The Business Council of Australia (BCA) welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Australian Government's Green Metals Consultation Paper.

We note that green metals have been identified as a priority under the Government's Future Made in Australia (FMIA) agenda for the following reasons.

• The important role green metals can play in Australia's net zero transformation and the potential to make an outsized contribution to global emissions reductions.
• The potential for comparative advantage in this industry, given Australia's abundant solar and wind resources, extensive mineral reserves and highly skilled workforce.
• A recognition that a competitive, diverse, and decarbonised industrial sector producing high value green metal products could be worth $122 billion a year to our economy by 2040 and a source of job creation.
• The need for public investment in order to align economic incentives with the national interest and unlock private investment at a scale necessary to realise this opportunity.

The FMIA agenda reflects the balanced intent of the Government to craft an Australian response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, as called for by the BCA. Australia should respond if other nations are taking significant action to attract investment. Ideally, this is achieved by learning from the errors made in other programs and getting the investment fundamentals right. As with any policy though, there is a need for firm and clear guardrails to ensure the policy is a success, there is judicious use of taxpayer dollars, and to deliver a sustainable and enduring policy agenda that allows businesses to plan confidently.

The BCA has previously proposed a set of guardrails to help select priority industries and develop any policy
response:

• All investments must be expert led, with expert advice provided to government as the origination point.
• The process must be open, transparent, evidence based and unimpeachably independent.
• It should be carefully targeted and avoid parameters which can be broadly interpreted.
• There must be the scope to withdraw, or limit, funds based on outcomes being missed or achieved.
• We must not invest in projects that can stand alone with private investment, or those which will never stand alone without government support.
• All our investments must be in areas in which we have a comparative advantage and where the investment helps those projects get to market faster, or there is clear national interest in making that investment.

Just as Australia cannot sit still while other countries increase their incentives, nor can we sit still while they are growing their competitiveness at a foundational level. To reinvent our economy we must, as a point of national urgency, become a more competitive place to do business. This requires a focus on getting the fundamentals right to make Australia an attractive investment destination through reform of our tax system, easing the burden of regulation, a streamlined project approvals process, a high quality skills and education system, a managed migration program, a streamlined foreign investment screening regime, and improvements to the workplace relations system. Getting these fundamentals right will spur innovation and lift productivity.

Read our full submission here.