Anthony Albanese’s critical minerals funding boost for ‘unbreakable US alliance’
Anthony Albanese will lift support to unlock Australia’s massive critical minerals deposits to $6bn, underpinning a new hi-tech partnership with the US.
Anthony Albanese will lift support to unlock Australia’s critical minerals deposits to $6bn, amid a high-stakes global contest to dig up, process and manufacture unprecedented volumes of minerals for clean energy, tech and defence products.
The US, EU, China, India, Gulf States and Southeast Asian economic powerhouses are clamouring for access to Australia’s vast critical minerals resources to achieve net zero emissions, diversify away from fossil fuels and drive new artificial intelligence and defence tech advancements.
In a major win for US President Joe Biden ahead of Thursday’s state dinner at the White House, the Prime Minister will on Wednesday (AEDT) announce his government is topping up its critical minerals financing measures by $2bn.
Mr Albanese, who will unveil the funding boost at a roundtable in Washington to be hosted by Resources Minister Madeleine King and US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, said “Australia is committed to building sustainable and secure critical minerals supply chains with the US”.
Mr Albanese, who is holding rolling meetings with key US congress members over the next three days to lock in legislative support for the AUKUS pact, has also given the green light to Australian legislation to streamline information and technology sharing arrangements with the US.
The new export control reforms will follow earlier legislation to prevent the unwanted transfer of sensitive Defence information to foreign militaries.
Mr Albanese, however, said Australia would not boost its $3bn commitment to support US and British submarine industrial bases.
The Prime Minister, whose hopes of delivering a rare address to a joint session of congress were dashed by the ugly Republican fight over the US House of Representatives speakership, said he believed Australia’s existing funding for AUKUS was “appropriate”.
Expansion of the Australia-US Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact, announced on the sidelines of the G7 Hiroshima summit in May, will help turbocharge the US clean energy boom fuelled by Mr Biden’s $US3 trillion Inflation Reduction Act.
With Australia boasting some of the world’s biggest deposits of lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel, Mr Albanese said his government was “committed to transforming Australia into a renewable energy superpower, and harnessing the critical minerals we have at home is crucial to achieving this”.
“Australians will benefit through this investment in critical minerals, through technology, skills, jobs and economic gains. Australia is committed to building sustainable and secure critical minerals supply chains with the US,” he said.
“This is central to building a clean energy future and delivering economic growth. The expansion of the Critical Minerals Facility will help to build supply chains with the US and support our shared clean energy, manufacturing and defence ambitions.
“We’re in strong position, as the world’s largest supplier of lithium, for example, a significant supply of cobalt, vanadium, copper, nickel. The minerals that will power the globe in the 21st century are things Australia has significant amounts of. And we want to work, as well, with US companies.”
Mr Albanese’s visit is being lauded by both countries as evidence of the nations’ “unbreakable alliance”, amid concerns about Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, the threat of a wider war in the Middle East, Vladimir Putin’s stalemated invasion of Ukraine and deteriorating global economic conditions.
The Prime Minister will be feted by Mr Biden at the White House on Wednesday and Thursday (AEDT), just over a week before he departs for Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
Ahead of welcoming Mr Albanese and Ms Haydon to the White House on Wednesday (AEDT) for the official guest book signing and gift exchange with the President and First Lady, Dr Biden and White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo will brief the media on logistics for the state dinner. Guest chef Katie Button, White House executive chef Chris Comerford and White House executive pastry chef Susie Morrison will provide samples of place settings that will be served to guests on Thursday (AEDT).
Mr Biden, who along with his wife, Jill, will host a private dinner for Mr Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon on Wednesday (AEDT), has held only four state dinners. The previous guests – Emmanuel Macron, Narendra Modi and Yoon Suk-yeol – are prominent figures in the Indo-Pacific region.
While the state dinner invitation list has been held tight, senior US officials are expected to brief out details of the dinner and the guest list, which will include prominent business and community leaders, politicians, defence officials and celebrities.
Australian Rugby League Commission chair and Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys, Indigenous leader and voice supporter Tom Calma and CSIRO board member Alex Brown are expected to attend as guests of Mr Albanese.
Australian celebrities Margot Robbie, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are also rumoured to be on the list, which was finalised by the White House.
Business, banking and mining bosses have also arrived in Washington, including Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake, BlueScope chief executive Mark Vassella, Westpac chief risk officer Ryan Zanin, Microsoft Australia-New Zealand managing director Steve Worrall, Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar.
As industry leaders push for Australia to tap into Mr Biden’s multibillion-dollar clean energy investment, Mr Albanese on Wednesday will boost bilateral co-operation with the US to drive new investment and employment across Australia and US clean energy, manufacturing and defence supply chains. There is also increased focus on providing “responsibly produced and processed critical minerals” to meet global demand.
Ms King, who recently released a seven-year Critical Minerals Strategy, said the Australia-US taskforce on critical minerals had agreed on “priority areas of work and immediate actions such as joint supply chain mapping and deeper co-operation … on critical minerals”.
“The road to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector,” she said. “The Australian government is providing significant support to de-risk investment in Australia’s critical minerals sector.”
Australian critical minerals and business executives attending the roundtable on Wednesday (AEDT) include Lynas managing director Amanda Lacaze, Australian Strategic Materials chief executive Rowena Smith, Alpha HPA managing director Rimas Kairaitis, Alliance Nickel chief Paul Kopetjka and Nyrstar boss Dale Webb. On the US side, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator and senior Biden adviser Kurt Campbell will attend alongside Tesla Motors chair Robyn Denholm, Lockheed Martin chief executive James Taiclet and LG Energy’s Heejae Kim.
Mr Albanese will also on Wednesday (AEDT) meet with up to 120 local and travelling business leaders at an Australian Innovation Showcase event.
US-Australian companies including Boeing, Ferra, Energy Impact Partners, Infravision, Australis Scientific, Rohto Pharmaceuticals, Redflow, Faraday Microgrids, Droneshield and Minelab will have chief executives and senior representatives attending.
The event was designed to bring together business leaders across advanced industries with a focus on “net zero transformation, science and technology and defence”.
Amid a messy internal Republican struggle to appoint a new Speaker following the departure of Kevin McCarthy, Mr Albanese is expected to deliver a major speech advocating key AUKUS legislative changes at the US State Department on Friday (AEDT). He is due to meet key congressmen from the influential Friends of Australia Caucus on Thursday morning local time, including Democrat Joe Courtney and Republican Mike Gallagher, both keen supporters of AUKUS.
He said the AUKUS arrangements were “in the interest of Australia, to play our role”.
“We don’t seek to just be someone who is watching. We seek as well to play a role in security in the Indo-Pacific. And one way we do that is through AUKUS, by lifting up our own capacity. Now, that is very important going forward,” he said.
Republicans, who hold a slim majority in the 435-seat lower house, were scheduled to regroup late on Monday night local time to determine which of nine potential candidates as Speaker could look to seek a vote on the floor of the house.
Congress has been without a Speaker since October 3, an unprecedented period that has left the US government unable to pass laws or amendments, including critical legislation to facilitate AUKUS and the President’s request for $US105bn in funding for Ukraine and Israel.
Asked on Tuesday (AEDT) if he had spoken with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the crisis in the Middle East, Mr Albanese said he had not. The Labor leader, who will open the new $237m Australian embassy in Washington alongside ambassador Kevin Rudd on Wednesday (AEDT), defended his government’s position on the Israel-Hamas war, saying he was not “picking sides” between Israelis and Palestinians.
“I have spoken to the Israeli ambassador to Australia on a couple of occasions. And the views that I’ve put are consistent with the resolution that was carried by the parliament.
“We remain absolutely horrified by the Hamas attacks on Israel. These are abhorrent acts of terror against innocent civilians.
“We recognised as well, in that resolution, the importance of the protection of civilian lives. The situation is challenging and rapidly changing.
“And there is a terrible loss of life, including innocent life of both Israelis and Palestinians. And I think that every innocent life matters, whether it is Israeli or Palestinian.
“We pick a side against Hamas. We did that very clearly and unequivocally. Because the actions of Hamas are against the interests of the Israeli population, clearly, but also (the) Palestinians. We support, as President Biden reaffirmed for the US, a support for a two-state solution.”
Mr Albanese said it was “very hard to see how Hamas could negotiate through to what would be a two-state solution in the Middle East”.
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