REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Brisbane is hosting a World Mining Congress today. So that means the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia has come to town. Madeleine King, good morning. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Good morning, Rebecca. Lovely to speak to you again. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: What is the World Mining Congress? 

MINISTER KING: Well, the World Mining Congress, as its name explains, brings together investors and miners from right around the world. It’s in its 65th year, and this is the first time it’s had its congress in Australia. I’m really pleased that it’s here in one of the mining capitals of the country, Brisbane. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Right, yeah. Why is Brisbane hosting? Are we the mining centre of Australia? 

MINISTER KING: Well, being from Perth I can’t quite say that because I might be heard back in my hometown, but certainly a very important part of the resources puzzle for the whole of the nation is Brisbane. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: So who’s coming to the congress today? 

MINISTER KING: Well, we’ve got your local Resources Minister Scott Stewart, resources ministers from around the country are coming, leaders of companies in mining both exploration and extraction, the Treasurer of the nation is speaking later this week, and then also your Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick is speaking as well. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: And what’s on the agenda, Minister? Because it’s interesting timing – just in the last week or so in Brisbane, you know, we’ve had protestors blockading the Port of Brisbane Motorway, we’re sending rangers and firies over to Canada to fight wildfires over there so people’s consciousness around climate change has peaked. What sorts of things are on the agenda at this conference? 

MINISTER KING: Well principally critical minerals is what’s sitting on my agenda, what I’ll be speaking about. But the congress will speak about a lot of things. But what we know about critical minerals and rare earth elements such as lithium and vanadium is they’ll all be needed to reach net zero emissions. And that’s what’s really important. We need to make sure we can extract responsibly and in an environmentally sustainable way the critical minerals we’ll need for a decarbonised future. And there’ll also be other discussions at the congress around the rehabilitation of mines – how you build rehabilitation into when you first create the mine and also older mines that are still going but need to have a plan around how they'll be returned to nature. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: You’re listening to Madeleine King, the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. This week Brisbane will host the World Mining Congress at the Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is ABC Radio Brisbane. My name’s Rebecca Levingston. 

Extracting critical minerals is one thing, Minister. Is it also about extracting less coal from the ground? 

MINISTER KING: Well, coal is required as part of the formula for creating steel. So coal is still necessary. We know we need a lot of steel to build any wind turbine in the world. We also need the aluminium that is extracted more off the west coast and the northern coast of Queensland. So all these minerals and metals are needed to reach net zero. What we know in Australia is that all coal-fired power stations now have an end date, and so we are able to decarbonise quicker than other nations, but other nations still need that resource, energy-intensive resource, to be able to create the stainless steel we all need for the future. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: All coal-fired power stations in Australia now have an end date. 

MINISTER KING: That’s right. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: And what is that end date? 

MINISTER KING: Well, they’re different for each one. So there are some in the south west of Western Australia that will end in a couple of years. Some are planned for about 10 years’ time. But each coal-fired power station has now set an end date, which is what the state and federal government have to work toward. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Which state will have the last coal-fired power station? 

MINISTER KING: Look, I can’t tell you off the top of my head. But I could certainly let you know. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Okay. All right. So those critical minerals you mentioned – lithium I think people are reasonably familiar with in batteries around the place. You mentioned vanadium. What is vanadium? 

MINISTER KING: Well, vanadium is another really important mineral. And Queensland has a large endowment of it. And that’s for a new sort of battery, a high-performance redox flow battery it’s called, and there’s technology in Australia that is being built. And thanks to the Queensland government’s investment in the CopperString project, that’s going to open up a lot of the opportunities around vanadium. And the thing about vanadium is that it’s – the batteries that it’s in are easier to recycle than lithium, so it’s a really exciting thing for net zero but also the circular economy we want to get to.

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: For lots of people, you know, the World Mining Congress is a world away from day-to-day jobs. But what is in their letter boxes are power bills and what’s on their mind is those power bills are going up. Is there anything at this congress that will mean anything in terms of what my listeners are paying for power? 

MINISTER KING: Well, when you say about jobs, I mean, the mining industry in Australia employs over 280,000 people, and that’s direct jobs. So there’s a lot of indirect jobs associated with the industry as well. So mining does create a lot of prosperity for the country. You know the federal government has introduced measures to bring down power prices through a cap on gas bills. So here in Queensland, NSW, we’re working on the price of coal into that power generation. So there’s a lot of work going on right around the country trying to reduce those power prices, because we do accept that that is a huge burden on the cost of living for all Australians. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: You accept that it’s a burden, but is there anything specifically at the congress over the next couple of days that talks about reducing power bills or what role – you know, if we’re such a mining and mineral-rich country, is there anything that can be done to bring down those power bills rather than at the moment people are paying a lot and then they get a rebate through whether it’s the state government or the federal government. It seems like a strange sort of a system where we have to get refunded for the stuff that’s in our own backyard. 

MINISTER KING: Yeah, but the mining congress will be looking at how you build cheaper energy. So we know the cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, and we can’t magic up solar panels into our power system overnight. And we will need this mining that is discussed at mining congress to be able to get the minerals to create that power generation capacity. So whilst it’s not directly going to come up with subsidies for people today at the mining congress, we work toward the future, and a sustainable future, for low and appropriate pricing of energy for all Australians. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Minister, you started out by saying it’s a big deal for Australia to host this conference – 65th year of the World Mining Congress, people from all over the world coming. Is there someone in particular whose hand your want to shake today that you want to meet and talk to about something specific? 

MINISTER KING: Well, I always like to meet your Resources Minister here, Scott Stewart. He’s always a great one to chat to about the – 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: He’s here all the time, Minister. You can pick up the phone to him any day. 

MINISTER KING: I’m not here all the time. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: No, but, I mean, you know, is there someone who’s in Brisbane today from – I don’t know – a big company that’s unusual for them to be in town? 

MINISTER KING: I’ll be speaking to a lot of people today as I see them. And I look forward to meeting with your Treasurer as well this afternoon at an investor forum, which is really important for Queensland and the whole country to have more international investment into critical minerals and rare earths in Australia. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Yeah, well, that will be an interesting conversation, too, because I’m sure you’re across some of the tension between the Treasurer and the resources sector in Queensland right now. Tension is my word – how would you describe that relationship? 

MINISTER KING: Well, you know, I’m not directly involved in their relationship. But I think it’s important that Queenslanders get the benefits of the extraction of coal in their state for their ongoing, you know, government spending. And that’s what Treasurer Dick has achieved. And I think most of the – if not all the citizens of Queensland would be very pleased with that. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: You said there’s an end date on all coal-fired power stations in Australia. Did that mean there won’t then be any new coal-fired power stations? 

MINISTER KING: Well, not at the moment. And the thing is no-one’s investing in it because they know that is the – there is a transition happening, a really urgent transition, to net zero. So even in the private sector there is not investment coming to coal-fired power generation, and the federal government is certainly not going to get involved in that space. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Minister, really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much. 

MINISTER KING: Yeah, thanks Rebecca. Take it easy. 

REBECCA LEVINGSTON: Madeleine King, the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, in town for the World Mining Congress that kicks off today. 

ENDS