Aluminium Industry

10 February 2025

They might say that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I am an aluminium woman. It is interesting how themes run through your life. Aluminium does have a very special place in my heart. When I was just 14, I won a scholarship to live in northern England. It was sponsored by Cessnock City Council, our local council, and Alcan, which ran the smelter in Kurri Kurri. I lived with a wonderful English family. I went to school there and I visited British Alcan in Lynemouth many times as part of my scholarship. I learned a lot about how aluminium was made and its importance.

It was a big deal for a kid from Heddon Greta who hadn't really travelled the world at all. Fast forward 40 years and I now represent Tomago, and Tomago is the home of Tomago Aluminium. Tomago is located pretty much right in the heart of my electorate of Paterson. Tomago operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year producing 37 per cent of Australia's primary aluminium.

Aluminium is our fifth-largest export commodity. Tomago Aluminium is pivotal to that export. A thousand-plus people work at Tomago, plus 200 contractors, and indirectly around 5,000 local people depend on Tomago Aluminium. Across the country 13,000 people depend on the smelting of aluminium in our country. But it's bigger than that and aluminium is bigger than wrapping up the leftover sausages from a Saturday barbecue.

Aluminium is the future. It is in everyday products like the solar panels on our roofs. It is in our smart phones. Pretty much everyone in this place has a piece of my electorate in their phone, I'm guessing, because the aluminium that goes into these smart phones comes largely from Tomago Aluminium. It is in our military aircraft and our naval vessels. It is in specialised equipment. It is a key industry that's also forming our renewable future. It is part of electric vehicles and it is certainly important in batteries.

There is no facet of modern life that aluminium doesn't touch. That's why I am so pleased to say that our government, the Albanese Labor government, is backing aluminium in Australia. The Prime Minister came to my electorate a couple of weeks ago to make a $2 billion—billion with a 'b'—aluminium announcement. It is an aluminium production incentive and it's going to ensure investment in this industry is secure. And this $2 billion investment in the aluminium industry right across Australia is going to ensure the jobs of aluminium workers in seats like mine and in places like Tomago.

And I couldn't be prouder to back in those workers. I know what it's like to go into those potlines. I haven't worked in a potline, but I've spent a lot of time in potlines. They are hot; they are places where you're breathing air that has lots of things in it. Basically it's really hard work to work in an aluminium smelter, but it's critical work. It's work that we need Australians to be doing. They're good, well-paid jobs, they're smart jobs and we must continue to support those workers and their jobs.

The other interesting part about this big announcement is it's going to back in this critical metal into the future. When we talk about a future made in Australia, and you hear that talked about a lot here, this is what this is. It's backing in our manufacturing. We learnt during COVID that we'd stopped making a lot of things. I know the previous government and governments before that have treated our manufacturing industry very poorly. This government is backing in manufacturing. It's backing in industries like the aluminium industry. It's backing in Tomago Aluminium. That's what a future made in Australia really means when we talk about it.

We've got this plan to back in local manufacturing, local jobs, and to invest in the future. Tomago Aluminium wants to run on renewable energy, but it's going to take some time. This $2 billion incentive is going to help bridge that gap. I back it every day of the week, and I back the jobs of aluminium workers and Tomago Aluminium.