❓ Mr. Love questions the Premier on the adequacy of current support for the struggling nickel industry, particularly in light of the Prime Minister's visit and promises. The Premier responds by outlining the state government's royalty relief program and welcoming the federal government's inclusion of nickel on the critical minerals list.
AnsweredQoN 52Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NICKEL INDUSTRY
52. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
Before I begin, on behalf of the
opposition, I offer our condolences to the family of the two seven-year-old
girls who passed away following a road accident at Carrabin recently. Our
thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this tragedy.
I refer to ongoing visitor Prime
Minister Albanese, who has so far failed to address the potential collapse of
the nickel industry, with no announcement of
material support for the industry beyond its addition to the critical minerals list, despite his claim upon arrival into Western Australia that he is quite
confident that he can save the industry. Is the addition of nickel to the
critical minerals list enough to save 10 000 Western Australian jobs?
52. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
Before I begin, on behalf of the
opposition, I offer our condolences to the family of the two seven-year-old
girls who passed away following a road accident at Carrabin recently. Our
thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this tragedy.
I refer to ongoing visitor Prime
Minister Albanese, who has so far failed to address the potential collapse of
the nickel industry, with no announcement of
material support for the industry beyond its addition to the critical minerals list, despite his claim upon arrival into Western Australia that he is quite
confident that he can save the industry. Is the addition of nickel to the
critical minerals list enough to save 10 000 Western Australian jobs?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member very much for the
question. It provides me an opportunity to talk about the important work that the Cook and Albanese governments are doing
together to continue to make sure that we nurture and grow our critical minerals industries. Obviously, at the
moment, the nickel industry is being challenged by a global disruption to markets, which is impacting in a number of ways. Firstly, we are seeing a depressed
price for nickel, primarily as a result of large quantities of nickel product
coming onto the market. The media in various quarters has observed that that is
largely because of work that the Indonesian nickel industry is undertaking.
Secondly, we are struggling with some of the operational costs of our nickel
mines, which goes to the question of not only the nature of the resource and
the way it is mined, but also the overall escalation in operational costs
across the industry. That is why my government moved decisively to ensure that
we provide relief for nickel miners to ensure that they can get the support
they need at the time of this particular disruption. Our government is offering
royalty relief to WA's critical nickel industry to support thousands of
local jobs, as well as the state's vision of becoming a global battery
minerals processing hub. Local nickel producers are being offered a 50 per cent
royalty rebate starting from the March quarter of 2024. It will be available
over an initial 18-month period through a new nickel financial assistance
program. The rebate will be provided when the average price of nickel in
concentrate is below $US20 000 a tonne for
any given quarter. We have taken this important and decisive action to make
sure that we can support the industry at this time.
The question might be: why are we
taking these measures? It is because these are the measures that the industry
requested of us. My government will always work closely with industries to
ensure that we put in place the policy settings that they need to continue to
succeed.
We welcome the federal government's
decision to place nickel on the critical minerals list, which will allow that
industry to access many billions of dollars of additional assistance through
the schemes that the federal government has
in play. We will obviously continue to work with the industry, industry
representatives and the federal government on any other ways that we can
continue to support the nickel industry.
question. It provides me an opportunity to talk about the important work that the Cook and Albanese governments are doing
together to continue to make sure that we nurture and grow our critical minerals industries. Obviously, at the
moment, the nickel industry is being challenged by a global disruption to markets, which is impacting in a number of ways. Firstly, we are seeing a depressed
price for nickel, primarily as a result of large quantities of nickel product
coming onto the market. The media in various quarters has observed that that is
largely because of work that the Indonesian nickel industry is undertaking.
Secondly, we are struggling with some of the operational costs of our nickel
mines, which goes to the question of not only the nature of the resource and
the way it is mined, but also the overall escalation in operational costs
across the industry. That is why my government moved decisively to ensure that
we provide relief for nickel miners to ensure that they can get the support
they need at the time of this particular disruption. Our government is offering
royalty relief to WA's critical nickel industry to support thousands of
local jobs, as well as the state's vision of becoming a global battery
minerals processing hub. Local nickel producers are being offered a 50 per cent
royalty rebate starting from the March quarter of 2024. It will be available
over an initial 18-month period through a new nickel financial assistance
program. The rebate will be provided when the average price of nickel in
concentrate is below $US20 000 a tonne for
any given quarter. We have taken this important and decisive action to make
sure that we can support the industry at this time.
The question might be: why are we
taking these measures? It is because these are the measures that the industry
requested of us. My government will always work closely with industries to
ensure that we put in place the policy settings that they need to continue to
succeed.
We welcome the federal government's
decision to place nickel on the critical minerals list, which will allow that
industry to access many billions of dollars of additional assistance through
the schemes that the federal government has
in play. We will obviously continue to work with the industry, industry
representatives and the federal government on any other ways that we can
continue to support the nickel industry.
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