Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for the question. I'm sure the Chamber of Minerals and Energy and the honourable member support everything this government has done in recent weeks to support the mining industry in Australia and critical minerals in the great state of Western Australia, with the Prime Minister's leadership and the leadership of the Minister for Resources. They're engaging in proper international diplomacy, engaging in proper interactions with our key trading partners. That's what a future made in Australia looks like; proper investments and a proper calibration of industry and energy policy, as well as foreign and trade policy, to ensure that our great critical minerals that have so much capacity to power not only Australia but also the rest of the world—we have a periodic table of minerals under our earth. We have nine out of the 10 minerals necessary to make a battery in our country. We think that's a good thing, and we want to see more of those minerals exploited and more value added in Australia. We want to see batteries made in Australia and minerals processed in Australia.

That's our vision; your vision is stuck in your 10 years of denial and delay, while you're arguing tomorrow about whether climate change is real and whether humankind has anything to do with it and whether governments should even bother to try. That's why you are out of office now. You are showing the Australian people continually that you are not fit for modern government in Australia.

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