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Shanghai: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese couldn’t help but smirk when Andrew Forrest deployed his trademark humour at a press conference in Shanghai on Tuesday.
“Look, I just speak today as a passionate Australian person who’s always been happy to cut the oranges out for our country, anytime,” the West Australian billionaire said.
The man known as “Twiggy”, a mining tycoon turned climate saviour, had moments earlier been lavishing praise on the prime minister. Albanese was a busy man, Forrest remarked, and busy people were the best people to handle a tough job.
The task on Forrest’s mind?
“I asked our prime minister if he could work together with China to form a bilateral agreement where we escape the threats coming from AI [artificial intelligence] to employment, both in China and Australia,” Forrest said.
A big ask in anyone’s book. And the purpose of this request?
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest labelled national security “a distraction” from Australia’s trade with China.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“[To] generate a serious jobs boom in both China for green steel and particularly for Australia in green iron ore,” Forrest said. “We forecast hundreds of thousands of new jobs ... Chasing that tail is incredibly important for all peoples, and for all peoples’ children.”
The link between artificial intelligence and green steel may need some clarification. But what is clear is Forrest’s drive to build his company, Fortescue, and through that to drive change for a greener economy.
There was a certain chutzpah, however, in pushing the case for another innovation in green energy even as Forrest’s bet on green hydrogen – an emission-free fuel that so far has not been made commercially viable – evaporates.
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The Albanese government has already bet on what Forrest calls a super fuel – Labor has pledged $800 million in production incentives. And just like green hydrogen, the related push for green steel is also facing questions about its viability.
Failures on nickel mines or setbacks at other ventures have never stopped Forrest from moving onto his next endeavour. Green hydrogen, if eventually successful, could be revolutionary.
Forrest has attended receptions hosted by King Charles – then Prince Charles – and shared panels with former US president Joe Biden in recent years. A press conference with Albanese and mining bosses in an opulent upstairs room at Shanghai’s super-expensive Peninsula Hotel was small fry by comparison.
China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, was nestled behind the cameras and looked on approvingly as Forrest spoke, diligently taking notes when a journalist asked a question on a new topic.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has said Australia’s relations with China were based on fear and greed. A somewhat blunt assessment of the twin realities of our economic reliance and the security challenges in the relationship.
Forrest is certainly one of those who has reason to push for closer ties with Beijing. A member of the Western Australian establishment, he has benefited from Australia’s roaring iron ore trade and holds dovish views.
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The prospect of a drop-off in iron ore sales to China over time is a real risk to Australia’s prosperity. The resources sector provides eight of Australia’s top 10 exports, and as such is a huge tax earner for the federal, WA and Queensland governments. The greed that Abbott talked about has fuelled Australian living standards for a generation.
Australia’s debate on the security risks posed by China presented a “distraction” from economic bounty, Forrest said.
The financial boon that China provides Australia will loom large when Albanese meets Xi on Tuesday in a grand reception.
Albanese is unlikely to fully embrace Forrest’s wish to avoid the “distraction” of national security in Beijing this week, but he is intent on striking a balance and emphasising the positive elements of the China relationship.
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