The Albanese government is moving to directly back WA’s faltering nickel miners, potentially via Labor’s looming US-style green industry initiative, even as Resources Minister Madeleine King vowed she would not bail out “speculators” smashed by a glut of the critical battery metal from Indonesia.

Fears of a collapse in the nation’s “sovereign capacity” prompted Ms King on Friday to include nickel on the government’s official critical minerals list, opening the door to miners led by BHP to tap a $4 billion federal loan facility as well as foreign export credits in allied nations such as Japan and Korea.