I think the difference between the two examples you mention and Lithium is that lithium is an emerging market, at least on the scale required to feed demand for battery grade Li.
While the Opposition Leader gave a big hat-tip to the initiative in his very public Budget Reply speech last night, the policy has been around for quite a while:
The focus on value-adding downstream in the battery metal space is growing under its own steam without government encouragement. Several Lithium Hydroxide plants are currently being sized up for construction which will necessarily allow this country to benefit both in tax revenue and on companies' bottom lines. Isn't that a good thing?
A bigger question is why is this not being done already? Such a burgeoning industry should surely be in the crosshairs of every government in the country that is interested in potentially fostering a new industry? I can only assume that it isn't a priority for the current federal government as it cuts a little too close to the frontier of the energy policy battle being fought in Canberra.
Will this initiative under a future Labor Government come to anything? Possibly, possibly not. But it's just crazy not to be looking at it, the market growth potential is enormous.
Disclosure: I have positions in several Australian Lithium stocks
