Peter Dutton will jettison Australia’s medium-term carbon budget by “turbocharging” a pipeline of more than 420 mining and energy projects as part of a broader pledge to make himself the best friend the resources sector has “ever had”.
“I want to see more excavators digging, more gas flowing, and more trucks moving,” Mr Dutton will tell the Minerals Council of Australia conference in Canberra on Wednesday morning.
Speaking at the same event, Resources Minister Madeleine King will issue a challenge to miners that there is no time to lose in meeting allies’ growing demand for critical minerals used in renewables and weapons.
“We need to do more to ensure our partners lean into efforts to strengthen and support our critical minerals and rare earths sectors,” Ms King will say.
“But Australia’s credibility and ability to make such requests depends on us taking up responsibility to lead on critical minerals and rare earth elements globally”.
The duelling speeches come amid growing political sensitivities on both sides over the state of the resources sector, particularly in Queensland and WA, which delivered Labor the last three seats it needed to win a majority in 2022.
Resources Minister Madeleine King will issue a challenge to miners that there is no time to lose in meeting allies’ growing demand for critical minerals used in renewables and weapons. (ABC News: Nick Haggarty)
Dutton to call back to carbon tax era
Mr Dutton will use the conference to restore the Coalition’s stocks among miners, some of whom have been critical of his opposition to Labor’s planned Future Made in Australia production tax credits.
Attacking the prime minister as “tone-deaf” to the industry’s concerns over industrial relations and environmental laws, Mr Dutton will say that no matter how many times Anthony Albanese said he had visited WA, the “fact is that his government is hostile to mining and to other critical primary industries”.
“Not since the days of imposing a carbon tax on your sector, or a mining tax on your sector, has a prime minister and a government been so out of touch with the need to keep our mining and resource sectors strong.
“But today I give you this commitment: a Dutton Coalition government will be the best friend that the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have.”
Citing industry department figures, Mr Dutton will say the country has 421 resources and energy projects with an investment value of more than $525 billion.
If these were to proceed, he will say, they could create up to 100,000 construction jobs and 55,000 ongoing jobs.
Conservation groups are likely to be alarmed by Mr Dutton’s unabashedly pro-resources pitch given a significant portion of the potential pipeline includes high-emissions gas and coal projects.
If they were all to be approved, the nation’s international pledge to cut emissions by 43 per cent in 2030 would likely collapse under a Coalition government.
Mr Dutton will note that with 40 per cent of all projects, WA is “particularly exposed”.
The government has described Peter Dutton’s plans for the sector as “billions for billionaires”. (ABC Local: Anthony Pancia)
“I want to turbocharge our mining sector so we can steer through the current economic headwinds and ride a new wave of prosperity.
“I want to build on our strengths in major commodities like iron ore, coal, gas, gold and copper.
“And I want to lean into growing opportunities like critical minerals, rare earths and uranium.”
Mr Dutton will ensure a future Coalition government overturns Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision last month to block construction of a tailings dam on the Regis gold mine.
He will also move to limit the ability of third parties, including some Indigenous groups, to challenge decisions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Ms King will tell the mining conference that the Coalition does not understand the industry’s needs, having dismissed proposed industry support as “billions for billionaires”.
“The coalition has always taken this industry for granted,” she says.
“It is clear for all to see that the resources portfolio in the coalition is now no more than a plaything for the Nationals carved out as part of a deal with the Liberals.”