A Life Saving Line For Australian Miners?

The Chamber Of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia has released a series of recommendations to the next Federal Government budget to be released in May this year, and what could be a nice helping hand for Australian miners and in particular the Western Australian ones, the Chamber is recommending the implementation of a production tax credit for those in the battery and critical minerals spectrum.

Referring to this tax credit, the Chamber’s CEO Rebecca Tomkinson said that “Tangible actions like this will support Australia’s broader ambitions to sustain a globally-competitive, value-adding battery minerals industry”. And she added:

“One area where both the State and Federal Governments can make a huge difference is to act more businesslike in terms of service delivery and improved efficiencies. Removal of regulatory complexity, overlap and process duplication should be at the top of the list."

“Federal reforms must not result in more productivity-killing red tape which leaves Australia less nimble and competitive than other global jurisdictions.”

Well done Rebecca, a round of applause for you! Specially when it comes to red tape, it is no doubt that the lengthy process required to approve projects may be causing Australia to lose numerous opportunities and fall behind other nations in productivity and competitiveness, lagging behind positive commodity cycles and missing the benefits.

Federal and State governments should make every effort to streamline approval processes, whilst bolstering economic benefits and incentives in any shape or form.

Hopefully Australia don't miss out on another commodity super cycle (like the lithium one in 2021 – 2022) considering one or several commodities might face more bonanza times as the battery revolution may well stay here for the years to come.