CRITICAL MINERALS UPDATE TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, AS LABOR CONTINUES TO SQUANDER AUSTRALIA’S POTENTIAL
Shadow Resources Minister, Senator Susan McDonald, has warned the Government that despite their update to the Critical Minerals and Strategic Materials Lists, Australia risks losing investment in critical minerals due to Labor’s lethargy.
“The Coalition has led the charge in the critical minerals sector, delivering Australia’s first Critical Minerals List, and we called on the Government to update the list six months ago,” Senator McDonald said.
“It is refreshing to see that the Government has taken some of the Coalition’s advice, and included copper, nickel, aluminium and zinc in the List, however their habit of sluggish reform is worrying.
“It appears Labor is only capable of rushing through new laws when it relates to handing more power to the unions or price fixing commodity markets.
“Labor has wasted over 18 months of sitting on the government benches but forgetting how to actually govern for Australians.”
Senator McDonald highlighted that in the Government’s mid-year economic update, Labor’s only new announcement was money for yet another review, this time into critical minerals infrastructure.
“It is worrying that the Government’s only new initiative is yet another review, despite the real risk we are facing of losing investment in critical minerals to more competitive regions,” Senator McDonald continued.
“Australia is already losing investors under this Labor Government as companies are scared off by their slow approvals processes and burdensome red tape.
“Investors make multi-billion, multi-decade investment decisions, and a regime that appears content to conduct review after review, without initiative or unqualified support for the resources sector is not an appealing one to company executives.
“If we miss the window to attract investment now, it will be too late once those investors are already committed for decades in other countries.
“This Government has not taken any real action to generate investment in Australia, all the while funding activist organisations who are attempting to cripple our resources sector.
“Australia has to keep itself competitive in the global minerals market, but burying their announcement six-months late on a Saturday a week before Christmas sends the wrong signals to the industry and investors.”
ENDS