Government commits $240 million to critical minerals projects in mission to end Australia’s reliance on China

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Dr John Coyne speaks to ABC’s Henry Belot. 

The Australian outback has become the stage for a renewed push to safeguard the future of western industries and break a near complete reliance on critical minerals from China.

China produces and supplies almost all the minerals used in the production of renewable energy products, mobile phones, electric vehicles and even the batteries used in the US joint-strike fighter.

The federal government will today announce $240 million to develop a rare earth minerals industry in Australia with senior ministers openly listing China as one reason to do so.

“China currently dominates around 70 to 80 per cent of global critical minerals production and continues to consolidate its hold over these supply chains,” Energy and Industry Minister Angus Taylor said in a statement.

“This initiative is designed to address that dominance.”

Australia has enormous volumes of rare earth minerals but until now no domestic production capacity has been built, partly because China has refined the minerals cheaply, despite environmental criticisms.

Strategic concerns about China’s market dominance have increased since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which exposed Europe’s reliance on Russia for energy.

“We know that Russia provides very large amounts of thermal coal and gas into Europe and that is now a strategic challenge for them — we want to make sure Australia is never in that position,” Resources Minister Keith Pitt said.

“We do need to ensure that no matter what we do, we make sure that these concentrated supply chains in some areas that we currently have do get broken up into the future.”

The funding announced today includes $30 million for a rare earth minerals separation plant run by Arafura Resources in Central Australia.

Arafura managing director Gavin Lockyer said its Nolan’s Project near Aileron would harness one of the world’s biggest stockpiles of neodymium-praseodymium, which is used to make incredibly strong magnets used in wind turbines and solar farms.

“[Nolan’s] will be Australia’s first vertically integrated project of its kind and world’s second biggest non-China source of rare earths, processing on site to meet more than 5 per cent of global demand,” Mr Lockyer said.

Australian miner Lynas, which produces rare earths for electric cars and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was recently given final approval to construct a rare earth refinery in Kalgoorlie.

Lynas has moved some of its operations outside its production base in Malaysia, where it has faced sustained criticism from environment groups.

Given the strategic risk posed by China’s market dominance, the United States military has taken a financial interest in Lynas, providing initial funding for a processing plant in Texas.

‘We’ve definitely been asleep’

In 2019, China threatened to ban exports of rare earth minerals to the United States during a protracted trade war with Washington.

The threat would have hit the production of military equipment along with a booming renewable energy industry.

Rare earths are an essential ingredient for technologies including wind turbines.(Supplied: Michael Abrahams)

Dr John Coyne, an analyst at the partially Defence funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said other strategic allies had been targeted too.

“Ten years ago, China reduced the availability of rare earth to Japan in punishment over issues to deal with the South China Sea,” Mr Coyne said.

Mr Coyne said western nations were increasingly abandoning free market thinking to address the strategic risk.

“I think this is one of those cases where if we don’t want to be exposed and have vulnerable supply chains then there is a need for the government to intervene in the economy and promote national resilience,” Mr Coyne said.

“[China has] done a great job at being able to supply everything the western world needed — whether it be metals or magnets — and they supply them a lot cheaper than what the western world would be able to produce.”

The head of one rare earth minerals company, Northern Minerals, told the ABC the strategic vulnerability was significant.

“China could stop any time in the next three to five years exporting anything to do with heavy rare earths (…) and only supply internal to Chinese industries,” chief executive Mark Tory said.

“We’ve definitely been asleep but the reason we’ve been asleep is because [China] has done a great job at being able to supply everything the western world needed.”

Defence ‘acutely aware’ of risks posed by climate change: ADF chief

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Defence has a key role to play supporting the government’s climate and disaster resilience agenda by integrating climate risk into the planning and conduct of its activities and operations, says Australian Defence Force chief Angus Campbell.

In a video statement at the launch of a new ASPI publication, The geopolitics of climate and security in the Indo-Pacific, Campbell described as ‘outstanding’ the work of ASPI’s Climate and Security Policy Centre led by Robert Glasser and said it performed an essential role in driving discussion of the long-term strategic consequences of climate change.

Read the full piece on The Strategist. 

Darwin US fuel storage facility

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Fifteen kilometres from Darwin CBD, there’s a plot of mud and dirt that is about to become a $270 million asset for the United States defence force.

By September 2023, the East Arm fuel storage facility is expected to be able to store 300 million litres of military jet fuel to support American defence activities in the Northern Territory and Indo-Pacific region.

Dr Teagan Westerdorf speaks to ABC News. Read the full piece here. 

ASPI appoints inaugural director of Washington DC office

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ASPI is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Mark Watson as the inaugural director of ASPI’s Washington DC office.

With more than 30 years’ experience in national security and international relations, Mark comes to ASPI with expertise in policy analysis, stakeholder mapping and engagement, strategic planning and business management, and public-private partnerships in the national security community.

Mark is a trained Chinese linguist, holding degrees in Law and History from the University of Sydney, an Honours degree in Strategic Studies from Deakin University and a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of New England. He also completed post-graduate studies in the Economic and Civil Law of the People’s Republic of China at the University of Hong Kong, and is a graduate of the Senior Executives Leadership Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

During his time as a diplomat, Mark had postings to Port Moresby, Hong Kong, Singapore, London and, most recently, at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC. In that role, Mark was responsible for maintaining and developing partnerships with US Defence, national security and policy analysis communities, as well as with the private sector companies supporting those communities.

Most recently, Mark established Sydney Avenue Consultants; a strategic advice consultancy specialising in national security and defence community issues. He is also currently the National Security Strategic Adviser at Bondi Partners.

ASPI’s Executive Director Peter Jennings welcomes the new appointment and said Mark would reinforce ASPI’s commitment to become a more active participant in United States think tank debates about defence and national security, and to strengthen the US-Australia relationship. Mark’s knowledge of the Washington DC stakeholder environment and leadership experience will be invaluable for establishing ASPI’s presence in DC.

‘I really feel a great of sense of responsibility in opening ASPI’s first overseas office, particularly one located in a city I know well – Washington DC. It is a unique opportunity for ASPI and for me personally, and I am looking forward to getting to the US as soon as possible to get the office up and running,’ comments Mark on his appointment.

‘This move comes at a time when the US-Australia alliance has never been more integral to Australia’s strategic planning than it is following the announcement of the AUKUS agreement. As President Biden said at the launch of AUKUS: “This is about investing in our greatest source of strength — our alliances — and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow.”

‘That is a sentiment that I think applies equally well to ASPI and the reason we are opening an office in Washington at this time. To help Australia better meet the threats of today and tomorrow.’

We are excited to welcome Mark to the ASPI leadership team and look forward to working with him. Mark will join us in Canberra until January 2022, when he is anticipated to be on the ground in DC.

ASPI Climate Security Wrap

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Amidst the lead up to the COP26 Climate Summit, ASPI has published a number of updates on climate security.

Dr. Robert Glasser and Anastasia Kapetas have reflected on the recent release of US climate security intelligence estimates, and suggested that these estimates probably underestimate the risks we face.

Dr. Glasser has also placed the PM’s announcement on Net Zero within the context of worsening natural disasters and Australia’s key alliance relationships

Given the clear warnings from the IPCC about concurrent and compounding climate disasters, the Climate and Security Centre has also argued that the US and Australia must deepen cooperation in relevant areas.

ASPI to open an office in Washington DC

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Today the Minister for Defence, the Hon Peter Dutton, MP announced that the Australian Government will support the Australian Strategic Policy Institute to open an office in Washington DC.

Chair of the ASPI Council Lt Gen (Ret’d) Ken Gillespie said “The whole ASPI team is delighted at the Government’s decision to support the opening of a Washington DC Office.

We are particularly pleased that this comes at the time of the 70th Anniversary of the US-Australia alliance and also in ASPI’s 20th year of operations.

Australia has a deep interest in contributing to strategic policy thinking in Washington DC through that city’s lively think tank community.

I am grateful to Mr Dutton for his endorsement of the quality, depth and value of ASPI’s work in contributing to contestability of policy advice.”

How the United States of America engages with the Indo-Pacific region, with China, with America’s regional friends and with treaty allies matters profoundly to Australia and to global security.

ASPI will seek to further strengthen the bilateral relationship by becoming a more active participant in United States think tank debates about defence and national security. 

These think tanks are often the source of new policy ideas and are designed to be able to experiment, develop and explain innovative policy ideas.

The Executive Director of ASPI, Peter Jennings said: “ASPI’s Washington DC office will operate as a branch and be an integral part of ASPI in Canberra, as such, the business model will mirror ASPI’s which has been successfully developed over twenty years.

ASPI’s work focuses on non-partisan empirically grounded original research, a capacity for policy innovation and an ability to shape real-world policy outcomes.

We are proud of the achievements of the organisation over the past twenty years and look forward to the next twenty.

We thank the Minister for Defence for his support to ASPI as well as for the continuing support the Institute receives from Parliament, the Defence organisation and the wider public service, our sponsors and supporters.”

The 2021 ASPI Sydney Dialogue

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The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s The Sydney Dialogue is a world-first summit for emerging, critical and cyber technologies.

The inaugural dialogue will be hosted virtually from Australia and will begin on 17–19 November 2021.

The Sydney Dialogue will have an Indo-Pacific focus and will bring business, government and technology leaders together with the world’s best strategic thinkers, to debate, generate ideas and work towards common understandings of the challenges posed by new technologies.

The program will commence with an opening address from Australian Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP.

The Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi – will also be giving a keynote address at the inaugural Sydney Dialogue.

Conversations about technology are currently taking place in silos – for example, on artificial intelligence, the use of surveillance technologies, quantum, space and biotechnology, disinformation and cyber-enabled interference, supply chain resilience and the future of cyberspace. The Sydney Dialogue provides a forum for the world to anticipate and respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by increasingly complex advances in technology.

The dialogue will span both public and private activities, including keynotes, panels, roundtables, podcasts, an annual publication and more. While the dialogue will start in November, the conversation will extend into early 2022 as we continue to launch new events.

Invitations will be issued to select delegates from around the world, with priority given to those in the Indo-Pacific region. This year, most plenary sessions will be broadcast live to the general public, others will be publicly available at a later stage and a small number will be closed-door.

Please see the Sydney Dialogue website for more information. 

US and Australia must deepen defence cooperation on climate security

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Robert Glasser and Erin Sikorsky write on recent climate-driven disasters and how Australia and the US can cooperate to tackle this crisis.

Read the full article here.

Chinese-controlled Port of Darwin ‘Australia’s most strategic northern port’ | The Australian

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Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Dr John Coyne says the Port of Darwin is Australia’s “most strategic northern port” and ownership of the Port is vitally important to Australia’s defence future. Dr Coyne, who is head of the Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre at ASPI, told Sky News that Australia hasn’t had a unified strategy around the port “since Federation”. “Everyone agrees – Northern Territory, Northern Australia is strategically important to the country,” Dr Coyne said. “We just can’t articulate that into practice.” Dr Coyne told Sky News host Peta Credlin if we left the Port of Darwin as is, “we leave investment in our northern port in the hands of a Chinese owned company”. “They will make the decisions.”