SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
JIM CHALMERS MP
TREASURER
ANNE ALY MP
MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
MINISTER FOR YOUTH
MEMBER FOR COWAN
VARUN GHOSH
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
PERTH
FRIDAY, 4 APRIL 2025
SUBJECTS: WA economy; Critical minerals; Vanadium; Tariffs; Superannuation: Cyber incident.
ANNE ALY, MINISTER FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Welcome to Wangara in the beautiful electorate of Cowan.
Thank you to Graham and the team for showing us around here today at Australian vanadium, where we've all learned a little bit about how this critical mineral can provide a long-term solution for battery storage here in Australia, and a long-term solution that has a few key characteristics, if I might add.
One of them is that these batteries can last 50 years, and importantly, the second one is that it's up to at least 70% Australian content. This is the kind of Australian technology, Australian innovation that the Australian Labor Party, both at the state and federal level wants to back in.
We want to see a Future Made in Australia, and organisations right here in Wangara, like Australian Vanadium Limited, really provide for us the solution that we're looking for renewable energy, long-term energy, reliable energy, and reliable battery storage as well.
I'm going to hand over to Senator Varun Ghosh, and he's going to say a few words as well. Over to you, Varun,
VARUN GHOSH, SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Minister.
It's wonderful to have the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance here today, as well as Minister Aly, my WA colleague.
Australian Vanadium is a great example of maximising the value of Australian resources for people in Australia. That is to say, we're using WA resources, but we're also bringing onshore, or this company has onshore major aspects of the supply chain, and that's not only good for jobs in Australia, it's good for our economy. And when it comes to critical minerals, that's good for Australia's strategic future as well. And this government has been entirely committed to trying to bring larger parts of the resource supply and value chain onshore, and that's particularly the case in critical minerals through a Future Made in Australia and the production tax credits, among other things that support Australian companies doing more onshore.
I'm going to hand over now to the Treasurer, Chalmers.
JIM CHALMERS, TREASURER: Thanks, Varun, thanks Graham and your team for hosting us here with some of my favorite people, Varun, Anne and Katy.
This is what a Future Made in Australia looks like. This is what it means to broaden and deepen our industrial base in the face of global economic uncertainty, we take great heart –
[INTERRUPTION]
CHALMERS: Places like this give us great faith, and we draw great inspiration from what's happening here, because this is what brings it all together, cleaner and cheaper energy, our industrial base, our attractiveness as an investment destination, and also our vast national and natural advantages when it comes to critical minerals.
The Albanese Government is a very enthusiastic supporter of the critical minerals sector. We've got the Critical Minerals Facility, and also, of course, the production tax credit for critical minerals as well.
We are very enthusiastic about the absolute magic which is happening here and in places like it, right around WA and right around Australia.
What we saw yesterday out of Washington DC will cast a dark shadow over the global economy, but in circumstances like these, we know that WA will be the hope of the side.
WA will be the best defence that we have against all of this global economic uncertainty. We count on the WA economy all year round, every year, but especially when we're seeing the sorts of volatility and uncertainty that we're seeing around the world now.
Those announcements out of Washington DC yesterday were not surprising, but they were seismic. We're seeing the big drop in stock markets in the US and elsewhere. We're seeing the spike in the gold price. We're seeing the oil price falling, and also we're seeing expectations of an interest rate cut here in Australia change dramatically as well, and that gives us a sense of the seismic nature of the announcements made out of Washington DC.
I have great faith and great confidence that Australian workers and industries and exporters can do better than just weather and withstand this global uncertainty, we can make the best of a bad situation together, whether it's critical minerals here, whether it's other industries central to the industrial base of WA, our workers, our exporters, our industries right around Australia are not uniquely impacted by these tariffs, but they are uniquely placed. We are well prepared to deal with this global economic uncertainty coming at us from around the world.
This election is about the progress that we've made together. It's about our plan from here, and it's also about the contrast between the two major parties in this election, and there are some very fundamental choices for the people of WA and the people of Australia to make.
First of all, when it goes to the production tax credits that this government has legislated, Peter Dutton and the Coalition have said that they will unwind the production tax credits which are so important to supporting the critical minerals industry here in WA.
They've also said that at a time when Labor under Anthony Albanese will give every single WA worker, every single WA taxpayer, an income tax cut, Peter Dutton and the Coalition will increase income taxes for every single WA taxpayer.
There are some important choices, some big stark contrasts between the major parties in this election. In WA under Labor, production tax credits for critical minerals, income tax cuts for every taxpayer. Under Peter Dutton and the Coalition, he'll get rid of those production tax credits, and he will increase taxes for every Western Australian taxpayer.
We are also extending today the Instant Asset Write-Off for small business. This is about supporting the small businesses which are so critical to our national economic success. Under the life of this government, there have been 25,000 new businesses created each month on average, which is a record for new business creation that's happened on this Albanese Labor Government's watch.
Today, we extend the Instant Asset Write-Off to support small business so that they can invest in the kit that they need to continue to provide the opportunities for people, the jobs and opportunities and the prosperity here and right around Australia as well.
It beggars belief that when we last tried to extend the Instant Asset Write-Off, Peter Dutton and the Coalition in the Senate delayed that for eight or nine months.
We're announcing today that we'll extend the Instant Asset Write-off. When you think about all of that together, when it comes to tax and WA, cut taxes for every taxpayer, extend the Instant Asset Write-Off for the small businesses here, and also roll out these production tax credits, which are all about supporting critical minerals and the vast industrial and economic opportunities that places like this will provide now and into the future as well.
Katy Gallagher, and then Katy is going to take every one of the questions.
KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks very much, Jim, and it's great to be here with my colleagues, and thank you to Australian Vanadium for having us here, really very generous of you, and so impressive to see what you're doing and the opportunities that present, particularly with our Future Made in Australia policy and all of the amazing effort work that's going on over here in WA so it's really great to have had that opportunity this morning.
For me as finance minister and the Treasurer, what we've been doing is trying to repair the budget, to make sure we've got room in the budget to invest and to make sure that we're positioned well to seize the opportunities that come from the renewable energy transition.
And standing in this business today shows us exactly why that's so important. Now I've heard this morning, Peter Dutton over on the east coast saying that that, the Coalition are the ones that always have to repair the budget.
Well, it seems like Peter Dutton may have a very serious case of amnesia when it looks back to the government that he was a member of. There were nine deficits when we came to office, and we've taken all of the hard decisions and done the hard work to repair that.
We turned two significant, massive liberal deficits into two labor surpluses. We've paid down debt. We've seen the biggest nominal turn around improvement in a budget in the first term ever, over $200 billion. We found $95 billion in savings. We've paid down $177 billion in debt, which means that we're paying about $60 billion less debt, which means we have room to make sure we can make investments in a Future Made in Australia, and in ensuring that we are supporting Australian businesses with things like the Instant Asset Write-Off.
So I would say to Peter Dutton, if a measure of future performance is his past performance, it's very clear that the budget that he was the senior minister in the government of was in all sorts of bother.
We had to clean up the waste, the rorts, pay down the debt, get it in much better shape, halve the deficits going forward. And that's what you'll see more of under an Albanese Government, more hard work on the budget to make sure it's there to support Australian families and Australian businesses with cost-of-living help, but also with our eye on the future, about what the opportunities are, and the role that government can play in that, in supporting industry.
CHALMERS: Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Treasurer [inaudible] welcome to WA. Is Donald Trump still a friend of Australia? Or was he ever a friend of Australia?
CHALMERS: Well, we see this in terms of the relationship between two countries. And this relationship between the US and Australia is a relationship of mutual economic benefit. And that's why it is so disappointing to see the decisions taken and announced out of D.C. yesterday. As the Prime Minister said, these are not the actions of a friend. This is not how friends and allies treat each other. So we consider the announcements made by President Trump to be deeply disappointing, but also self-defeating. Really what we're talking about here is President Trump imposing higher prices on the American people with big implications for the global economy. And if you think about what that means for Australia, there are really three ways that that impacts Australia. First of all, in a direct sense, the tariffs on our exporters. Secondly, the relative impact on us in comparison with our trading partners. But thirdly, we expect the implications for the global economy to be very substantial and very significant. And we see that in the way that markets have gone berserk since the announcement was made. We see that in the speculation amongst economists around the world about the prospects of a global recession or a deep global downturn. We won't be immune from a downturn in the global economy, but we are substantially better placed and better prepared than most countries. Our exports to the US represent a little less than 5 per cent of our export offering. We will put even more effort into making our economy more resilient, our markets more diverse and more reliable, and we will continue to engage in the US and around the world to make sure that we make the best of this bad situation. And once again, I'm realistic about the implications of these tariffs on the global economy but I'm optimistic about Australia's ability not just to withstand and weather this storm, but to make the best of a bad situation. And when I spend time with Graham and people investing and creating jobs and opportunities right around Australia, it gives me more faith and more confidence that together we can build on the progress we've made over the last three years and we can withstand this global economic uncertainty.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
CHALMERS: There's no question that a decision of this magnitude out of D.C. will make countries in our region reconsider their supply chains and their trading relationships. Obviously, the implications here don't stop at the economics. There's obviously a whole bunch of geostrategic considerations that countries will make. For our part, and here I pay tribute to Penny Wong and Don Farrell and the Prime Minister, we have a very good record of engaging in our region and with the world in the interest of the Australian people, Australian exporters and employers and Australian workers. And we will continue to do that. As I keep saying, we can make the best of this bad situation because of the work that we've done to here and the plans that we have from here. We will make our economy more resilient. We will make our export markets more reliable and more diverse, and we will continue to engage in our region and beyond to make sure that the wonderful Australian exporters here in WA and around Australia, creating jobs and opportunities for Australian workers, that we can continue to sell to the world in a way that benefits us and our national economic interests. We'll go here and then we'll come back to. Actually, you might have been waiting. We'll go to you and then you. Then, Joe.
JOURNALIST: Stockpiling critical minerals [inaudible]
CHALMERS: We have flagged a proposal to build a strategic reserve for critical minerals. You'll see around the world when it comes to valuable commodities like critical minerals, that strategic reserves are used from time to time, and we will focus on creating one here in Australia. We'll have more to say about that in the next couple of weeks. We're consulting, as you would expect us to do, with the various stakeholders. I've had discussions with a number of business leaders about this proposal, but the Prime Minister has made it very clear that a strategic reserve for critical minerals is in our national economic interest. It's a key part of how we respond to all of this global economic uncertainty and these escalating trade tensions. And he will have more to say about that in the coming weeks.
JOURNALIST: How can the minerals be a lever for negotiations with the Trump Administration? And can I ask to get you to address the protesters, she was in hi vis, we’re not outdoors anywhere, we’re in a shed. How did she get there? Is that concerning?
CHALMERS: First of all, I'm completely untroubled by it, and I really mean that. You would prefer that press conferences weren't interrupted, but you also want to live in a country where people have got a view and they can express a view. I don't think anybody felt unsafe. I don't speak for everyone, but I'm pretty relaxed about it. On the substance of what she raised, first of all, we're cutting student debt. Second of all, we've reformed the PRRT so that Australians are getting a bigger return on offshore gas. And so on the substance of what she raised this Albanese Labor government is taking action on both fronts, getting student debt down and getting the tax take on the PRRT up on the substance of what she raised.
Now when it comes to critical minerals, we've got an extraordinary story to tell the world and we've seen that here today. Australia, as Ambassador Rudd and others have said, we represent most of the periodic table when it comes to the critical minerals that the world needs in order to build the future economy. And that's one of the reasons why we're well placed to deal with this global economic uncertainty.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
CHALMERS: We've been in discussions with our American counterparts for a little while now about critical minerals. I personally discussed them at some length with my counterpart, Secretary Bessent, and also Director Hassett, when I was in Washington, D.C. not that long ago. This is an important part of what Australia offers the world. It's an important part of our discussions with the US and with other trading partners as well. And here I invite you to look at this contrast once again. We'll continue to engage in the U.S., the critical minerals offering that Australia has is part of the story. What Peter Dutton said yesterday when he lost his bundle a little bit, is that he said that he'd be prepared to trade away parts of our defence relationship when it comes to the US. And I think that goes to a temperamental issue that Peter Dutton has when the pressure is on. He kind of drops his bundle. That would be an extraordinary thing to be prepared to trade away Australia's defence interests in this discussion that we're having with the Americans, we take a very different approach.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
CHALMERS: We're talking about providing or satisfying the world's needs for critical minerals. The strategic reserve is one part of the story. The discussions we're having with the US is another part of the story. But really what we're talking about is selling critical minerals in global markets. Creating jobs and opportunities here in Perth and around Australia. That's part of the discussions we're having with the US. And that's a very different discussion to what Peter Dutton is proposing. We will continue to engage with the Americans on critical minerals, on a whole range of issues but we won't be trading away our defence interests like Peter Dutton wants us to do. We won't be compromising the PBS, we won't be compromising our biosecurity arrangements. There are some things which are non-negotiable. I'll just go here and then I'll come to you. And then. Joe, I did say I'd go back to Joe. I might finish on you, Joe. Three more.
JOURNALIST: Considering the U.S. tariffs and over the last 16 months, we've increased our exports and investments into Israel. I'm just wondering if the current political climate might see us divesting from genocide and apartheid in the next foreseeable future, especially considering we are heading to an escalated global conflict with Iran?
CHALMERS: Well, first of all, I think we've commented at some length about the conflict in Gaza. And we've made it clear that we want an enduring ceasefire there. We want humanitarian access, and we've made our position very clear on that. That has not been a central focus of the work that we've been doing when it comes to trade closer to home in our region and these tariff announcements out of the US. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
CHALMERS: We support the good work of the regulators. And where there are issues that arise, we try not to engage in a running commentary about them. Our regulators are robust and when these issues arise they should be dealt with and that's what we're seeing here. We'll go to you and then we'll go to Joe and finish.
JOURNALIST: A number of Australian superannuation funds have been subject to cyber attacks, what's your reaction?
CHALMERS: I'm aware of that and the Cyber Security Centre is all over that, working closely with the members of the Council of Financial Regulators as well. These are very concerning developments. We encourage people to show even more diligence when it comes to their superannuation accounts online. But the relevant authorities are working closely with the companies which are affected to make sure that we get to the bottom of what's happened here. I am aware of it, and I have been continuously briefed on it. Last question, Joe.
JOURNALIST: I just want to just follow up on Hamish, because I don't think I fully understand it. So with the critical minerals stockpile, are you saying that that would be sold to the world and as part of that, we could use it as some bargaining chip with the US, some deal could be made on that stockpile to maybe get rid of the tariff. Can you just explain that to us?
CHALMERS: First of all, the point that I'm making is that critical minerals is a big part of the advantage that we have in our trading relationships and in the discussions, ongoing discussions that we're having with the US. The strategic reserve is making sure that we have leverage in the world when it comes to the supply of critical minerals. We've seen the way that these markets have been manipulated in recent times. And so a strategic reserve is partly a hedge against that manipulation, but also makes sure that we are making the most in every sense from this gift that we have, which is substantial critical minerals deposits. Now, our primary focus when it comes to critical minerals is value adding, like we're seeing here. Creating the batteries which will power the future of our economy. That's our primary focus, but it is also a matter of conversation and engagement with the US in the context of these tariffs which have been levied unnecessarily, unwisely on Australia. And the strategic reserve is making sure that we wring every bit of advantage that we can out of these critical minerals reserves that we have. Thanks very much.
ENDS
