Perth
*Check against delivery
Thank you Kevin.
Fellow Ministers of the Commonwealth, Premier Barnett, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s a pleasure to here this morning to discuss our shared ambition - economic prosperity and a high standard of living for our citizens through the sustainable development of our natural resources.
As Kevin said, this comes down to partnerships - working together and sharing expertise to our mutual benefit.
Australia has much to share but we also recognise that we too can learn from the experience of others, and through partnerships, also learn together.
The resources industry has featured in many of this forum’s themes over the years including agriculture, land rights, sustainability and access to water, just to name a few.
Australia is willing to work with you – our partners – to make serious and practical progress on all of these things.
This willingness is highlighted in Kevin's leadership in driving the important initiatives we have announced this week - Mining for Development, increased financial support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), as well as our commitment to implement a domestic EITI pilot.
Today, Kevin Rudd and I are also very pleased to release Australia’s latest contribution to sustainable mining.
The new handbook is called Social Responsibility for the Mining and Metals Sectors in Developing Countries.
It’s a very practical guide for companies working in Africa especially.
The new handbook sits alongside those belonging to the Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program.
What Australia has to offer in terms of expertise and experience extends beyond government frameworks to innovation by industry.
Australia is home to some of the most advanced mining and petroleum operations in the world – advanced in every sense of the word, from the use of technologies, to logistics chain management, to sustainable mining practices, the highest levels of safety and sophisticated community engagement – in essence, the skills required for successful mining operations in our ever more competitive world.
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, may soon make Australia home to the world's largest open cut mine.
Rio Tinto is taking automation and remote mining operations to an unprecedented new level with their Mine of the Future program.
Shell's sanctioning of the Prelude project means Australia is on track to be home to the world's first floating LNG facility.
And of course all these innovations - and many more – that are being developed here in Australia have the potential to be applied in Africa, and indeed around the world.
It is the work of Australian mining companies, not to mention the collaboration with our tertiary and other research institutions, that makes our mining technology services and equipment sector exports worth upwards of $9 billion per annum.
But that is not all our companies have to offer.
Australian companies understand the value of contributing to the communities in which they operate and truly excel in this regard.
Whether through direct contributions or by ensuring that local businesses benefit from contracts to work on major resource projects.
Or, importantly, in both an Australian and an African context, a commitment to extending the benefits of resource developments to local communities.
Australia's Indigenous people have Native Title over much of our resource rich land, and so mining companies must negotiate appropriate agreements with them in order to progress their projects.
Today, these agreements are focussed on providing Indigenous land owners with real opportunities for economic development to ensure the benefits of mining activities endure over the long term.
This means access to training, jobs and real career pathways.
A good longstanding example of these principles in practice is Rio's Argyle Diamond mine at which Aboriginal people make up 25 per cent of the workforce and where Rio is also working with locals to help them establish their own businesses independent of the mine itself.
In this booming sector within an increasingly globalised world the opportunities for collaboration are limitless.
Increasingly we see workers from Africa employed on Australian resources projects and vice versa, with experience flowing both ways.
The Australian Government's new temporary migration arrangements to help ease our own short-term domestic labour and skills pressures arising from rapid growth will only encourage this even more.
In closing, can I simply say that the future holds a great deal of promise provided we continue this collaboration.
I invite you to see Australia as an innovative, responsible partner for natural resource development.
Thank you