The Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA (CME) has called on the Federal Government to ensure Australia’s mining and resources sector remains internationally competitive in its 2026–27 federal pre-budget submission.
In its submission, CME outlined key recommendations across taxation, energy pricing, environmental reform, the critical minerals reserve and responsible land access.
Taxation settings, emissions reduction policy and the delivery of promised improvements to project assessment timeframes were identified as priority areas.
CME chief executive officer Aaron Morey said Australia’s ability to continue attracting investment would be critical to maintaining national living standards.
“The Australian resources sector invested $1.7 trillion over the past two decades to build an industry that pays the highest average wages in the country and underwrites both the WA and national budgets,” Morey said.
“But the fundamentals that underpinned that investment are eroding quickly. Whether it’s taxation, energy costs or approvals timeframes, we simply aren’t keeping pace with competitors hungry to emulate Australia’s success.”
CME has recommended the government renew its commitment to no new or additional taxes on the resources sector, reject the introduction of a proposed 5 per cent net cashflow tax, and retain the Fuel Tax Credit scheme in its current form.
On energy pricing, CME called for improvements to the design of the Capacity Investment Scheme to ensure it fully bridges the commercial gap between prices industrial customers can afford and the returns generation proponents require to reach final investment decisions.
The chamber also urged the government to retain the technology-neutral Safeguard Mechanism as the principal policy lever for least-cost decarbonisation across the resources sector, while outlining measures to protect export-exposed industries from the risk of carbon leakage.
With international agreements creating growing opportunities for Australia’s critical minerals sector, Morey said maintaining global competitiveness would be essential.
“The opportunity before us is immense – but so is the competition,” he said.
“Without urgent action, Australia risks missing out on the next major wave of global resources investment.”
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