Our thoughts are first and foremost with the 220 workers, their families, and the broader Kwinana community who face uncertainty as a result of today’s announcement to close the Alcoa alumina refinery.
This closure is another devastating blow for manufacturing in Western Australia, following the suspension of Nickel West just last year on Labor’s watch.
It shows that under the Albanese Government a “Future Made in Australia” is a slogan, not a reality, as Labor presides over the steady erosion of our industrial base.
It is especially disappointing that the Resources Minister, whose own electorate includes Kwinana, has stood by while hundreds of jobs have been lost in her own community.
Australia is now down to just five alumina refineries, a stark warning of how fragile our manufacturing base has become.
Across the country, businesses are struggling under record high energy prices, stalled environmental approvals, reckless industrial relations policies and Labor’s punitive safeguard mechanism.
These policies are making it harder for key sectors to invest, expand, and compete internationally.
Instead of securing jobs, Labor’s policies are accelerating closures and putting entire regional economies at risk.
This is not just a local tragedy for Kwinana — it is part of a broader national failure to support industry and manufacturing.
This latest development causes grave concern for workers, and their families, in other significant at-risk industrial facilities across Australia, including in Mount Isa and Townsville. These workers remain in limbo because of the Albanese Government’s inability to secure an agreeable arrangement with Glencore.
Western Australians deserve better than Labor’s neglect and short-term thinking.
Instead of fighting for these workers, as Labor once did, the Prime Minister was campaigning in the UK, leaving Australians to wonder why their livelihoods matter less than his partisan politics abroad.
The Coalition will continue to fight for a stronger future that secures jobs, investment, and economic resilience for all Australians.