Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2672 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 20 October 2025, President Donald J. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed at the White House the "United States-Australia Framework for Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths" — a non-binding common-policy instrument committing both governments to provide at least USD 1 billion each in financing within six months (USD 3bn+ joint commitment against an USD 8.5bn project pipeline and a stated USD 53bn recoverable-resource pipeline). The framework establishes a US-Australia Critical Minerals Supply Security Response Group co-led by the US Secretary of Energy and the Australian Minister for Resources, mandates streamlined permitting for mining/separation/processing projects, and explicitly couples the US demand-side architecture (DPA Title III + Defense Logistics Agency stockpile) to Australia's Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. Concurrent with signing, EXIM issued seven Letters of Interest totalling USD 2.2bn (unlocking up to USD 5bn) to Arafura Rare Earths, Northern Minerals, Graphinex, La Trobe Magnesium, VHM, RZ Resources, and Sunrise Energy Metals; the US Department of War separately committed to a 100 metric-ton-per-year advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia, and Australia took USD 200m concessional equity in the Alcoa-Sojitz Wagerup gallium project and USD 100m equity in the Arafura Nolans rare-earths project.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve (CMSR) on 24 April 2025 as a A$1.2bn election commitment in the 2025-26 Budget. The Department of Industry, Science and Resources released the design package on 12 January 2026, prioritising antimony, gallium, and rare earth elements as the initial focus minerals (A$1bn for offtake transactions drawn from an expanded A$5bn Critical Minerals Facility, plus A$185m for physical stockpiling and implementation). The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Act 2026 passed Parliament on 31 March 2026 with effect 1 April 2026, giving Export Finance Australia (EFA) statutory power to enter offtake agreements, contracts for difference, forward contracts, and physical stockpiles for fuel and critical minerals. CMSR becomes operational in second half 2026.

Australia's Future Made in Australia package, announced in the 2024-25 Federal Budget on 14 May 2024, commits A$22.7bn over 10 years to position Australia as a preferred supplier in the global clean-energy and critical-minerals supply chain. The two flagship production tax incentives are: (1) the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive (10% of eligible processing and refining costs for 31 critical minerals) and (2) the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (A$2 per kg of eligible renewable or low-emissions hydrogen, 2027-2040). A National Interest Framework administered by DISR determines which investments qualify. The framework act established a Future Made in Australia Coordinator and consolidated existing industrial-support vehicles (NAIF, EFA) under a single policy lens.

Act No. 9 of 2025, given Royal Assent on 14 February 2025, enacts the two production tax credits announced in the May 2024 Future Made in Australia package. Schedule 1 creates the Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (HPTI): A$2/kg refundable tax offset for eligible renewable hydrogen produced with emissions intensity below 0.6 kgCO2e/kg H2. Schedule 2 creates the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive (CMPTI): a refundable 10% tax offset on eligible processing and refining expenditure for the 31 minerals on Australia's Critical Minerals List. Both offsets apply to production occurring between 1 July 2027 and 30 June 2040, capped at 10 years per project, administered by the ATO via new Divisions 419 (CMPTI) and 421 (HPTI) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

Released 9 May 2024 by the Minister for Resources Madeleine King through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the Future Gas Strategy is Australia's first national-level gas-policy framework, explicitly committing gas to a continuing supply role "through to 2050 and beyond" in support of the net-zero transition. The Strategy is built on six guiding principles -- gas must remain affordable for Australian users during transition, reliable supply requires new sources, emissions from production and use must be reduced, gas exports remain critical to global decarbonisation pathways, competitive gas markets are essential, and collaboration is needed to deliver these objectives -- and is paired with a separate Future Gas Strategy Analytical Report. It sets the Commonwealth policy posture for all subsequent LNG-export approval decisions (Northwest Shelf, Beetaloo, Scarborough), east-coast domestic-supply policy (including the AEMO gas-statement-of- opportunities forecast and any future domestic-reservation intervention), and Australia's international posture on long-term LNG offtake renewals with Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Act 2023 (Act No. 12 of 2023, Cth) received royal assent on 11 April 2023 and established the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) as a corporate Commonwealth entity under the PGPA Act 2013, formally constituted on 18 September 2023. The Act commits A$15 billion of concessional finance (loans, equity and guarantees) to projects in seven declared priority areas: renewables and low-emission technologies; medical science; transport; value-add in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; value-add in resources; defence capability; and enabling capabilities (advanced manufacturing, AI, robotics, quantum). The NRFC predates and underpins the 2024 Future Made in Australia package -- it is the equity/loan-finance instrument of the Australian industrial-policy stack, distinct from the FMIA umbrella framework and from the FMIA Production Tax Credits Act 2024 (the tax-credit instrument).