copyright linkAussie resources ‘under assault’ from China: US...

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Aussie resources ‘under assault’ from China: US ambassador

3-4 minutes

“One of the key observations she made is that at this point in time, people are still not paying a premium for the strong environmental, social and governance arrangements that we have,” Mr Cook said.

“As a result of that, we are being undermined in terms of price by other jurisdictions.

“It’s true, we are under pressure from a price point of view by countries who are managing to exploit their resources at a much lower price level, and that has to do with a significant amount of overseas investment from the Chinese government.”

Downturn in nickel prices

Australian nickel miners have been hit hard by depressed prices as Chinese-backed miners throughout Indonesia have flooded the market with cheaper products.

The downturn in nickel prices has led to hundreds of job cuts throughout WA, prompting the state and federal governments to commit to assistance packages, while billionaire Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has railed against an “unfair playing field” created by the Chinese and Indonesian projects.

Ms Kennedy said the US was mobilising a whole-of-government approach to secure critical minerals supply chains from trusted suppliers with high environmental, social and governance standards.

“We can’t let them destroy vulnerable communities and the markets for Australian minerals under the guise of economic development,” she said.

“It’s true that democratic governments often move more slowly than we would like, so it is up to the experts in this room and the private sector in both countries to drive change.”

Asked about Ms Kennedy’s comments on Wednesday, Defence Minister Richard Marles did not explicitly echo her attack but said the resilience of supply chains and the industrial base was critical to national security.

“These companies are fundamentally important for Australia’s future,” he said.

“The resilience of our resources sector, our participation in critical minerals and rare earths is absolutely central to the role I think we can play more globally but it is absolutely central to our prosperity [and] also our national resilience and therefore our security and we are very mindful of them.”

Economic counsellor at the US embassy Michael Sullivan said battery manufacturing companies like Tesla should focus on developing sustainable supply chains and marketing the difference between themselves and other multinationals.

“When you look at the average Tesla owner, they tend to be someone who values really strong environmental protections and I would think Tesla could do marketing basically by saying ‘we know where the critical minerals in our supply chain are going versus other car manufacturers’,” he said.

Mr Sullivan said the US and Australia were already considering establishing a global critical minerals standard, or seal of approval, that certified a product had used minerals with a high ESG standard.

Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson said ESG standards needed to be recognised on international stock exchanges.

“Our battery minerals markets have been impacted by production from other jurisdictions without the same regulation and standards. This is an issue not just for WA to tackle,” she said.