MPs Push for Federal Help, Warn Cheap Chinese Processing Undercutting Copper Mines

Two federal politicians are warning that Australia’s copper processing industry is on the brink of collapse, with Chinese market dominance and federal inaction threatening thousands of jobs, critical infrastructure, and the nation’s sovereign capability.

Liberal Senator Susan McDonald and Katter’s Australian Party Leader Robbie Katter say the closure of Glencore’s Mount Isa and Townsville facilities would devastate regional Queensland and have ripple effects across the country—unless the federal government steps in.

Swiss-owned mining giant Glencore called for government support in July amid predictions that cheap copper processing dominated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would damage Australia’s sovereign capabilities.

Cheap Chinese processing has fast become a threat to Australian industry, with competition for copper concentrates pushing down costs.

The Queensland government has offered some support measures, while also calling on the federal tier of government to do more heavy lifting on the issue.

Senator McDonald told parliament that failings of the industry in rural and regional towns would have a follow-on effect that could impact the entire nation.

“These aren’t just facilities, they are the economic backbone of the region-17,000 jobs directly and indirectly depend on them,” she said.

“We saw what happened when the Yabulu Nickel Refinery closed in 2016, Townsville still bears the scar.

“This is a national interest issue.”

McDonald questioned why the current government was not doing more to secure Australia’s industry.

“Copper is essential from houses to phones to defence hardware but instead of strengthening our soverign capability, Labor is letting it slip away,” she said.

“Labor needs to wake up because if they don’t support copper and critical minerals processing in the north there will be no future made in Australia.”

‘House of Cards’

Katter has also warned that failure to protect the copper industry could collapse the entire industrial ecosystem in the North West.

“Here we are, with the copper smelter; if it falls, it’s a house of cards—the fertiliser plant, the rail, the next generation of miners who want to help Australia benefit from the $700 billion in resources which are in the ground in the North West—that all goes if the smelter goes,” he said during a trip to Canberra on Aug. 1.

Katter joined regional leaders, junior miners, and affected workers to call for intervention.

“I get so frustrated when I talk about nation building, and wealth generating projects and people think it’s all about us in Mount Isa or other remote parts of Queensland,” he said.

“This is as much about the future of Australia’s sovereign capabilities in manufacturing and value adding, as it is the future of Mount Isa.

“Australia simply cannot let strategic infrastructure such as the Mount Isa Smelter fail and be shut down by a multinational trading company who do not share our appetite for preserving critical industry.”

Katter said it was wrong to allow the industry to shut down when the world would need more copper in the next 25 years than in any other time in history.

“We come here to Canberra optimistic, that the Australian Government, the Queensland Government, and the current owners can rapidly come to a genuine, real, and sustainable outcome, that will enable Australia’s copper future, Queensland’s industrial powerhouse, and future generations of Mount Isa mining,” he said.

“This is not a case of ‘she’ll be right’, and ‘they’ll get through it’—this stuff is very real, and I don’t think we’ve ever experienced anything like it in our history.”

Labor industry minister Tim was contacted for comment.