“Whether it’s taxation, energy costs or approvals timeframes, we simply aren’t keeping pace with competitors hungry to emulate Australia’s success,” he said.
“The opportunity before us is immense – but so is the competition. Without urgent action, Australia risks missing out on the next major wave of global resources investment.”
According to CMEWA, energy costs have roughly doubled since 2020 and Morey believes sacrificing energy reliability and affordability in the pursuit of near-term emissions reductions risks needlessly sending industry offshore and undermining global decarbonisation efforts.
“Western Australia produces just 0.2 per cent of global carbon emissions,” Morey said.
“In return, the world gets 36 per cent of its iron ore, more than 40 per cent of its lithium, 12 per cent of its LNG and significant shares of gold, alumina, rare earths and other critical minerals essential to the energy transition.
“Few places on earth deliver more value for less impact on the climate. Policy interventions that undermine one of the world’s safest and most efficient resources sectors do nothing to lower global emissions.
“They risk the exact opposite, driving up emissions as industry and investment is instead diverted to jurisdictions with far lower environmental standards.”
Morey added that CMEWA strongly opposed the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to impose a new 5 per cent cash flow tax on all companies, while highlighting the importance of retaining the fuel tax credit scheme.