Washington’s woman in Australia Caroline Kennedy backs WA as anchor in US alliance

From delivering critical minerals for the energy transition, becoming an anchor of national security, to providing a new home for sailors and their families, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy is backing in WA as the nucleus of the US-Australia alliance. The daughter of late US President John F. Kennedy spoke to The West Australian at the end of a jam-packed visit to WA from her usual station in Canberra. She arrived in Perth earlier this month following an eight-day journey in a $1500 Ford Falcon to raise money for cancer research. Critical minerals and AUKUS — the landmark three-way defence partnership between the US, UK and Australia — have been leading items on the Ambassador’s agenda, and represent key relationship pillars between the superpower and the lucky country. “National security, AUKUS, our economic relationship and now climate change. Western Australia is at the centre of all of those,” the Ambassador on Friday said. “With the green energy transition, Western Australia has all the critical minerals that are needed, and so much work is going into developing secure resilient supply chains, with high labour and environmental standards.” The visit came shortly after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had presented his May budget centrepiece, Future Made in Australia, to mixed reviews from economists and fellow politicians. Finer details of the policy are yet to be revealed, but the thrust of it indicates that the Federal Government will be coughing up incentives to grow manufacturing efforts in Australia. It comes as part of a broader bid to keep Australia relevant in the global critical minerals race, where competitors like China and Indonesia have built up capabilities to churn out and sell refined nickel, lithium and rare earths, while miners in WA still largely rely on digging and exporting. Mining companies have been lobbying for tax credits and other incentives from the Government to help with the high costs that comes with building new refineries. The Ambassador backed in the manufacturing push as a move she thinks will help make Australian mining more resilient, following her recent warning the sector was “under assault” from international competition. “Everybody is trying to shore up their own economies and invest to upgrade their manufacturing capability, Australia in particular, because you have this abundance of natural resources that is unparalleled in the world. You’ve been able to rely on that,” she said. “And now . . . COVID taught us all that we need to be more self-sufficient, resilient, and work with trusted partners. So I think this Made in Australia agenda will really help.” The new policy riffs off the US’s own Inflation Reduction Act, which has purportedly driven investment of about $US5 billion ($7.7b) into Australian companies since it was launched in 2022. Ms Kennedy has also said during her WA trip that there was “much more coming” in terms of US support, including more offtakes between US automakers and local miners, as well as a potential visit from US export credit agency EXIM Bank. AUKUS Part of the Ambassador’s visit included a meeting with a raft of Federal, State and Local Government heads about AUKUS. She said they were “enthusiastic” about the 700 or so submariners and their families expected to call WA home when submarines start regularly rotating through HMAS Stirling from 2027. Australia expects to buy at least three of the nuclear-powered (not armed) US Virginia class boats in the early 2030s. The plan is eventually for Australia to start building a new SSN-AUKUS design of submarine. “The Virginia class subs will be at Stirling, that will bring sailors and their families. I know that all the US sailors want to be closer to Perth,” she said. The USS Annapolis visited WA in March and another visit from a submarine tender is expected later this year, in a bid to give Australian sailors the right experience working on nuclear-powered submarines. “There will be increasing tempo of visits. And Australian sailors will be crewing on those ships,” she said. But she was also conscious that WA representatives were “eager” to know how to prepare their cities as more submarines roll in. “They’re all waiting for information about what they need to do specifically to host . . . and get their own communities ready to make sure that the impact of the US personnel is not a burden, but an opportunity for them in terms of housing and services,” Ambassador Kennedy said. “It’s complex and there’s so much planning that goes into it on the US side as well as here, so I understand that they would be eager to get moving so that there’s not a time lag.” The Ambassador said there was “strong bipartisan support” for AUKUS and Australia, and didn’t see a potential change of Government in the US threatening delivery. “This is really moving.”