MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Thanks so much to all for coming here to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices. 

Today I've held alongside with my colleague, the WA Minister for Mines David Michael, a round table with the nickel miners and producers here in Western Australia. It was a very important, a very constructive discussion seeking to ‑ for me and Minister Michael to get some input from the industry and how we can assist the nickel industry in this country to thrive and continue in what is some difficult international circumstances with the nickel industry. 

And this afternoon we'll be holding another round table with lithium producers as well with you miners to discuss how we might work together as State and Federal Governments and on how the lithium industry can continue to grow here in Western Australia, 'cause we necessary that nickel and lithium will be essential to the global ambitions to reach net zero emissions. 

So in regard to the discussion this morning on nickel, in the short term, I've agreed that we will ‑ the Federal Government and the Federal Minister continue to pursue common user infrastructure, and ensure that the strategic minerals of which ‑ materials, sorry, which nickel is one, gets included in our considerations of that common user infrastructure. 

So that's ports, rail and road, that can be one of the great advantages the Federal Government brings to the resources sector and its prosperity in this State. 

I'll also continue, indeed I've committed to accelerate talks with Treasury over the production of tax credits and how they might be applied into the nickel industry and more widely into critical minerals sector as well. 

I will also ensure there is more intensive engagement across all the portfolios of the Federal Government where they intersect with the resources sector more broadly, but in particular in this circumstance, the nickel industry, which is finding itself under the constrained circumstances. 

And on that note, I just do want to express my concern, and of course, thoughts with those workers that have been affected by the recent closures in departments in the nickel industry. Hopefully they will find employment in other resources sector industries, which is ‑ seems to be the case at the moment, but nonetheless it's a great period of uncertainty for many workers, and my thoughts are with them at that difficult time. 

Another short‑term commitment is to again look at how we can work on the approvals processes for mines and productions and refining, and I'll work on that with Minister Michael.

In the medium term, and this does take a bit longer, but it's important work nevertheless, I'm committed to continuing to advocate into the international market for the ESG standards that we see apply across nickel production and lithium production in Australia and have that more highly‑regarded internationally, which would affect the pricing, and therefore, the viability of the industry here in Western Australia. 

I also want to make sure that in any consideration of the high standard of minerals processed in this State and this country, that the issue of worker safety, but also working conditions are included as well, because this country accepts that we want to have a high standard of living, we want our resources workers to be paid well, and we want their work to be safe, because we want the worker to come home at the end of their [indistinct] or the end of their shift.  

So this is something that is reflected in the pricing of the minerals and resources that we produce in this country, and it is only fair that it is reflected in any international standard that is applied to them. 

We will also be looking further at exploration in centres, because it's really important that we know what this country's made of, so that we can use more rich resources to decarbonise the economy. 

So to conclude, before I hand on to Minister Michael, I think what we need to be really clear about, if we are going to be serious about helping this planet and making it cleaner for the future, we need to be really serious about what the minerals are and how they are going to be, and can be accounted for as being as clean and as green as they should be. And with that I'll hand to Minister Michael. 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: Thank you. And thank you to Minister King for joining me and for the round table this morning with the key players in Western Australia's nickel industry, and I'm very much looking forward to having another round table this afternoon with the lithium industry here in WA. 

Both industries are incredibly important to our State and to our planet as the planet decarbonises. The discussions this morning were very constructive, and there's a few take‑aways for the State Government. 

One of the take‑aways is that the State Government with the announcement by Premier Cook in December on our approvals streamlining is something that everyone is very supportive of, but it's something we must continue to progress, and that's something that my department will continue to look at what we can do, and also as part of it, look to see what we can do regarding supporting exploration for new nickel deposits in our States. 

A point was made that there hasn't been any major, or not very ‑ sorry ‑ a point's been made that there hasn't been too many major nickel discoveries in Western Australia for several decades, which is something that would help if we could find some more low‑cost nickel extraction deposits around our State for the future nickel industry in WA. 

Other items that came up were the importance of common use facilities for the critical minerals industry, and that's something that I will work with Minister King and the Federal Government on into the future. 

Lastly, the issue of royalties came up, and from a State Government point of view, I've said that I will continue to work with those peak bodies, the CME and AMEC on royalty related issues, to see if there are short‑term relief opportunities, but more so what came up around the table was the opportunity for royalty reform, and these are things that I need to further understand with the industry of what that might look like and how it might be applied into the future, because we know that nickel, which has been around for a very long time in Western Australia, is subject to these cyclical swings in price, and to keep it as a critical industry, we need to make sure the industry remains strong, and so I've committed to working with them to see what a royalty reform may look like. 

Given you've done your microphones, I might take questions first, and then pass on to Minister King. 

JOURNALIST: Could royalty reform look like a sliding scale of royalties based on price, could it extend beyond nickel into other resources? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: That was one of the proposals put up today in terms of a royalty scheme based on price. I have to look at the implications and analyse that with our department. Obviously I can't commit to any of those things. A royalty reform which would go on for a very long time is something that would affect the Government, and the mining sector for many years, and it's something that I've committed at least investigating with the sector. 

JOURNALIST: Industry people talking downstairs seem to all agree that there is ‑ it is a critical time for the industry, and there isn't a lot of time to waste. How long does it take for government to react in a positive way? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: We had the Department Director‑General in the room this morning, and I asked him straight away to see what we can do to get those ideas and options on the table as quickly as we can. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, well, we know the wheels of government always turn slowly. 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: They do, but I'll be doing my best to make sure that we have some options for government, at least for ‑ there are two issues here, there's royalty relief, which is more short‑term, and then there's royalty reform, but in terms of royalty relief, I hope to get some options at least for government to look at, and to look at what impact they would make on some of those mining operations that currently are teetering on the price point. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think the iron ore and gold sectors would be open to royalty reform? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: I'm not sure. It depends on what the reform looks like. Again, at the moment, we're focused on nickel, given they're the ones with some pending issues due to the oversupply of nickel across the globe. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, I know you're meeting with lithium producers later, but are you ruling out royalty relief for lithium as the Government did just a couple of years ago? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: These round tables are listening exercises. I've undertaken that all of the ideas and suggestions and requests that came out of this morning's meeting and that may come out of this afternoon's meeting are things that I will look into, so I'm not going to rule anything out. 

JOURNALIST: The industry, the nickel industry players walked away from the meeting under the impression a royalty deferral was on the table. Is it on the table? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: I've just said I've asked the Department to look at that, that comes under royalty relief, we’ll talk about what that might look like and what impact it might have on the State. 

JOURNALIST: Do you have timeframe as to how quick the Department will be able to come back with an answer on that one? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: I don't yet, but obviously I understand the nickel industry are looking for some certainty in terms of these things, so I'm hoping it wouldn't take too long. 

JOURNALIST: Does providing royalty relief without broader royalty reform set a bad precedent for the Government, or a dangerous precedent for the Government? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: These are things we obviously would have to look into in assessing what's been asked of this morning, but I was really keen this morning to make sure we don't rule anything out. We wanted to have a good look at everything that was suggested to give the round table the respect it deserves. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, two of the companies affected by the price line for these two commodities is BHP and Mineral Resources. Your former boss, Mark McGowan, works for both of them. Has he spoken to you about these issues at all?. 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: He has not. 

JOURNALIST: Okay. 

SPEAKER: Minister King? 

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of deferral, that is going to be a significant cost to the taxpayer, if not immediate loss of income, we'll lose interest on those payments over time. Can you tell me, is it important for government to bail out resources industries like this in that way? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: Well, again, these are some of the questions that a whole‑of‑government response will have to answer. As I said, part of today was to respectfully take the suggestions from industry, and we'll now go away and have a look at them, including that issue you've just talked about. 

JOURNALIST: If you look at a deferral, what sort of timeframe are we looking at here? Like how long will the Government consider bailing out an industry? 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: We'll have to look at ‑ if we were to do it, we would have to look at the timeframe, or whether or not it has some sort of price mechanism built into it. Again these are things I can't answer now, so things we'll have to have analyse [indistinct]. 

JOURNALIST: Thanks. 

JOURNALIST: Minister ‑ 

JOURNALIST: Sorry. Two seconds. 

MINISTER DAVID MICHAEL: I normally have to stand all the way back, otherwise you get my [indistinct]. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, the elephant in the room is obviously Indonesia. Was that discussed today? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Oh, a hundred per cent, of course, and I think we are in some pretty different territory, and there's been a significant change in the nickel market because of Indonesia's export bans introduced in 2020. That's, you know, only just a full three years ago, in that intervening period that export ban has brought on many billions of dollars of investment, principally from China, into the Indonesian nickel industry. 

So that has produced a lot of nickel, and then that's sort of causing a glut in the market, so we have Australian miners and producers that are playing on a different playing field to Indonesia. We have a nickel industry that's been around for over 50 years, there's a nickel refinery in my electorate in Kwinana and Rockingham.  

So we want this will industry to continue to thrive, as Minister Michael said, it often goes through cyclical pricing issues, but this is a new issue where Indonesia has, you know, created an industry out of virtually nothing. 

JOURNALIST: So how do you think Indonesia would react to industry's calls here for, you know, the application of better workplaces and, you know, in a country, from that country where they don't seem to care too much about worker safety or the environment? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, well, I might add, no one in this meeting called for Indonesia to change its practices. We would all like every country to have better standards around worker safety. I mean there have been significant accidents in mining operations right around the world that fortunately we don't see in Australia because we have very high worker safety standards and high governance standards. 

So I wouldn't want anyone to go with the impression that the Western Australian nickel producers have asked for us to ask someone else to change the law. 

What we want to see though is a recognition of the differentiation between how we produce our nickel. We produce it with high environmental standards, we produce with it high governance standards, we produce it ethically and responsibly, and sustainably. 

JOURNALIST: But who's going to want to buy it if they can buy it from Indonesia a lot cheaper? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: This is the eternal question. When you do have these kind of markets, ultimately to have a differential price, you've got to want someone to pay for it; I do accept that. 

What I think we need to understand more, and for more of us to understand more about, is what goes into the products we buy, so the nickel influx is driven by the huge growth in popularity of electric vehicles which are really important to decarbonise the global economy, but equally, you know, some of these large batteries in these EVs are produced from minerals that themselves are produced under lower standards, you know, not so sustainable, and that have, you know, cause some environmental damage. 

So some of this is an education program about knowing what you're buying. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, would you like to see an ESG badge on electric vehicles? I know that's an idea that's been floated by some nickel producers, like a, you know, a one‑star rating for, maybe if you've got dirty nickel from Indonesia, or a five‑star rating for ‑ 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: What I can say is I never have been asked to introduce any more red tape, so I'll classify that as a bit more red tape around a production or a consumable thing, so I don't want to make any commitments around labelling anything, quite frankly, but I do think knowing what you're buying is important. So I can see why people would want to do that, but I do think it could get us in a complicated world when there is no global standards around this kind of thing, and the thing I want to concentrate in this international fora is how we can have standards of ESG that most consuming countries in the world, you know, agree to, you know, apply. That's a big project, I don't want to diminish how hard that is. 

JOURNALIST: A few questions about the production tax credit. 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yes. 

JOURNALIST: Would you ‑ you said you'd accelerate talks with Treasury. Is it conceivable that will be announced in the upcoming budget, and is it a 10 per cent production tax credit that's been talked about, and have you done any costings on what moneys would be involved? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, sure. We have been talking to Treasury about this for ‑ around critical minerals for a little while, and it takes a bit of time, and like the WA State Government, we need to do modelling, because you always need to be very certain of your impact on the budget, so there were Treasury officials in the room today, beaming in from Canberra, which is important for them to hear from the local nickel industry. 

I simply can't make any commitments on the level of that tax credit, or even indeed if we do it, but what I do want to assure those producers and anyone that's interested in this topic is that we are pursuing this, because we understand it is an incentivising way of making sure we go into downstream processing. 

JOURNALIST: You're seeing mines close already. Did you get a sense from the producers there today how urgent this was to act, and you know, given the mine closures, and more coming? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, we absolutely, they've made very clear to us how urgent it is, and I don't ‑ we know how urgent it is, David and I both know how urgent this is, and that's why we called together this round table in a matter of days, because we know this is a significant issue facing our long‑term industry in terms of nickel in this State and we want to make sure we, rather than us as government ministers go off and do what we think's best, is consult with industry first, so we can get, you know, the real on‑the‑ground feedback from industry, but also the union representatives that were here today and what they think can help best preserve ‑ not only preserve this industry, but make it even more prosperous into the future. 

SPEAKER: Guys, just conscious the boss has got to go into another round table in a minute. Were there any other questions? 

JOURNALIST: As the only West Australian in Cabinet you obviously bring a different perspective to that table, did you require any convincing on the Stage 3 tax cuts? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: No, I did not. We have changed our position, you know, we need to be really honest about that, but we've changed our position for the right reasons. There is no scrimping on the tax cuts that will go to Australians in this package. 

The same amount of money will be allocated for those tax cuts, but it will go to more people, and I think that's what is important for every Australian worker to remember, that more of them and more of their colleagues, more of their family will benefit from a tax cut under this package, which is motivated by easing the cost‑of‑living pressures for more Australians. 

JOURNALIST: Do you accept a greater proportion of the higher‑income earners that will be worse off as a result of this change live in WA, and what's your message to those people? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, if we talk about resources at the moment ‑ I'm the Resources Minister for the Commonwealth ‑ so the average wage of a resources worker is about 130,000, and that is average, 'cause I know there's higher and lower, but if we take the average as a good measure, workers on that average resources sector wage will get a larger tax cut under this package. 

So I am pleased with that, and I am pleased that most of the resources workers around the country, and by that I mean the ones on the ground, you know, that do the swings, that go away from their families, will get a tax cut, and most of them will get a bigger tax cut. 

JOURNALIST: Do you expect a backlash against Federal Labor in Western Australia as a result of these changes? 

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I don't expect any backlash because I know Western Australians are fair, they understand the cost‑of‑living pressures we're under, we are not different from the rest of the country in what we've experienced with interest rate rises and pressures on household incomes. So this is returning more of people's tax dollars to more people, and I think that's really what's ‑ the best thing about this is that more people get a tax break. 

SPEAKER: All right. Thanks a lot guys. 

JOURNALIST: Thank you very much.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Thank you all.

ENDS