Senior Liberal MP Michaelia Cash says none of her WA colleagues support Labor’s critical mineral and hydrogen production tax sweetener, and the state’s mining sector will benefit more from her party’s commitment to “getting the fundamentals right”.
Labor’s production tax incentives are emerging as an election issue in the state after the Nationals Bullwinkel candidate Mia Davies broke ranks from Coalition policy to publicly back the $13.7 billion worth of tax breaks announced in the 2024 budget to lure critical minerals and hydrogen downstream processing to Australia.
WA Senator Michaelia Cash and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor in Perth.Credit: Hamish Hastie
Davies is currently running in the seat of Bullwinkel where she is engaged in a three-cornered contest with Liberals Matt Moran and Labor’s Trish Cook.
Speaking after a business breakfast with shadow treasurer Angus Taylor in Perth on Thursday, Cash and Taylor both shot down Davies’ call.
Asked whether any federal WA Liberal MPs supported the Labor policy, Cash said: “No.”
“We believe in getting the fundamentals right,” she said.
“If you don’t get the fundamentals right, you don’t get investment in the sector. I’ve heard from people for three years now, in terms of the red tape and the green tape, that means companies have already made decisions not to proceed with projects, not just in Western Australia, but in Australia,” she said.
Taylor, who in 2024 described the incentives as “billions for billionaires” described the taxes as “corporate welfare”.
He recounted the mining boom in the mid-2000s, which he said was the result of good policy settings that helped projects get up in a timely fashion.
“I saw that massive wave of investment starting in the mid-2000s here in WA when I was working over here ... I saw how that benefited this state. I saw it work,” he said.
“I tell you, it wasn’t because the government was giving those companies subsidies, it was because the basics were right.
“Both federal and state governments were getting timely approvals through and the energy policies were right.”
Under the scheme, companies can get a refundable tax offset of 10 per cent of the costs of processing critical minerals and hydrogen in Australia from 2027 to lure more downstream processing of commodities produced here.
It was the brainchild of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy and Association of Mining and Energy Companies.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson said the coalition’s pledges were welcome but when it came to developing new industries the nation needed to be able to “walk and chew gum.”
“The production tax incentives are about leveling the playing field for emerging industries. In the case of critical minerals – which WA has in abundance – the market is thin, opaque and subject to unpredictable price swings,” she said.
“During a period of global upheaval that has placed added emphasis on diversifying supply chains for strategically vital rare earths and critical minerals, initiatives like the recently legislated PTIs are more important than ever.”
AMEC chief executive Warren Pearce told this masthead last week that the policy was the only one on the table currently that would help the country realise more value from its minerals.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton visited Perth last week, where he detailed his support for the state’s resources sector.
The Liberals ‘Plan for a Strong Resources Industry’ includes a commitment to abandon nature positive legislation and expand the critical minerals list to include uranium, zinc, bauxite, alumina, aluminium, potash, phosphate and tin.
Included in that is $3.5 billion for a 35-year exploration to map mineral deposits across the country, restart the junior minerals exploration incentive with $100 million, halve federal environmental approvals by restricting bureaucrats using things like ‘stop the clock’ provisions, and allow fast-track foreign investment review assessments for mining projects.
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