The Morrison Government is committed to boosting Western Australia\u2019s status as a global resources and energy powerhouse by investing in regional areas, growing export opportunities and creating more jobs to build a strong economy for a stronger future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two new hydrogen hubs will be created in the Pilbara and Kwinana (Perth) and will receive $140 million, as well $6 million to investigate two new development projects in Western Australia, creating more than 3,600 jobs, and $67 million to develop two carbon capture and storage hubs and support the appraisal of a third potential storage site in WA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government would also boost Western Australia\u2019s critical minerals sector by investing almost $8 million in two strategically critical projects, securing more jobs and important supply chain industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSecuring Western Australia\u2019s economy is absolutely critical to locking in stronger future for Australia and my Government will continue to back the resource, mining, mineral and energy sector in WA by creating more jobs and cutting red tape,\u201d the Prime Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWestern Australia is a world leader in critical minerals and these investments are just the beginning of our commitment to the sector, alongside our new hydrogen hubs, which backs in the state\u2019s status as an economic powerhouse for the whole country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese investments will also turbocharge the development of Australia\u2019s critical minerals and clean hydrogen industries, helping achieve the government\u2019s vision to make Australia a global producer and exporter of clean hydrogen by 2030, while stimulating a surge in regions across WA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt said the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative will help fast-track strategically significant projects to market and drive investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is another step towards establishing Australia as a critical minerals powerhouse,\u201d Minister Pitt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAustralia possesses extraordinary reserves of critical minerals crucial to many industries including medical equipment production, defence, aerospace, automotive and agritech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative is yet another example of how this Government is backing the resources sector to strengthen our national economy and create jobs, especially in regional Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis initiative will help uncover new sources of supply, support robust supply chains, and create high-paying regional jobs for Australians, while improving Australia\u2019s export resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Morrison Government is investing more than $1.5 billion to accelerate the growth of the nation\u2019s clean hydrogen industry, along with more than $300 million to support the development and deployment of carbon capture technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKwinana and the Pilbara have long made Western Australia an energy and export powerhouse. Today\u2019s announcement will embrace the competitive advantages of WA \u2013 plentiful low-cost gas, great solar and wind potential, and a skilled workforce in resources and fertilizers \u2013 to grow another huge industry opportunity,\u201d Minister Taylor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese hydrogen projects in WA will bring over $413 million of new private and public investment into the regions and can create over 3,600 jobs initially when operational \u2013 but this is just the start of hydrogen\u2019s potential benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAustralia has a competitive advantage in CCS due to our abundant, world-class geological storage basins. Proving up low cost CCS will be essential to reducing emissions from LNG production and building an early cost advantage in clean hydrogen production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur commitments will create jobs, boost clean exports, and help to drive the production costs of hydrogen down, the heart of our technology-focused approach to reducing emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The projects in Western Australia which will be offered grant funding from this first round of the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These projects build on the Morrison Government\u2019s announcement of a $1.25 billion loan through the Critical Minerals Facility to Australian company Iluka Resources, to develop Australia\u2019s first integrated rare earths refinery at Eneabba in Western Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The refinery project is estimated to have a construction workforce of around 300 people and an operational workforce of around 270 people. These high skilled regional jobs are crucial for Australia to grasp its place in the global new energy economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Western Australia\u2019s resources sector provides critical inputs for Australia\u2019s manufacturing industry and these initiatives will build on the more than $304 million we have invested through the Government\u2019s Modern Manufacturing Strategy to continue to grow our resources technology and critical minerals sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government is delivering Western Australia\u2019s first Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs by committing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And supporting two projects under the Design and Development stream by further committing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the $250 million investment in CCS announced in the 2021-22 Budget, the Government is committing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Burrup and Mid West hubs are expected to reduce emissions by a combined 7.4 million tonnes per annum from 2028. The projects are expected to drive more than $1 billion of investment in regional Western Australia and will create more than 2,000 jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Hydrogen Strategy released in 2019 sets the goal for Australia to become a major producer and exporter of clean hydrogen by 2030. Hydrogen hubs were identified as an effective means to create demand, build scale and reduce production costs by co-locating producers, exporters and users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australian hydrogen production for export and domestic use could generate more than $50 billion in additional GDP by 2050. Clean hydrogen exports could directly support 16,000 jobs by 2050, plus an additional 13,000 from the construction of related renewable energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Morrison Government is committed to boosting Western Australia\u2019s status as a global resources and energy powerhouse by investing in regional areas, growing export opportunities and creating more jobs to build a strong economy for a stronger future. Two new hydrogen hubs will be created in the Pilbara and Kwinana (Perth) and will receive $140 … Continue reading “Backing Western Australia as a global resources and energy powerhouse”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16201,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16200\/revisions\/16201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}