8 May 2024

The Albanese Government will deliver a generational investment to find new deposits of minerals and sources of energy to help build a Future Made in Australia, as part of a big focus on resources in next week’s Budget.

The Budget will show that the Government will invest $566.1 million over ten years from 2024-25 to deliver data, maps and other tools for use by the resources industry that will point the way to new discoveries, power our economy and commit to the full mapping of Australia over the next generation.

We’ll deploy Australia’s top geoscientists to fully map Australian resources that will power our future, help us make more here at home, and create good secure jobs now and for the next generation.

The landmark long-term investment, led by Geoscience Australia, underscores the Government’s plan to put the resources industry at the heart of its Future Made in Australia policy.

Through this program, regional communities, farmers and First Nations peoples will be supported to manage their land and water resources, and be more fully informed about potential mining projects.

The funding means Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity (RAP) will be fully funded for 35 years – setting our resources industry up for decades of exploration and future economy-making discoveries.

For the first time RAP will map offshore areas of Australia as well, pointing the way for sites for carbon capture and storage, as well as possible sites for clean hydrogen projects.

It will provide a deeper understanding of the resource potential of our regions by mapping out all of Australia’s groundwater systems, supporting climate resilience, our agricultural sector, and water security for communities and the environment.

Geoscience Australia’s precompetitive data program has already led to major discoveries – including deposits of the critical minerals and rare earths needed to build clean energy technologies to get to net zero.

Precompetitive geoscience is the key to the strength of Australia’s resources sector, with Deloitte Access Economics finding that existing public precompetitive geoscience was estimated to have supported $76 billion of value added to the Australian economy and 80,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2021-2022 alone.

Australian precompetitive geoscience has helped stimulate an unprecedented level of exploration activity, with 65 companies exploring across 569 tenements, covering over 290,000 square kilometres of Australia.

Quotes attributable to Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese 

“There is no nation on earth better placed than Australia to achieve our goal of moving toward a clean energy future.

“This investment highlights my Government’s commitment to building a secure and sustainable future for all Australians. By investing significantly in geoscience, we can boost our progress towards net zero.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for Resources, Madeleine King 

“The road to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector.

“This funding will ensure we can draw the map for our resources companies to find the minerals we need to drive our economy and build the technology we need to reduce emissions.

“The Albanese Government has put the resources industry at the heart of its policy making because it knows a strong resources sector means a strong Australia.

“Geoscience Australia is a world-leading scientific institution that all Australians should be proud of, and this funding will be an unprecedented investment in our geoscience capability.”