Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Nicolle, for that that great welcome, it's great to be back here in Western Australia. You should have heard Joe and Boris say AUKUS for the first time. And they're as passionate as I am.
Can I also thank you Professor Hayward, Aunty Colleen, for your Welcome to Country. Kaya. And if we were in Ngunnawal we'd be saying yuma, and it's great to be here with you all here today.
Can I also thank you, Chris, for your introduction. Can I thank you for the partnership, and I call it that, that we've had with the Chamber here in Western Australia. The thing I really love about the Chamber here is you just don't throw rocks from the sideline and just make daily complaints. You actually roll up your sleeves here in the Chamber and you work with governments. You work with our Government, you’ve worked very closely with our Government, you work with the state governments. You’re a very practical organisation focused on getting the right outcomes for the Western Australian economy. And what I know is what's good for the Western Australian economy is good for the national economy. And so I do want to thank the Chamber for their partnership they’ve had with us. I'm sure Premier McGowan feels the same way, just about the constructive way the Chamber engages. I think it is a national standout when it comes to representative bodies in this country, in the pragmatic, respectful and I think very diligent way that you conduct yourselves. So to you, Chris, and to you, Nicolle, thank you very much for your leadership in that regard.
On the, can I acknowledge, of course, all my colleagues who I can see here with me, and we've already called the role for them today. And so it's a shame we can't have more in the room today. Every time I've spoken here in the West, the Chamber has turned out in large numbers, and I particularly remember the last time up in Kings Park, which was a great time, but we've been through a lot since then and it's tremendous to be back here with you. But to Michaelia, of course, and to Linda and Melissa, who's here, and Bennie Morton and the team who are with us here today, I want to thank you for the leadership. I mean, this is just a fraction of the Western Australians in my Cabinet, in my Ministry. There are many more. Of course, if there were a change of Government, well, there wouldn't be, I'm not even sure they'd be one, frankly. There certainly hasn't been in the past often. And so under our Government, we've had tremendously strong, passionate, dedicated representation from our Western Australia members and they are such an important part of our team.
So it was on the 24th of June in 2019, after the last election, that I made my first major economic speech after that election. And I did it right here in Western Australia, Perth, to the Chamber. And I said to you then that whether it's the GST or other economic debates, the Chamber would always come to the table and express their views in the way that I've already mentioned. So I appreciate that.
I was here, as I just said, at Kings Park in April last year. And so, again, it's great to be here. May I firstly, as I have already, acknowledged Aunty Colleen, but can I acknowledge the traditional owners, the Noongar people, and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Can I also acknowledge any members of the Australian Defence Force and veterans who have joined us here today. I was out at the SAS Regiment yesterday and was out there thanking them for the amazing job that they do for our country. I'm very proud of the SAS Regiment. I’m very proud of the work that they do. They're proud Western Australians, even if they've come from all over the country. And I know Western Australia’s very proud of the SAS Regiment as well. The SAS Regiment, right now, is over with their other colleagues from the Defence Forces cleaning up what has been one of the worst flood I’ve ever seen in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see what's occurring there, and I've seen Western Australians there in those flood impact zones. Those have come from government agencies here in Western Australia, those who’ve been part of the Defence Forces, volunteers who have just turned up. And, you know, we're one big country and I'm so pleased that we're all together again. And I think that was demonstrated in the presence of Western Australians, Tasmanians and Victorians, South Australians up there, Queenslanders in the middle of those terrible floods. So thank you, Western Australia, and thank you to our Defence Forces in particular.
We find ourselves in very different circumstances, though, to when we last met. COVID, of course, has been the test of our times and the people of Western Australia, I think, can be rightly proud, rightly proud of how Western Australians have met this test. Today, on the other side of the country, as I've said, many, many, many thousands of Australians continue to deal with those devastating floods in both New South Wales and Queensland. Again, an enormous test of national resilience.
And at the same time, we're facing a pivotal moment, I believe, in world history - an uncertain time, a very uncertain time for our global economy and global stability. Russia's illegal, unjustified, unprovoked war in the Ukraine, invading their neighbour is an unconscionable assault on freedom and national sovereignty and a rules-based order that favours freedom. And so we stand with the people of Ukraine, and I met with the leaders of the Ukrainian community yesterday in Mirrabooka, and with many other ethnic community leaders here in Western Australia, with Vince Connelly, who's doing a terrific job as our candidate for Cowan and the ongoing member for Stirling.
And we stand with those in the Ukraine, and we've stood with them in practical ways, not just in words, tangible support from medicines to missiles. That's what we're doing to help Ukraine right now, and we’ve been processing visas of Ukrainian applicants that come to Australia at unprecedented levels. And we'll be welcoming many Ukrainians to Australia in that way.
But I think, more than anything, the people in the Ukraine, and particularly those who have ancestry here in Australia, will just want the best for their homeland and for people to be able to return there in peace and live there peacefully.
But what all this shows is the conflict in Europe means the global economy faces new headwinds, and we're not immune from the negative impact and the fallout from Russia's war of choice and their violent threats and following those through. We are facing the biggest energy shock since the 1970s, and that is likely to depress global growth, and we know high oil prices means greater pressure on family budgets at the petrol bowser. We know that, we're all experiencing that, and we know what's caused it. And the challenges therefore are very great.
But so are the opportunities, and this is what I love about Western Australia. The most optimistic place you could possibly find. And it's why I love coming back here over and over again, and have done so well before I even went into Parliament, because it's such a positive, optimistic place. And I want to commend Western Australians for that positivity. But I also want to commend you for your patience and your perseverance and public spiritedness over the last three years. We're coming through this latest wave in a once in a century pandemic. And while I know in WA case numbers are just peaking now from the Omicron wave, your relatively low hospitalisations, almost completely zero hospitalisation rates at a severe level, and death rates, are a testament to the strength of the public health response here in Western Australia. And WA now has the highest vaccination rates in the country. And I think that's to the great credit of the Western Australian people and the Government's actions. And I'm advised that today Western Australia will reach six million vaccinations, and that's quite a milestone, and I congratulate you.
Here in the West, the virus experience, though, has been different to the rest of the country, especially to the eastern states. You've travelled a somewhat different path, and throughout the pandemic I have always acknowledged and respected Western Australia's unique situation and the path that WA has taken, and I continue to, and I do so. And Premier McGowan regularly acknowledges this. As we've gathered around the National Cabinet table 67 occasions in the last two years, and they aren’t ten minute meetings. These meetings will go for two, three hours, on occasions even longer than that, particularly early in the pandemic, and as particularly as the pandemic moved from a national impact and it became quite specific to the experience in each state, we became very conscious of the need for different pathways because of the way the virus was impacting. And that was particularly true here in Western Australia. And I'm sure Mark would agree, as he has acknowledged that there has been a different path here in WA, which has been necessary.
And we’ve backed this up, though, not just saying that, with direct financial support. In addition to increasing our funding contribution for public hospitals here in Western Australia by 84 per cent since we first came to government, to $2.5 billion now a year, that’s current year 2020-2021. We have so far provided $803 million in funding to support the WA health system to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks - $803 million. We also established 11 Commonwealth-funded GP respiratory clinics, fully funded by the Federal Government, here in Western Australia, and that support just doesn't stop that the borders are now open.
We have stood with Western Australians every step of the way and we will continue to do so. We’ll continue going 50-50 with Premier McGowan and his Government on COVID health costs as the state reopens and faces new challenges. That 50-50 covers everything from the test you have, to treatments that you receive, to containing COVID. And through our Community Health and Hospitals Program, our Government is investing over $140 million right across Western Australia to fund projects and services to support patient care while reducing pressure on community and hospital services. Now that includes $25 million for the expansion of the Peel Hospital Campus and more than $25 million, which I know Melissa Price is very pleased about, for the WA Country Health Service Cancer Strategy, including the oncology, Radiation Oncology at the Geraldton Health Campus.
We've also turned up with more than $14 billion - just think about it, fourteen thousand million dollars - in direct economic support to Western Australia during the pandemic - JobKeeper, cash flow boosts, payments for veterans, carers, other income support. And that's on top of all the health spending that I've talked about - some $803 million, which has dealt with everything from vaccines through to mental health support and picking up 50 per cent of the hospital bills that relate to COVID.
Now, as we were reminded by Chris, that comes on top of the additional GST that WA has been receiving as a result of that fair GST deal that we worked together to deliver, and I was able to deliver back in 2018 as Prime Minister in Parliament, and as Treasurer before that, securing that agreement. Now I always talk about this when I come to Western Australia because it's important we do, because it wasn't a one off. It wasn't just one year when WA got a top up payment. This is a forever agreement. It certainly is under my Government. WA’s top up payments over the last three years over, the last three Budgets - $4.9 billion, $4.9 billion. And from this coming Budget year, out to 2026-2027, WA will receive around $2.6 billion additional revenue every single year on average for a total of $13 billion as a result of our fair GST deal. Now that's a significant change, and it's a fair change. It's the right change. It's not some special concession to WA. That's not my, that's not my point at all. It's recognition of the unfairness of what was there before and what you can achieve when you work together and you take on the argument, you prosecute it, as I did as Treasurer and as Prime Minister, to ensure that Western Australia didn't get some parochial payback. But actually it was recognised that this was in the national interest and that's what carried the day. And that's the argument I was pleased to progress.
And so that's, over $2.5 billion every year is going into the Western Australian Budget to pay for hospitals, for schools, for police forces, for emergency responses, for all of the things that state governments do. And that is as a direct result of the intervention, the initiative that our Government took. Now plenty of other people will say, oh yeah, we agree with that. We agree with that. Yeah we’re just the same as you guys on that. It’s what the Labor Party says - oh, we’re just the same. Well, they didn’t do it. They didn't take it on, they didn’t make the case. They’d say something here in Western Australia - oh, it's very unfair what's happened to you on the GST. And then they go to Tasmania or Queensland, and say the complete opposite, and they're still doing that on so many issues today.
In fact, who knows what they stand for. I don't know. They clearly don't seem to know, and aren’t prepared to tell anybody about it anyway. And the election is not far away, and it's time they started coming clean with the Australian people. But you know where we stand, and particularly on the issue of GST, because we just didn't agree with someone else about it after the fact and after all the hard work was delivered and it was done. We were there at the start. We took on the risks. We made the case. I made the case in my own home state on the east coast, and we took that on. And could I tell you, one of the big reasons that happened was because of the big chorus of WA members and senators that sit in my Party Room. Steve Irons, in particular, who is retiring at this election, who I flatted with, I don't think I could come home on any night for years without Steve raising this issue. And so do not underestimate the strength of the Western Australian voice in my Government. It's big, it's loud, it's determined. It's very Western Australia and it never lets up. But that's how you get results like the change that we were able to deliver for the GST. It happened because of the, of the voice of Western Australian Liberal members and senators who work so well together, and particularly under Michaelia’s leadership, as she is our senior Western Australian member.
So we are one of the few countries that have had a success through the pandemic, that few have also been able to experience. We have saved more than 40,000 lives here in Australia. As I remarked to a group last night, it's the number of lives that were lost by Australians in the Second World War in combat. We saved 40,000 lives in this country in our national pandemic response, working together with the states and territories, working together with the Western Australian State Government here, and National Cabinet cops a bit of a bad rap. But I'll tell you, Mark and I understand its value because we know what it's been able to deliver. How do you measure its success? 40,000 lives saved is a pretty good place to start, and I think that's what it has achieved. Others have been critical of it. Others say it should be abolished. In fact, the Labor Party want to abolish it. I don't know what they’re going to replace it with, the thing that was there before was hopeless, wasn't working at all. And this has enabled us to achieve one of the most significant responses that we've ever seen to a national crisis through the course of this pandemic.
We've stepped up world leading vaccination rates, and WA now leading the pack. We’ve out-performed major advanced economies. Our economy is now 3.4 per cent larger than when the pandemic hit. Around 260,000 more Australians are in work today than at the start of the pandemic. There are more Australians of working age in jobs today. Let me say that again. Of everybody of working age in this country, 76.3 per cent of them are in a job. That is the highest proportion of people of working age in jobs in Australia's recorded history. How do I know our national economic plan is working? Because Australians are working. And that is the ultimate test. Australia's unemployment rate is at a 13-year low at 4.2 per cent. Our AAA credit rating remains intact, one of only nine countries to achieve this. There used to be more before the pandemic. There are a few of us now, and Australia is one of them.
And the WA economy has also shown incredible resilience. State final demand was 6.3 per cent larger at the end of 2021 than its pre-pandemic levels, the highest growth rate amongst all the mainland states, and having entered the pandemic with an unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent, WA now has the lowest jobless rate amongst all states at 3.7 per cent. Now that's a stunning achievement and one of our our Government is driving towards national outcomes as well.
So our goal is an Australia wide unemployment rate now with a three in front of it. This would be the lowest unemployment rate recorded since monthly labour force records began in 1978, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us to seize this, and we can't take it for granted. It just doesn't happen. You don’t just turn up and sit in Cabinet and Budget Committees every day and this is just a natural consequence. You have to do things, as we've been doing, to achieve this, particularly in the middle of a global crisis and a pandemic, as we've seen.
And WA remains the powerhouse of Australia's export earnings, led by the resources sector. WA iron ore exports alone brought in more than $151 billion in 2020-2021, and that's out of record resources and energy exports of $349 billion, which is projected to grow to $379 billion this financial year. Agriculture also - barley, oats, sheep meat, wool, fruit and vegetables, forestry products, wine, wheat, WA rock lobsters and many others, providing excellent returns of hundreds of billions of dollars. All commodities I’ve become closely interested in as we’ve negotiated some of these free trade agreements, particularly with the United Kingdom. Boris and I had dinner at Number 10. I've never had a discussion which has spoken as much about sheep meat and the weight of carcasses than Boris and I had around that table that night. He thought I drove a pretty hard bargain. I’ve got to tell you, I did, and I was really pleased with the result we were able to get for Australian producers.
Our Government's economic plan is about backing Australia's economic recovery out of this pandemic, but one driven by the private sector. This is really important. There are some out there who think this is an opportunity to build back better. Now that sounds good, doesn't it, build back better. I know what that means. I know what it's code for. And that was there was something wrong with how our economy worked before the pandemic. There was, there was too much business-led growth. There was too much market-based support for growing the economy and jobs, and you got to get the Government more in the centre of the economy. That's what that means, whether they call it build back better or build back stronger, it means the same thing. It means government more in your face, in your business, in your life. And that's not something my Government stands for, but that is the path that our political opponents would go down.
Though, them and their progressive fellow travellers in other places see this as an opportunity to rewrite the rules. Now, what we need in this country is business-led growth, and Western Australians understand that better than anyone. Our plan is one to create jobs, support future growth and most importantly, resilience across five core elements: keeping taxes low and cutting red tape. That's the first one. Secondly, investing in the infrastructure and skills that Australians need for a growing economy. The biggest challenge our economy faces today is labour force and the skills that that labour force needs to be able to deliver to our economy. Thirdly, it's about delivering affordable, reliable energy that Australian businesses need. Electricity prices fallen by eight per cent in the last two years as a result of the policies we pursued, while our emissions have fallen by around 20 per cent. You know, other countries can't claim that, can't say they’ve cut emissions by around 20 per cent in the United States, in New Zealand, in Canada, in Japan. Yeah we have, and our plan for net zero by 2050 is based on technology, not taxes. It's based on choices, not mandates. And this is the path we believe which will see us achieve success.
Fourthly, it's about making Australia a top 10 data and digital economy by 2030, and I’ve spoken to you about that before. And fifthly, securing our sovereign manufacturing, our Australian manufacturing capability, so we continue to make things here in Australia, particularly in the areas which are so critical to our resilience, and unlock a new generation of high wage, high skilled jobs.
And in just under two weeks, the Treasurer, who I spoke to on the way here this morning, will outline the Government’s Budget and the next phase of our plan for a stronger Australian economy, because a strong economy means a stronger future for all Australians, and that's what's at stake at this next election. Our economic plan is vital to our nation's economic security, but also to all other goals we have of Australians. It underpins, yes, our defence security. It means we can make investments to strengthen our Defence Forces, like the ones we’ve, we announced yesterday in supporting the development of the dry-dock out at Henderson, the $30 billion of investment in our naval shipbuilding here in Western Australia alone, increasing the size of our Defence Forces by 18,500. And that starts straight away. These are the things that a strong economy enables us to do. It supports the government services and essentials that all Australians rely on.
Plenty of people talk about what they want to do for services, but the reason we have record spending in health and education and mental health and supporting the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the pension increases that put in place this week, which are costing $2 billion a year, is because we know how to run a strong economy, even in the midst of a global pandemic. So it means we can continue to do that. Schools, hospitals, roads and the GST fair deal, particularly here for Western Australia. It buttresses our energy security and sovereign capability. It's about backing our strengths, backing Australians to unlock the opportunities that they see before them, that Western Australians are always so clear eyed about. It is a plan for WA Unlimited, based squarely on backing business-led growth.
Today I want to focus on a couple of things. I want to talk about resources. I want to talk about manufacturing. But, firstly, on resources, let me say this. We know that WA resources sector is a pillar of economic strength for our nation. Mining sector this year accounted for well over 40 per cent of gross value added in WA. Traditional strengths in sectors such as iron ore, gold, LNG, have made WA one of the world's great mining provinces. Our resources companies are world leading when it comes to competitiveness, efficiency, technological innovation and searching for new growth markets, but also in energy transformation and what they're doing in emissions reduction - world leaders.
Our Government will continue to back in the WA resources sector unequivocally, just as Liberals and Nationals always have. And if you want an example of what that means in practice and a comparison with our opponents at this election, here in Western Australia, the Premier and I agreed that we needed to change the EPBC Act. We needed to change it. We needed to get single touch approvals for major projects, in particular, and get rid of all that red tape that was blocking investment here in Western Australia. And the Premier and I said, this is what we have to do, and all the other premiers around the table agreed. So we worked up legislation which we took into the Parliament and I want to acknowledge the work that Ben Morton did on this, who leads our regulatory reform agenda for the Government, working with Sussan Ley, and we said we need to make these changes. We put the Bill into the Parliament. Labor and the Greens opposed it. So if they want to tell you that they're for the resources industry here in Western Australia, why did they vote against the legislation that encourages investment in resources here in Western Australia?
And we're seeing a lot of this as we move up to this next election. We're seeing a lot of, oh, we agree with them on this. We agree with them on submarines, but we just don't agree with them on where they want to have fleet bases and infrastructure built. You know, each way on all of these issues. It's one thing to say you agree with something, it's another thing to do it, and we've been doing it. And I think the scrutiny on the alternative at this election is very important for the future of this country. We know what we stand for. Australians don't know what our opponents stand for, and these are key issues. And when it comes to the crunch, when you can vote for the resources industry in Western Australia by supporting that legislation or voting against it, the Labor Party chooses to oppose it.
I want to particularly acknowledge, of course, the Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt, who is a magnificent champion for our resources industry in our Government. As the global economy changes, there are exciting new growth opportunities emerging in new areas such as rare earths and critical minerals. I think the Greens think they're things you put in the bath. They're not. They're very important to Australia's future and particularly to Western Australia. Australia produces around half the world's lithium and we are the second largest producer of cobalt and the fourth largest producer of rare earths. Western Australia holds the majority of Australia's critical minerals and rare earths resources. Increasing demand for the critical minerals required for the global transition to clean energy will present significant opportunities here in Western Australia for decades to come, but we have to seize them. It won't just happen on its own.
Demand for critical minerals is also increasing due to the expansion of their use in aerospace and defence and other high end technological applications. And it's not just an economic imperative and opportunity for us. It's strategically imperative. It's an area of vital national interest, and not just for Australia. That's why we're working closely on critical minerals and other supply chain challenges with our like-minded partners and allies, especially through the Quad, which is the group of leaders - myself, President Biden, Prime Minister Modi and Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan. The Quad dialogue we've ensured and led the debate in focusing on the issues of reliable supply chains, endurable supply chains, and alternative supply chains around critical minerals and rare earths. And our goal is to make Australia a critical minerals powerhouse in the new global economy. And I remember Linda Reynolds making exactly these same points as we began this process some years ago, passionately speaking up for Western Australia.
Our 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy is delivering on this commitment. We have significant reserves across a range of critical minerals, with a notable footprint in mining and first stage processing. For example, WA supplied approximately half of the world's unprocessed lithium last year. A key focus of our strategy is to build capacity in downstream processing to feed new industries across energy, transport, aerospace, defence, medical, automotive and telecommunications sector. We've already made $2 billion available as part of our Critical Minerals Facility to provide large scale debt finance to advance projects that are ready to commence construction. We know we have to get in and give it a big push. Funding is also available through the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility for advanced critical minerals projects in northern Australia, while the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is providing additional funding nationwide.
And today I'm announcing further significant investments and initiatives as part of our Critical Minerals Strategy. Through our Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative, our Government, my Government will invest $200 million over the next five years to support strategically significant critical minerals projects. That's what backing the resources industry looks like - following through on the commitments we've already made and doubling down to make sure it becomes a reality. This will back projects at crucial points in their development process to accelerate the market and drive private sector finance and investment. This initiative will consider proposals ranging between $1 million to $30 million for each project, and each project is expected to contribute 50 per cent of co-funding. Now, this isn’t a handout. This is a partnership.
As part of our Critical Minerals Strategy, the Government is also committing $50 million over three years to establish the Virtual National Critical Minerals Research and Development Centre. Now this will drive breakthrough collaborative research, drawing together the expertise from CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, ANSTO.
Critical minerals are key to a stronger economy for Australia and are therefore key to our stronger future. And as we face a more uncertain world, we're setting up Western Australia to be the powerhouse and reliable partner that our allies and partners need right here in Australia to develop these resources. We're going to dig them up right here. We're going to refine them right here, and we're going to make the products that use them right here. Every part of that supply chain we want WA to be the partner of choice. A partner whose products are high quality and consistent. A partner who people can trust to deliver, as the world has depended on us for iron ore.
Another key element of our Critical Minerals Strategy is our Modern Manufacturing Strategy. Now the pandemic has demonstrated the imperative of domestic manufacturing to national health, security and resilience. Making things here in Australia is important for our national resilience. And we see WA having a big role in that as well, as they always have. It's about building a strong and durable manufacturing ecosystem for high-skill, high-wage jobs. Now we're already going from strength to strength here in manufacturing in WA. The sector here has made the largest contribution to WA’s real gross state product growth in the last financial year, and that's remarkable when you think of everything else this state does.
Around 90,000 people are employed in manufacturing here in WA, and the Australian Government's Modern Manufacturing Strategy is focused on building scale in six areas of advanced high-value manufacturing: space, medical products, food and beverage, recycling and clean energy, defence, and resources technology and critical minerals processing. Now under this Strategy we've committed $535 million to boost manufacturing capability and supply chain resilience. That's leveraging over $1.25 billion more in private investment. Again, it's a partnership. Western Australia is well placed to capitalise on these incentives, with more than 14,500 manufacturing businesses right here in this state. And growth is not just in the traditional strengths of food, machinery, metals and engineering. WA is developing new advanced manufacturing capability through new precincts and innovation hubs to support start-ups, SME partnerships and technology and knowledge sharing.
And we’ve backed this up with $78.2 million already invested in 20 manufacturing projects under the Model Manufacturing Initiative right here in WA. And we know from lived experience that a strong private sector such as here in WA is our first line of defence for supply chain resilience. $107 million in our Supply Chain Resilience Initiative is providing targeted grants to establish scale in domestic manufacturing capabilities. And I particularly want to thank Melissa, Melissa Price, for her tireless work in supporting the development of critical minerals, space and defence industries, especially here in WA, which are central to our Manufacturing Strategy.
So today, again, I'm pleased to announce that further Government investment will be made, of some $243 million in just four projects, four projects, under the resources and critical minerals stream of the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, and this investment will leverage another $944 million, almost a billion dollars, in private sector investment, delivering an estimated 3,400 direct and indirect jobs across regional Australia. It adds to the $688 million we have already committed to critical minerals.
Now two of these projects, two of the four, are here in WA. The first is a $119.6 million support for Pure Battery Technologies in Coolgardie to build an integrated Nickel Manganese-Cobalt battery material refinery hub. Don’t try to say that too quickly. This will be the first integrated battery material refinery hub of its kind in Australia. The project will support collaboration between Pure Battery Technologies, Poseidon Nickel and a number of local and global industry partners. And the facility will initially support 380 construction jobs, with 175 permanent jobs from late 2023, and an estimated 1,729 indirect jobs out to 2031, many in regional areas.
Now the second WA project will see us invest just under $50 [million], $49 million, to Australian Vanadium to develop Australia's first active Vanadium mine and downstream processing at Tenindewa. I hope I’ve pronounced that right for the Western Australians - I’m getting the nod from Melissa, thank you. The project aims to supply the vanadium redox flow batteries to be installed in industries from agriculture and mining through to residential energy storage and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. And Vanadium represents an opportunity to develop a differentiated product in the battery industry, in addition to lithium batteries.
That's what climate change action looks like, by the way. Exactly what I'm talking about now. That's what it looks like. You're taking that issue seriously, you're doing this, which is what we're doing.
Both projects will strengthen Australia's global position as a battery precursor manufacturer, and underpin increased downstream processing of critical minerals. And these projects take us further up the value chain and unlock downstream investment in industries that will underpin our clean energy transition as we move further into the digital age and new energy age. These projects do more than just create jobs. They build economic diversity and national resilience.
Now, finally, let me just talk a bit about defence industries. Recent events have underlined that Australia faces its most difficult and dangerous security environment that we have seen in 80 years, 80 years. The events unfolding in Europe are a reminder of the close relationship between energy security, economic security and national security. There is a clear threat. The Henderson Maritime Precinct, 23 kilometres south of Perth, where I was yesterday, is the heartbeat of WA’s defence industry. And as our Government invests $280 billion in Australia's defence capability over the next decade, it’s important to the defence of our nation that this only grow. Henderson is one of Australia's two principal naval shipyards and serves as a critical sustainment for the Navy's surface and submarine fleets. We've been investing in Henderson, particularly through our national shipbuilding and sustained programs.
Yesterday I was pleased to announce our Government is investing up to $4.3 billion in a large ship dry-dock at Henderson. This nation building infrastructure at Henderson will support our continuous naval shipbuilding program, enabling the build, as I said earlier, some $30 billion of new naval shipbuilding over the next two decades right here in WA, as well as supporting Henderson to enhance its commercial shipbuilding and sustainment activities. Our nationwide investments in naval shipbuilding will create 15,000 jobs across the country by the end of this decade, with more than 50 vessels being built or upgraded here in WA. And over 2,000 of these jobs will be right here in WA.
The impacts of our investments are already being felt. Luerssen Australia, with Civmec, is building 10 of our 12 Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessels here in WA. They are expecting to have more than 40 vacant roles to fill - almost all of them here in Perth. There are jobs for engineers, jobs in design and configuration management, jobs in integrated logistics support. At its peak, $3.9 billion Offshore Patrol Vessel project will support 295 WA jobs, and anyone who has ventured inside Civmec’s assembly and maintenance hall, where the OPVs are taking shape, will have an understanding of the sheer scale of the construction taking place. Standing at 18 stories tall, the remarkable shed has 53,000 square metres of usable floor area, more than twice the size of the Optus Stadium playing surface. Companies like Civmec don't invest in infrastructure like this without having confidence in the future, and we have provided them with that confidence.
A couple of kilometres north in Henderson, Austal is building 21 Guardian Class patrol boats for our Pacific neighbours - a $510 million project, six evolved Cape class patrol boats to help protect our borders. Some $343 million for the project. And combined they support 630 WA jobs. And there are many other projects too. In fact, more than a dozen major shipbuilding and sustainment programs delivered at Henderson over the coming decades, and there's more than 1,000 businesses being supported by defence projects here in WA. And last financial year, 208 small and medium Western Australian businesses were engaged to perform critical work across the Defence estate, sharing in $109 million in contracts. This included 11 Indigenous businesses sharing in $31 million worth of work. And so far this financial year, the number of SMEs engaged to work across the Defence estate has grown to 215.
So there's a lot going on, a lot going on. And as a Government, we've had to deal, of course, with some of the biggest challenges that governments have seen in the past century - COVID, a global recession, natural disasters, economic coercion, a war in Europe, amidst a heightened geopolitical uncertainty, and the biggest global energy shock in almost 50 years. It's a testing time. It requires resilience. It requires experience to manage through these difficult waters ahead. It requires a Government that knows what it stands for and knows what it's about. A Government that has taken the decisions, not just sought to pretend to follow others, but has had the initiative to do these things and move forward and stand up for Australia. As a Government we have taken some hits, no doubt about it, but we keep coming back, and I can assure you we will, making the big calls for Australia's future, because there's too much at stake. Western Australians understand this. You understand the choice that is before you.
Change governments, change the course of the country. The direction we're heading in is one of a stronger Australia. The direction we're heading in is one of a strong economy for a stronger future. The direction we're heading in is the investments and the belief and the backing of Australian businesses and industry, particularly here in Western Australia, to realise the opportunities that you see, and are seeking a partner in the Government, not a master. Now that's the difference between Labor and the Liberals when it, at a federal level. At a federal level, that is the difference.
With us, you’ll have a path. With those, you’ll have a master. And the ones who are pulling the strings will be the union movements and the Greens in particular, calling the shots from behind the scenes. With us, it's very open. It's very transparent. You can see the plan, you can see the path we’re on, and now is not the time to turn back. Getting the big things right. Keeping our economy strong. Keeping Australians safe. Our future depends more than ever on these things, more than ever. So Australians will have a choice very, very soon, and that choice will have consequences. It’ll have consequences here in the West, it’ll have consequences right across the country. And those consequences will be felt in the economy that you, your business, your kids, your parents will live in for the next three, five and 10 years. It's no time for amateurs. It's no time for those who don't have the experience in dealing with these serious issues in financial management, economic security and national security. These are the things that my Government do every single day, and have done so in a way that few governments before us have.
So it's great to be back here in the West, and feel the energy and the spirit and the optimism that is always here. We’re committed to backing the people of Western Australia. And you know that's true, because you've seen us do it. Thank you very much for your time.