PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Aluminium Council has called on the commonwealth Parliament to remove two imposts on Australia’s aluminium industry.

Executive director Miles Prosser noted that the industry continued to be weighed down by "punitive and unnecessary" imposts as it competed with global aluminium producers.

“Now is the time for Parliamentarians to release the cost burden and allow Australia’s aluminium industry to compete.” 

Globally, Australia was the second-largest producer of alumina and the sixth for aluminium, but faced higher climate policy costs than any other country.  Further, Prosser noted that the A$8-billion export industry was facing its toughest conditions ever owing to the historically low aluminium price and persistently strong Australian dollar.

“Australia’s refineries and smelters are fighting for survival. The Senate must quickly allow the repeal of the carbon tax or explain why their posturing and delay is worth risking decades of investment and thousands of jobs,” said Prosser.

“Any delay after July 1, cuts into our competitiveness by millions of dollars a month. At that rate, it threatens the very future of Australia’s manufacturing industry. The Senate should pass the repeal now and stop playing politics with jobs and businesses.”

Prosser also drew attention to the impact of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) on an industry that uses electricity to transform Australia’s bauxite reserves into aluminium.

“RET costs are an even greater drag on our industry than the carbon tax. The government’s current review of the RET provides the opportunity to remove the subsidy all electricity users currently pay to renewable generators. That would reduce costs not just for aluminium smelting but for all Australians.”

Prosser warned that the aluminium industry had reached the crisis point, and called on Parliament to move quickly to lift the cost burdens from what is left of Australian manufacturing.