Companies producing renewable hydrogen or processing critical minerals will receive tax credits to bolster the domestic industry.
The Australian government announced Monday that its Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credit and Other Measures) Bill 2024 has passed the Senate, paving the way for a combined $8.6 billion (AUS$ 13.7 billion) in tax breaks to flow into the domestic production of renewable hydrogen and critical minerals processing and refinement.
The bill is a central component of the overarching Future Made in Australia initiative, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled last April (we reported). In detail, the legislation contains two provisions: a hydrogen production credit, which provides companies with $1.26 (AUS$2) per kilogram produced, and a critical mineral production credit, which provides ten percent of processing and refining costs for Australia’s 31 critical minerals.
With these incentives, the Australian government seeks to accelerate the growth of the country’s emerging domestic downstream critical minerals sector. Historically, companies in this sector have often relied on overseas processing for their raw materials.
In a social media post, Resource Minister Madeleine King described the bill as a “game changer for Australia’s emerging critical minerals industry, especially in Western Australia and Queensland.”
Photo: blueringmedia, abzee via Canva, montage rawmaterials.net