Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Daniel James, and you're listening the seven Am.
Speaker 1: Australia is positioning itself as a critical supplier of the
Speaker 1: minerals the world needs to build clean technology, but for
Speaker 1: now China dominates the market and its griplin supply chains
Speaker 1: gives it enormous leverage. At the same time, the Albanesi
Speaker 1: government is racing China to shore up its influence in
Speaker 1: the Pacific, a region already feeling the sharpest impacts of
Speaker 1: climate change. Today, Contributing editor at The New Daily, Amy
Speaker 1: Ramikus on the high stakes contest for influence in our
Speaker 1: region and how Australia's broken climate promises are holding us back.
Speaker 1: It's Friday, July fourth, Amy, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Penny Wong has been at the Quad in Washington. What
Speaker 1: was on the agenda?
Speaker 2: The agenda was, you.
Speaker 3: Know, all the usual stuff, so security packs. Working together
Speaker 3: these very important countries is a very important strategic partners
Speaker 3: and allies of the United States, and.
Speaker 2: Together we have a lot of shared priorities.
Speaker 3: A lot of things, a lot of talk about, you know,
Speaker 3: the country that's responsible for the Quad and the reason
Speaker 3: that everyone's all there, without that country actually being named.
Speaker 4: The importance of our partnership is highlighted by the urgency
Speaker 4: of the strategic challenges that we all face.
Speaker 2: Which is China the giant elephant in the Quad room.
Speaker 4: It is essential that nations of the Indoor Pacific have
Speaker 4: the freedom of choice, so essential to make right decisions
Speaker 4: on development and security.
Speaker 3: And then they got around to, you know, one of
Speaker 3: the big issues for the future, particularly for the Quad nations,
Speaker 3: which is critical minerals.
Speaker 1: Clinical minerals not just access to the raw material, but
Speaker 1: also access to the ability to process and refine it
Speaker 1: to usable materials.
Speaker 3: And more importantly, what they're calling the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative,
Speaker 3: which is basically those countries coming together to kind of
Speaker 3: establish their own supply chain for critical minerals that does
Speaker 3: not involve China.
Speaker 1: So we've been hearing a lot about critical minerals lately.
Speaker 1: Why are they so critical right now when it comes
Speaker 1: to dealing with the US.
Speaker 3: Well, they're very well named critical minerals, aren't they.
Speaker 2: A quick rundown on what.
Speaker 3: Critical minerals are just so we can talk about why
Speaker 3: exactly they are so important. So it's anything that is
Speaker 3: needed for new technology.
Speaker 2: So we're talking batteries, we're.
Speaker 3: Talking evs, fiber optic cables, anything that you can think
Speaker 3: of that is modern technology relies on this big group
Speaker 3: of things that we call critical mineral and rare earths,
Speaker 3: and Australia has about thirty six of the fifty identified critical.
Speaker 2: Minerals, so we're doing okay.
Speaker 3: But China is still absolutely dominating in that space, particularly lithium,
Speaker 3: which is one of the big things that you need
Speaker 3: to create batteries, which is what most of the world
Speaker 3: is transitioning towards. China not only mindes lithium and has
Speaker 3: pretty great stockpiles of critical minerals, it's also absolutely killing
Speaker 3: it when it comes to processing. And that is the
Speaker 3: big problem here, is that the other nations don't have
Speaker 3: the same processing ability for the critical minerals because what
Speaker 3: they're worried about is that at some point in the future, China,
Speaker 3: as it's emerging as a.
Speaker 2: Global superpower, could turn off the tap.
Speaker 3: And that means that they will be the only ones
Speaker 3: who are able to manufacture the batteries that are going
Speaker 3: to be part of our everyday life. Wind turbines, the
Speaker 3: solar paddles, the cars, so these are all the things.
Speaker 2: That they were discussing at the Quad.
Speaker 1: So Australia has a bit of a card to play
Speaker 1: when it comes to critical minerals. Have we actually promised
Speaker 1: anything on that front yet.
Speaker 3: Well, the card that we have to play is that
Speaker 3: we've got them and we're looking at creating this as
Speaker 3: our new industry.
Speaker 2: So anybody who's had the unfortunate.
Speaker 3: Displeasure of hearing about the future Made in Australia strategy
Speaker 3: that the Albanese government is going on about. Essentially it's
Speaker 3: bringing manufacturing and processing back to Australia and critical minerals
Speaker 3: is at the core of that.
Speaker 5: Australia's natural resources are so important, but we need to
Speaker 5: develop a new critical minerals strategy nationally.
Speaker 3: In terms of what Australia has promised, we've promised that
Speaker 3: we will cooperate, that we will work to establish these
Speaker 3: supply chains outside of China, that we will work to
Speaker 3: ensure that we have our domestic supply and processing.
Speaker 2: And that we are open to trade.
Speaker 3: So we're talking to the United States, which is basically
Speaker 3: under the Trump administration going around and hoovering up as
Speaker 3: many deals as possible.
Speaker 2: So Australia is.
Speaker 3: Working with the United States, but we haven't promised anything
Speaker 3: entirely concrete yet, and that is mostly because we aren't
Speaker 3: quite sure what we are doing ourselves.
Speaker 5: We can't just sit back and allow ourselves to be
Speaker 5: at the end of global supply chains. We need to
Speaker 5: put it simply, we need to make more stuff here
Speaker 5: that simple, not export our minerals, wait for the values
Speaker 5: to be added somewhere else and then import it back
Speaker 5: at much higher value.
Speaker 3: We have a vague idea that there's going to be
Speaker 3: a critical minerals reserve in Australia, which means that we
Speaker 3: will be keeping some for ourselves, which is not something that.
Speaker 2: We did with gas.
Speaker 3: And there is a vague idea that we are going
Speaker 3: to process things here. How we pay for that, who
Speaker 3: pays for it, who owns it, how we taps for that.
Speaker 2: None of that has been worked out yet.
Speaker 1: So the backdrop to all of this is that there
Speaker 1: is a hope in camera that critical minerals will strength
Speaker 1: in Australia's hand when it comes to negotiating tariff relief
Speaker 1: and also strengthen a hand when it comes to the
Speaker 1: US's commitment to ORCUS. So will any arrangement around critical
Speaker 1: minerals help with those negotiations potentially.
Speaker 3: Well, the problem with that is that the Trump administration
Speaker 3: isn't stable. You don't actually know what they're going to
Speaker 3: agree to and stick to. Nothing that Donald Trump says
Speaker 3: is guaranteed. And the way that Trump is loosening those
Speaker 3: tariffs really depends on the day and how he feels
Speaker 3: about his relationship with them. Trump is actually in discussions
Speaker 3: with China at the moment about loosening the restrictions and
Speaker 3: the tariffs that they have on Chinese imports and critical
Speaker 3: minerals is central to that, and China is a lot
Speaker 3: further down the chain than Australia is.
Speaker 2: So if China.
Speaker 3: Goes okay, well look we'll give you x YZ, Trump
Speaker 3: will be like, cool, we don't care about supply chains
Speaker 3: in the future. We just care about what we can
Speaker 3: get now, and that kind of deals Australia out of
Speaker 3: these immediate dealings. So Australia and the other coordinations South
Speaker 3: Korea and Japan and India and all of our allies
Speaker 3: are basically trying to play four D chess with Trump.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of.
Speaker 3: Work being done behind the scenes to ensure that you
Speaker 3: keep Trump happy. You deal with what you've got in
Speaker 3: front of you, but you also keep an eye into
Speaker 3: what's happening in the future at a time when maybe
Speaker 3: Trump isn't bleeding America and maybe that there's a little
Speaker 3: bit easier to negotiate.
Speaker 1: After the break Australia's race with China in the Pacific,
Speaker 1: and the Australia is pushing ahead with forming stronger ties
Speaker 1: with our Pacific neighbors in an effort to push back
Speaker 1: against China. So what in Rhodes is China made in
Speaker 1: the region.
Speaker 3: Well, China under the Coalition made massive inroads with soft power,
Speaker 3: so basically of applying a lot of low interest loans
Speaker 3: to Pacific nation countries in order for them to keep
Speaker 3: their economies afloat. They're building infrastructure, they're building hospitals, they're
Speaker 3: doing educational programs. There's a lot more freedom of movement
Speaker 3: between China and the Pacific nations. And Australia kind of
Speaker 3: woke up one day and went, oh, that doesn't seem
Speaker 3: so great for us, because maybe China puts our military
Speaker 3: base on Vadawatu or Papua New Guinea. And so part
Speaker 3: of what the Albanesi government has been doing is trying
Speaker 3: to normalize the relationships with the Pacific and to ensure
Speaker 3: that Pacific nation look to Australia as its natural partner
Speaker 3: of choice.
Speaker 2: And so a lot of the.
Speaker 3: Pacific nations has come out and said, okay, you can't
Speaker 3: just do roads and hospitals anymore. What are you actually
Speaker 3: doing about climate which is the number one issue for
Speaker 3: Pacific nations. China is making promises where they're talking about
Speaker 3: basically a lot easier pathways for migration to ensure that
Speaker 3: you can basically be from a Pacific nation but also
Speaker 3: move to China with support if you need to.
Speaker 2: Those conversations have.
Speaker 3: Started, and now the Pacific nations are saying to Australia, well,
Speaker 3: what are you doing on that? Because you're still approving
Speaker 3: fossil fuel projects. You aren't actually dealing us into these conversations,
Speaker 3: and we're sick of just being patted on the head
Speaker 3: and told to be you know, good boys and girls
Speaker 3: and off you go. What are you actually doing? That's
Speaker 3: a much bigger challenge for the Albanezy government.
Speaker 1: So this hands a lot of leverage actually to a
Speaker 1: lot of these specific nations when it comes to things
Speaker 1: like climate policy. So what assurances have the Alberanuzi government
Speaker 1: given some of these countries in relation to climate policy.
Speaker 3: So we had the first deal with tu Valu, which
Speaker 3: was essentially to set up a lottery system to allow
Speaker 3: people living in Tuvalu to move to Australia. But Vanihatu
Speaker 3: and other nations are saying, well, what are you doing
Speaker 3: for us, because we're in exactly the same boat. You
Speaker 3: can't pick and choose which of your neighbors that you.
Speaker 2: Decide to help. And so Vanahatu is saying, well, you
Speaker 2: know what, we want, easier migration.
Speaker 3: We want you to drop so many of the immigration
Speaker 3: checks and things and that you have in place for
Speaker 3: us so that we can also plan for our future.
Speaker 2: And if you don't do it, then China will.
Speaker 1: And finally, Amy, China has a great degree of clout,
Speaker 1: being probably the emergency superpawer of the twenty first century,
Speaker 1: but can it claim any moral superiority when it comes
Speaker 1: to climate action at this point?
Speaker 3: No, it can't, but neither can we, And so it's
Speaker 3: really easy to say, oh, well, you know, China's not
Speaker 3: decarbonizing as well, and China's responsible for x amount of
Speaker 3: fossil fuel, but so's Australia, and particularly when.
Speaker 2: It comes to exports.
Speaker 3: Australia is still continuing to approve of fossil fuel projects,
Speaker 3: including the Northwest Shelf expansion, and while we're doing that,
Speaker 3: we're still talking to the Pacific and saying, oh hey,
Speaker 3: how about you come and host the UN Climate Conference
Speaker 3: with us, so we can tell everybody that we're still.
Speaker 2: A happy family.
Speaker 3: We say one thing and we do another all the time,
Speaker 3: and we have done that when it comes to the
Speaker 3: Pacific Nations for.
Speaker 2: A very very long period of time.
Speaker 3: We do not have a great history when it comes
Speaker 3: to looking after Pacific Nations as we have said that
Speaker 3: we would, and you can go all the way back
Speaker 3: to Blackbirding and beyond to see how some of those
Speaker 3: bonds have been broken. It's easier for China at the
Speaker 3: moment because they don't have the same history with the
Speaker 3: Pacific Nations that Australia does, and they have a lot
Speaker 3: of money and a lot of power, and at the
Speaker 3: moment they're basically doing whatever strategically works for them. That
Speaker 3: doesn't necessarily mean that when the crunch comes that China's
Speaker 3: going to live up to all of its promises, but
Speaker 3: Australia has broken so many promises with the Pacific over
Speaker 3: such a long period of time. You can see why
Speaker 3: some Pacific leaders are saying, you know what, We're going
Speaker 3: to see what else is out there for our people.
Speaker 1: Amy, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Also in the news, the work history of alleged Melbourne
Speaker 1: pedophile Joshua has widened, with new evidence showing he was
Speaker 1: at an assident childcare center months earlier than authorities first stated.
Speaker 1: Parents say they recall brand at the center as early
Speaker 1: as August last year, raising questions over official notifications and
Speaker 1: exposing more families to possible risk. Brown remains in custody
Speaker 1: facing seventy charges as police and Victoria's Health Department reviews
Speaker 1: its timeline and continues their investigations. And Creative Australia has
Speaker 1: apologized to artist Khalid Subsabi after the body reinstated him
Speaker 1: to represent the country at the twenty twenty six Venice Biennial.
Speaker 1: In February, Creative Australia dump Subsabi, a move criticized at
Speaker 1: the time as having been influenced by politics. An independent
Speaker 1: external review into the decision attributed the counselation to quote
Speaker 1: a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities. Yesterday, Acting
Speaker 1: chair Wesley Enoch took to Radio National saying I want
Speaker 1: to apologize to them for the hurt and pain they've
Speaker 1: gone through when this process. Thanks for listening to seven AM.
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