcherbird manganese project in the Pilbara, the Thunderbird mineral sands project in the Kimberley and the Pilbara Minerals lithium project in Port Hedland. All of these projects will add up to jobs in the north. The NAIF has also supported great projects like BCI Minerals's Mardie salt project and the Perdaman urea project in the Pilbara, which will produce fertiliser for our farmers.

I was asked about proposals that might threaten the resources sector and, therefore, the critical minerals industry. I've got one proposal that I've heard of, and it was made in April this year. It was about making gas a critical mineral. Yes, that's what those opposite proposed. Way back in April, they wanted to make gas a critical mineral. Of course, it can't be because it's not a mineral. Those opposite might have thought that everyone forgot about that little thought bubble. We absolutely did not. I tell you what no-one has forgotten about—

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