Big ideas for industry: the BBMC Crib Room Podcast
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s a new initiative in 2020, we started the BBMC Crib Room Podcast. In the Crib Room, we sit down with mining industry leaders and trailblazers to find out how they joined the industry, how they’d tackle big issues, and where they see the future of the industry heading. Nothing is off the table in The Crib Room – here’s an excerpt of the ‘big ideas’ we discussed in Season 1. Interested in Season 2? Search ‘BBMC Crib Room’ wherever you listen to your podcasts, or visit bit.ly/ cribroompodcast. Episode 1 The Big Questions – the Hon. Keith Pitt, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia This open and frank discussion was an opportunity for the Federal Minister to outline his approach to his (at the time) new portfolio and how the pandemic has impacted activity. Right from finding out the Minister’s passion for car restoration and his humble start as an electrician, to discussing localised manufacturing and processing of our abundant natural resources – our discussion covered it all.
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BBMC Yearbook 2020
The Minister also explained his views on some big questions like energy security and the plans for COVID-19 recovery. “It’s a world of opportunity, but we've got to get the fundamentals right: and the fundamentals are a competitive gas price and a competitive electricity price. We do need to be able to continue to compete in a worldwide market. Australia's always been a trading nation. We will continue to be a trading nation and trade means jobs for us. The price of electricity is critical for everybody in Australia, whether you are the butcher, baker or candlestick maker, and particularly if you want to be competitive in manufacturing and downstream processing. I know wholesale prices are down substantially right across the market, so I'd expect that will flow through to domestic prices in the very near future. The Australian Government has committed to underwrite new power generation into the market. And of course, additional supply always means lower prices. In terms of a gas-fired recovery [from COVID-19], there's technology potentially on the horizon, but we’re not going to sit around and wait for technology to appear. We are working hard in the hydrogen space, but a gas-led recovery will mean lower electricity prices as long as we can get competitive gas prices into the market.”
