Press conference, Alpha HPA, Yarwun, Queensland

SANJEEV GANDHI: It's a huge honour and pleasure to welcome Minister Bowen here to the Yarwun site of Orica and also to Alpha HPA. It's a good day today because this is a fantastic demonstration of Future Made in Australia where we as Orica are supporting Alpha HPA not just with equity but also to help them scale up their technology and help them provide feedstock, raw materials and then enable a technology that's now fully closed loop and best in class. 

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This is all about the Australian technology and IP being scaled up and taken to the world. Exciting opportunities in obviously battery materials which Alpha HPA is now already commercially producing, but also for the semiconductor industry and in addition to that, also new applications and LED lighting. 

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So, this is just a wonderful example of what manufacturing can do once they get together as partners together with government. And I'd like to thank Minister Bowen for all the support and the Federal Government for helping us out here. Another important milestone today is we have successfully finished the decarbonisation of our Yarwun assets. As of end of September, we will eliminate 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. Once again, thanks to Minister Bowen for the safeguard mechanism because that gave us a certainty, policy certainty. 

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We have invested significant amounts of capital today and we will, by the end of this calendar year, eliminate more than a million tonnes of CO2 globally. A major portion of that will be in Australia, by the way. The Yarwun site was contributing nearly 16 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions of Queensland and that will stop by the end of September. So, it's a very, very good and a very happy day today. Thank you.

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CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Sanjeev. Well, I'm absolutely delighted to join you and welcome your announcement of your investment in the decarbonisation of your Yarwun facility, reducing emissions very substantially. And it just goes to show that there's not a choice between reducing emissions and creating investment. They are the same thing. 

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In a decarbonising world where, as you know, your investors, your consumers, your staff will increasingly want to know what your decarbonisation plans are and you're showing them. So, I very much welcome it and I very much welcome, of course, your comments about our safeguard mechanism. Others say that that is a bad thing. You know, and I know it's a good thing because it provides the industry certainty that it needs, whether it's you or Bluescope or other employers around the country who are covered by the safeguard mechanism with a concrete, certain regulatory regime in which you need to reduce emissions. 

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But as we've said, create jobs and create investment as you go. Also great to be here at Alpha. Very impressive operation. Key partners with Orica and supported by the government to grow the jobs here in Gladstone. It's a Future Made in Australia and a future made in Gladstone, increasingly. 

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So, all in all, it's a good visit to both facilities to see emissions reduction at Orica, job creation at Orica and Alpha, which is what we're all about for Queensland, all about for Australia, all about for Gladstone. I'm just delighted to be here to see this, see this progress being made. So, thank you.