Premier Roger Cook hopes Japan will become a “foundation partner” for WA’s fledgling green energy sector — replicating the key role the Asian powerhouse played in jump-starting and sustaining the State’s iron ore and LNG industries.
Mr Cook and Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning for a three-day mission that will bring them face-to-face with some of Japan’s biggest trading houses and investment banks.
The Government has doubled the size of its Invest and Trade Hub in Tokyo from four to eight staff in recognition of what the Premier said was “growing interest and demand for information and opportunities to invest in WA”.
“Countries like Japan and other south-east Asian partners are looking to Western Australia to be a significant renewable energy opportunity for their economies,” he said.
“They don’t have the abundance of wind and solar that we have in Western Australia and they know that we’re trusted partners that can stand up a global leading industry, such as we did with iron ore and LNG.
“Western Australia is on the cusp of a huge opportunity not only to decarbonise our economy but to decarbonise the economies of South-East Asia.”
Resources-poor Japan relies on Australia for 60 per cent of its iron ore and 40 per cent of its LNG — with the vast bulk of the commodities shipping from WA.
Japan is also fast-emerging as a leading source of demand for green energy, including hydrogen and renewably-produced ammonia, as it attempts to strip fossil fuels out of what is the world’s fourth largest economy.
“Japan is one of our foundation partners when it comes to our iron ore industry and the LNG industry,” Mr Cook said.
“We are now looking to continue that partnership as we enter the green energy transition.”
Relations between Japan and Australia hit turbulence in the past year as a result of the Federal Government’s interventions in the gas market designed to safeguard domestic prices and increase taxation revenue.
Inpex boss Takayuki Ueda — who heads up Japan’s biggest offshore investor — earlier in 2023 accused Australia of “quietly quitting” gas in a move that threatened the energy security of millions of Japanese households.
Former Japanese ambassador to Australia Shingo Yamagami was also an outspoken critic of the Queensland Government’s move to hike royalties on coal exports, warning it threatened future Japanese investment in hydrogen and resources projects.
Mr Cook said he intended to provide reassurances during his meetings in Japan that WA remained a “long-term trusted partner” for LNG and iron ore.
“We all understand that gas is going to play a significant role in the energy transition,” he said.
“We’re looking towards a renewable energy future but we have to get there via the important resources of gas.
“And obviously our Japanese partners want to understand the investment and exploration pathway as part of that gas story.”
Mr Cook and Ms Saffioti will on Monday meet with trading house Mitsui — which has sprawling interests in energy, steel and chemicals among others — as well as the Japanese International Banking Corporation.
They are also slated to meet with fellow Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi and Marubeni and the chief executive of the state-owned Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security, which in late 2022 signed a memorandum in of understanding with WA focused on hydrogen investment.