The Courier Mail Article: Green way to show our metal

The federal government this week announced a $2 billion investment in Australian-made aluminium over the next decade. It means smelters like Boyne in Gladstone – which is an anchor industrial firm in Central Queensland which directly and indirectly creates thousands of good regional jobs – will be eligible for support for every tonne of aluminium they make as they shift to using reliable, renewable electricity.

This Green Aluminium Production Credit means that Australian aluminium smelters will have the confidence to invest, keeping our smelters open for decades to come and securing for Queensland thousands of well-paid
blue-collar jobs.

We have everything we need in Australia for a world-class aluminium industry. Australia’s entire aluminium supply chain is uniquely located on shore – from bauxite mining to finished products, all produced from generations of Aussie know-how. And with an abundance of cheap and reliable renewable energy and the most highly skilled workers in the world, this is our chance to strengthen our aluminium industry – to make sure that it stays here onshore.

Our Future Made in Australia agenda is already encouraging investment in renewable energy and local industries. Rio Tinto signed Australia’s largest ever renewable power purchase agreement to support the Boyne aluminium smelter. This is a stark contrast with 2023, when soaring coal-fired electricity prices saw
Rio Tinto write the value of the Boyne smelter down to zero.

Now, Rio Tinto will power Boyne by becoming the largest industrial buyer of renewable electricity in Australia – because they back our plan to secure a future for Australian aluminium.

The aluminium industry is the nation’s largest industrial user of electricity. The Boyne smelter alone uses 10 per cent of all electricity in Queensland. As we continue to re-industrialise our regional economies and rebuild manufacturing, Australia will need more energy – not less.

Backing low and no-emissions aluminium is an opportunity for Australia. But it’s much more than that. This is about delivering for local manufacturing and local jobs in world-class industries – it is strengthening regional economies and making our nation more resilient in a tougher region and world.

We’re getting on with the biggest ever pro-manufacturing package of incentives so that good local jobs stay in communities like Central Queensland.

Tim Ayres is the Federal Labor Government's Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia.