MCA backs national resources plan
- 11 April 2025
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable has strongly backed a “Plan for a Strong Resources Industry” put forward by the federal Coalition in the lead up to the country’s national election on May 3.
Constable said the Coalition’s proposal to include uranium on an expanded list of critical minerals was among positive steps to “unlock new mining opportunities and harness Australia’s critical minerals potential”.
“Australia supplies 10% of the uranium fuelling the United States’ 94 nuclear reactors and holds the world’s largest uranium reserves, enough to meet US demand for over 60 years,” she said.
“As the US ramps up its energy needs Australia is well placed to ensure secure, long-term supply.”
Constable said along with the Coalition’s Future Generations Fund and Regional Australia Future Fund proposals, its resources sector plan recognised “the critical role of mining and agriculture in Australia and the opportunity to leverage Australia’s incredible advantage in a rapidly changing world”.
“With A$74.6 billion in taxes and royalties last year, mining is the reason Australia can increase funding to hospitals, schools, aged care and defence,” she said. “Mining continues to do the heavy lifting, paying more tax than all other industries combined. This contribution was again reaffirmed in the recent Federal Budget, which revealed a $4.5 billion increase in forecast company tax from the mining sector since [the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook].
“If governments want to invest in Australia’s future they should start by backing the industry that is paying their bills today.”
The MCA has supported federal opposition announcements to reinstate the national Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive, scrapped by the incumbent federal government in this year’s budget, and retain the Fuel Tax Credits scheme.
In Western Australia recently to address the WA Mining Club, Constable lamented the industry’s standing generally in Canberra. She congratulated the Cook Labor Government in WA for its recent re-election and for “standing up for mining when others have taken us for granted”.
“While commodity prices rise and fall, while economic uncertainty only increases, while government intervention continues to constrain us rather than enable us [and] while nations actively wage war on our competitiveness, there is one truth that remains constant,” Constable said.
“The world continues to have an insatiable appetite for Australia’s bulk commodities, our mineral wealth, our sources of energy, our mining expertise and our ingenuity.
“We’ve got it, in spades. Come and get it.
“But while we see opportunity, we must confront the challenges that stand in the path to realising them. We must be honest about the hurdles we need to overcome. And we must call out any attempt to sabotage our industry, either through ignorance of how we operate, by tired ideology or by those who plot our demise, including the activists who sought to kill off the McPhillamy’s gold project in Blayney, New South Wales.
“To harden our resolve it is important to imagine what the future looks like if we get it right, but conversely, what it looks like if we are held back. What will Australian mining look like in 20 years if current trends and policy settings remain unchanged? What will Western Australia look like in 20 years?
“How do we navigate this tenuous moment to ensure our industry not only survives but thrives into the future? That it continues to make a lasting contribution to the prosperity of all Australians. That it continues to underpin our government services and community needs.”
Constable said the industry’s past success was “no guarantee of the future”.
She said new projects were not coming online fast enough – in the country’s huge Pilbara-centric iron ore sector and elsewhere – and “costs are soaring”.
“In three years we have watched the competitiveness of the Australian minerals sector be systematically whittled down. Poor policy compounded by poor policy. Costs mounted upon costs. A gift to our global competitors.
“That is not a political statement. Governments of all persuasions have been advocates for our industry.
“But there is no doubt this Federal Government has taken a particular bent against our industry. There are platitudes, yes. There are promises, certainly. But actions speak volumes.
“Our industry has been battered by narrow policies that have compounded high energy prices, by reckless industrial relations policies that damage productivity, by the pursuit of a rigid environmental approvals regime that chased away investment [and] by uncompetitive tax settings and the threat of higher taxes.
“Investors aren’t deterred by a lack of tax breaks in Australia – they’re holding back because the policy settings are wrong, the business conditions are poor, productivity is dire, and the investment risks are building.
“The treasurer wants business led productivity growth and so he needs to lead the removal of all the roadblocks in the way.”
