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I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

I’m optimistic about Australia’s future, if we seize the opportunities ahead of us.

And nowhere offers greater cause for optimism or a stronger sense of opportunity than right here in Western Australia.

I launched Labor’s campaign for Government here in Perth almost three years ago.

And I’ve been back as Prime Minister more than 30 times, including to launch our campaign for re-election.

WA is central to Labor’s positive plan for Building Australia’s Future.

And WA is vital to Australia’s success in the world.

Throughout this campaign, we’ve all been reminded that this is a period of significant global uncertainty.

That is the reality our nation has had to manage for the past few years - not just the last few weeks.

Because the world has thrown a lot at Australia in recent times:

The worst global inflation since the 1980s.

The biggest international energy crisis since the 1970s.

Conflict overseas and natural disasters here at home.

All of this has had an impact on our economy and on people’s cost of living.

Our Government has chosen to deal with these global challenges, the Australian way.

Not stepping back and leaving people to go it alone – but by stepping up.

Helping Australians under pressure, while building for the future.

Cutting taxes for every taxpayer.

Delivering energy bill relief for every household and small business.

Boosting bulk-billing and cutting the cost of medicine.

Our cost of living support is designed to make a meaningful difference here and now while also delivering a long-term economic benefit.

Free TAFE has saved 600,000 students the cost of a course.

At the same time, training and re-training people for good jobs in sectors where our economy needs skilled workers.

Opening new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and boosting bulk-billing helps families get the care they need, when they need it.

And it takes pressure off our hospitals and health system as a whole.

Because if people have to put off seeing a doctor because they can’t afford it, that only leads to higher costs later on. 

Cheaper child care saves families thousands of dollars a year.

It gives parents the flexibility to work more and earn more - and it provides children with the opportunity of early education.

This is the deliberate and balanced approach we have taken, across the board.

And today because of Australians’ hard work, our economy is turning the corner.

Inflation is down.

Wages are up.

Unemployment is low.

And interest rates have started to fall.

There is more to do - that’s why we want to keep building and keep backing the hard work and aspiration of the Australian people.

A re-elected Labor Government will cut income taxes again and again, for all 14 million taxpayers.

Our top-up tax cuts will put an average of $2,500 back in people’s pockets.  

And we’ll simplify the tax system with a new $1000 Instant Tax Deduction.

So people earn more, keep more of what they earn and get more back at tax time.

And our Government will invest in intergenerational equity too.

Taking 20 per cent off student debt for 3 million Australians, an average saving of $5,500.

Helping young Australians to buy their first home with just a 5 per cent deposit.

And building more homes - for first home buyers and for all Australians – because boosting supply is the key.
 

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There are significant challenges we are determined to meet.

But when you look at everything that is happening in the world today, there is nowhere else you’d rather be than right here in Australia.

Not just because we are working together to put the worst behind us.

But because of the opportunities that are in front of us.

Take critical minerals.

Australia is home to some of the largest critical minerals deposits on earth, just about the whole periodic table.

These critical minerals, including light and heavy rare earths, are essential to high-tech manufacturing, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, data centres and clean energy technology. 

The International Energy Agency is forecasting global demand for critical minerals will double in the next five years and triple by 2040.

At a time when so much is unpredictable, this is one area where we know for sure which way the world is headed.

The terrain is all mapped out.  

Now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stake Australia’s claim.

To secure our country’s place in the international value chain.

To leverage our natural resources in our national interest.  

And to bring a new generation of jobs and investment to regional and remote communities.

That’s what our Government’s plan for a Future Made in Australia is all about.

Turning the resources that the world needs, into products the world wants.

Investing in the skills and technology and innovation and energy for refining and processing.

Making more things here.

And making our economy more resilient.

In all of this, WA jobs and skills, communities and businesses are front and centre.

That’s why, this time last year, I announced our generational investment in Geoscience Australia, right here.

Funding the discovery and exploration we need for the future.

And it is why we have legislated Production Tax Credits for Critical Minerals.

This is about Government acting as a catalyst for private sector investment, not seeking to replace it, or crowd it out.

These tax credits pay on success.

And they support investment, by bringing forward value and creating bankable return.

Working together with our Critical Minerals Facility, to get new projects in refining, mining, processing and manufacturing up and running.

Our plan for a Future Made in Australia was shaped by the lessons of the pandemic.

Addressing the vulnerability that came from our nation always being the last link in the global supply chain.  

And our plan was driven by the understanding that the global economic picture was changing rapidly – so we had to change with it.

With the European Union, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States all investing in their industrial base and prioritising their economic sovereignty...

…our Government acted to ensure that Australia could be more assertive and more strategic in securing our national economic interests.

A year later, trade tensions mean all of this is more important than ever.

Australia is a longstanding and strong supporter of free and fair trade.

And we will continue to deepen and diversify our trade links, particularly in our own region where WA and the companies represented in this room play such a pivotal role.

Our Government is also clear-eyed about the very different environment we are operating in today.

The best way to deal with these new challenges is to build on our national strengths and leverage our national assets.

That is why, in our response to the so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States at the beginning of this month...

…I announced that a re-elected Labor Government would establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve.

We will ensure that Australia continues to produce and benefit from the resources that are essential to our national interest.

The Strategic Reserve will mean Government has the power to purchase, own and sell a priority sub-set of the 31 critical minerals found here in Australia.

This will deliver greater certainty for industry and strengthen Australia’s standing as a trusted and reliable trading partner. 

It will mean we can deal with trade and market disruptions from a position of strength.

Because Australia will be able to call on an internationally-significant quantity of resources in global demand.

The Strategic Reserve will draw on our Critical Minerals Facility, which we will expand by a further $1 billion, bringing the total investment to $5 billion.

It will be underpinned by two key mechanisms:

One: National Offtake Agreements.

Two: Building Stockpiles in Australia.

The Offtake Agreements will be voluntary contracts that Government signs with either new or existing projects, where the Commonwealth commits to purchase agreed volumes of priority minerals.

The security held in those assets will be part of the Strategic Reserve.

We will also invest $185 million to cover the initial establishment costs of physical stockpiles of these priority minerals, on Australian soil.

We expect these to be relatively small and time-limited but the ability for government to stockpile is an important safeguard against market pressure as well as interventions from other nations.

It means Australia has the power to sell at the right time, to the right partners, for the right reasons.

While the Reserve will not directly subsidise existing production, or new commercial investment, Offtake Agreements will bring the significant benefit of price and demand certainty.

Providing a stronger foundation for new projects, increased production and greater diversification in Australia.

Our Strategic Reserve will be a national asset – and our Government will use it to advance Australia’s national interest.

This includes the option of trusted international partners co-financing offtake agreements, in order to secure volumes for export.

There is an opportunity here to strengthen our economic sovereignty at the same time as we broaden our trade relationships - including with longstanding energy export partners such as Japan and the Republic of Korea. 
 

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Securing Australia’s future prosperity means building new economic frameworks. 

And it means building and planning the infrastructure that drives growth and productivity too.

Now, over the years, I have come to accept that I get more excited about Intermodal Freight Terminals than most people.

But these are truly transformative projects.

They take us away from the model of last century, where everything produced in regional Australia had to be loaded onto a truck or a train and travel all the way to a capital city warehouse before it could go anywhere else.

Instead, these terminals are built at the intersection of crucial infrastructure.  

Away from suburban roads and daily commuters to enable the seamless transfer from road to rail to shipping export.

The terminal our Government has opened at Moorebank in Sydney is re-shaping the supply chain across that state.

Saving time.

Boosting productivity.

Cutting emissions.

And taking trucks off suburban streets.

We are building on that success by backing a new facility in Melbourne’s north at Beveridge.

And planning for another intermodal facility at Parkes that would enable freight to be transferred to both Darwin and Perth.

I want to see these economic, environmental and community benefits realised here in the great exporting state of Western Australia.

Indeed, WA represents a whole new scale of opportunity because of the distance and the volumes involved.

For decades, people have talked about the idea of an inland port at Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The fundamental starting point for this project is the WA Freight Rail Network which includes:

The Eastern Goldfields Railway.

The Leonora Esperance corridor.

And the narrow gauge network used by grain producers across the wheatbelt.

This vital infrastructure was privatised almost 25 years ago by the then Liberal Government.

And halfway through the 49 year lease, with demands on the network growing, there needs to be a lift in investment in maintenance and service as well.

But instead of essential upgrades, key freight lines have simply been closed.

Meaning farmers and growers and producers are paying more for road transport.

And those trucks are now part of the morning traffic in Perth’s suburbs.

Communities, farmers and the WA economy cannot afford to wait another 25 years for the end of the lease before something is done.

This is why I’m backing Roger Cook’s call to put the WA Freight Rail Network back in public hands.

Today I announce that a re-elected Labor Government will invest $2.5 million to help make this happen.

At the moment, the Commonwealth, through the Australian Rail Track Corporation, owns and maintains the rail line from the South Australian border to Kalgoorlie.

And as part of our Labor Government’s commitment to WA, we are prepared to take direct control of those parts of the network that the Liberals privatised, including the Eastern Goldfields Railway.

This will ensure this vital line is maintained to the proper standard.

And it will cut costs for producers and consumers and boost productivity in every link of the WA supply chain.
 

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Yesterday I was in Collie.

This is a community that has helped build and power Australia’s success for decades.

It is home to second and third generation coal miners who are rightly proud of the work they do and the contribution they make. 

They are now on the frontline of economic change.

And our Government has their backs.

We are determined for communities like Collie to compete and succeed in the future.

We don’t do that by pretending that change isn’t happening.

Or by seeking to copy the model of low wages and insecure work that drives the economies of other nations.

We do it by backing our people and trusting in our values.

Investing in jobs that build and sustain communities.

Our Government knows that to secure this opportunity, we have to act now.

Workers and businesses and communities know this too.

That’s why they are building and investing in renewables, right now.

And not in spite of the resources industry – in partnership with it.

Working together to shape the future, not waiting for the future to shape them.

The new big battery at Collie will employ 500 people in the construction phase and store enough energy for around 800,000 homes.

Then there’s International Graphite, which I visited in September.

Looking to build a new plant to process graphite mined in the south west, producing an essential component for batteries.

And there are proposals for major new facilities in both magnesium refining and low-carbon steelmaking.  
Representing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in Collie, in WA and in good jobs.  

This is a story being written all over Australia.

In the Hunter Valley and Gladstone, the Illawarra and the Pilbara, the private sector, government, communities and industries are working to seize and secure new opportunities.

Building on what can – and should - be an unbeatable combination of national advantages.

Australia has the natural resources, the abundance of clean energy, and the space of a continent to call our own.

We are a stable democracy, a smart and skilled people, an outward-looking economy, located in the fastest growing region of the world in human history.

We have our international relationships and the national asset of our superannuation system and its investment power.  

The only thing we do not have is time to waste.

That’s why the biggest risk to our future prosperity, is not an international shock or continuing global uncertainty.

It’s what we lose if we stop - and turn back.

If we undercut all the investment flowing into renewables and all the jobs and energy being created, to go chasing after nuclear power.

Wasting two decades on 7 reactors, costing $600 billion that will have to be 100 per cent taxpayer-funded…

…because the private sector doesn’t want to touch this with a barge pole.

Our opponents have already confirmed they will be cutting manufacturing and TAFE and skills.

They are promising to abolish our Future Made in Australia Tax Credits, putting a line through all those new projects here in WA and around the country.

And we know that to find that $600 billion the Liberals will need to cut much deeper, starting with health and education.  

But the cost will be measured in decades as well as dollars.

Because the world won’t wait around for Australia.

Instead, new jobs and industries will go right past us.

That is what is at stake on the 3rd of May.

That is the choice for Australia and Western Australia.

At this election, Labor is asking for the opportunity to keep building.

Building the quality health care and great education that gives every Australian the opportunity to be their best.

Building a stronger, more diversified, more resilient economy.

Building our prosperity and security, for ourselves.  

Building Australia’s Future, together.

ENDS