It was interesting this week to hear the state government had some international engagement with the North West Minerals Province.
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said experts from his department hosted a special engagement session with the Movement of the Enterprises of France, which has more than 750,000 member companies.
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Some 30 firms attended with direct interest in the minerals supply chain, from upstream extraction to downstream processing and manufacturing.
The Minister said this was the first step with similar events planned for Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and the UK.
It is a promising move and although electric vehicles weren't specifically, North West Queensland copper and rare earth metals play an important role in the supply chain.
Only this week Melbourne startup Relectrify has received a $1.49 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to repurpose old electric car batteries to store power for businesses through a multi-million dollar project.
It will extend the lifetime of electric vehicle batteries, which are usually replaced when they reach 80 per cent of their original capacity.
Federal energy minister Angus Taylor has recently released his future fuels strategy, which includes the government's electric vehicle policy.
Disappointingly he has ruled out subsidies to make such cars more affordable instead opting to help businesses go electric for their company cars.
The Electric Vehicle Council has described Mr Taylor's proposal as "another flaccid, do-nothing" document.
"Australia's inertia on EV has been noticed by the global auto sector, which now withholds the best and most affordable electric vehicles from our market," the group said in a statement.
If only this government put the same energy into securing Australia's future in renewable industries as it does into dubious "clean coal" schemes we'd be in much better position.
It would heighten interest in the NWMP's offerings and Mr Stewart would have a better story to tell Movement of the Enterprises of France.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
