After watching Australia’s nickel crisis unfold in January this year, thanks to the Government’s lack of direction in the critical minerals sector, Australia’s copper industry is now under threat.

Senator Susan McDonald, Shadow Minister for Resources, repeated earlier warnings that the Labor Government has been sitting on their hands expecting critical minerals  investors to rush to Australia – which is not the reality of the situation.

Senator McDonald said that “thanks to an expansion of international smelters, copper processing prices have plummeted to lows not seen since the global financial crisis, and international jurisdictions are scrambling to secure supply chains for the mineral.

“I have repeatedly called on the Government to include copper, and many other minerals on the critical minerals list in order to secure international supply chains with partner nations.

“We saw in January the impacts of the Government’s delays, with Australia’s nickel industry suffering major setbacks and the potential for hundreds of Australia workers to lose their jobs.

“If the same situation unfolded for copper, it could be devastating for the future of our critical minerals sector.

“Thanks to Albanese’s anti-business agenda, the resources sector is struggling, despite continuing to prop up Labor’s big-spending budgets.

“Industrial relations laws, skyrocketing input costs following government interventions,  and complicated, burdensome regulatory requirements are stifling investment, yet Labor continues to ignore industry whilst naively assuming that investors will continue to pour money into Australian projects.

“Our minerals will not mine themselves, and it is time for Labor to take real action to support the resources sector, and recognise that critical minerals are not simply inputs for renewables, but are vital for a broad range of uses.”