Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator McDonald, for that question. I'll make a few points about the two enterprises that you referred to and I will come to, of course, that very important facility at Mount Isa that is currently run by Glencore. That is, of course, an important venture itself, but there are a series of other very significant industrial ventures that rely upon the Mount Isa Mines copper facility that is run by Glencore.

In terms of the Whyalla intervention that you referred to, it is very important that corporate Australia learns the right lesson from the Whyalla intervention. It is a very significant intervention—not just by the Commonwealth government. It's led by two governments: the South Australian government—under Peter Malinauskas, that very fine premier of South Australia—and the Albanese Labor government. The outcome of that intervention is that Australian steelmaking capability is protected and the corporate entity that ran that facility—'ran' being a generous term—now no longer operates that facility.

In terms of the progress that this government is making in relation to others smelters around the country, there have been no announcements in relation to Nyrstar. We are working very closely with that firm—focused on the national interest, focused on the economic and social benefits but, in particular, focused on the strategic benefits, particularly around critical minerals production in Australia. (Time expired)