MARY-KATE HANNAGAN, HOST: The Albanese Government has pledged $2 billion in production credits to support a new green aluminum sector in a new election pitch delivered on Monday. Aluminum smelters require significant volumes of energy, and if Labor retains government, the investment would see aluminium producers paid for every ton of green aluminium they make. The Wire's Eduardo Jordan spoke with Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia, Senator Tim Ayres, who says a greener aluminium industry will be able to support blue collar workers and grow exports across the globe.
TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE: This is all about making sure that the aluminium sector persists onshore. It employs tens of thousands of people around Australia, thousands of people in Central Queensland and the Hunter Valley, Portland in Victoria and in northern Tasmania at Bell Bay. This announcement, $2 billion in production credits, which means that for every kilogram of aluminium produced in here in Australia, there will be a production credit. As these industries are decarbonising their electricity processes, reducing their carbon footprint to sell to markets overseas, the Albanese Government is determined to make sure that they do that onshore here in Australia, to protect blue collar jobs in regional Australia and make sure that we've got this important industry for future generations.
HOST, EDUARDO JORDAN: So how important is the aluminium industry in Australia and why does the aluminium sector need this boost?
AYRES: If I can take that question in two parts, the first is that aluminium is a sector that we have here in Australia, right through the whole value chain. So we mine bauxite here in Australia, we process it all the way through to aluminium windows, the Tetra Paks, you know, all of the aluminium products, many of those are also made here in Australia. So we have the whole value chain, not just exporting raw mining product offshore. The Albanese Government's Future Made in Australia agenda is all about making sure that Australia is diversifying our economy, that we are processing onshore and adding value here and creating good jobs. So the first part of this is protecting an industry that already does this and making sure that it's competitive for the future. Right now, the aluminium sector is undergoing a giant transformation. Aluminium is the by-product of two big inputs, the raw bauxite and alumina, firstly, but secondly, electricity. It requires enormous volumes of electricity, it's an electricity intensive industry, and as they undergo their transformation to source clean power, zero emissions power, so that they can produce green aluminium for global markets, they require support to make sure that they remain competitive while they undergo the enormous investment.
HOST: You mentioned as well that the aluminium sector will help the electricity industry as well to reduce carbon emissions. The Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is proposing nuclear power to boost electricity. What's your thoughts on this overall project?
AYRES: The biggest threat to the future viability of the aluminium sector is Peter Dutton's risky nuclear plan. It's a big threat not just because the plan is too costly, it'll drive up the price of electricity, that it's too slow and won't deliver electricity until the 2040s and 2050s when the aluminium sector needs it now, but it also won't deliver enough electricity. What hasn't yet, I think, been appreciated, is that the costings document that he released just before Christmas, when he was hoping, I think, that Australians wouldn't be paying attention. At the core of that costings document is a set of assumptions that relies upon industrial electricity intensive manufacturing reducing in Australia, not increasing. In fact, what it sees is that for electricity intensive manufacturing, that that be reduced by half from 46 TWHs to 23 TWHs.
HOST: Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia, Senator Tim Ayres, there speaking with the Wire's Eduardo Jordan.
ENDS.
