Northern Australia stands to benefit from big challenges shaping the world, including efforts to limit global warming, but resources companies have been urged to also respect country and local communities.
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King announced on Wednesday a new Northern Australia white paper, the first in almost 10 years, will be developed with Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory counterparts.
A potential pipeline of almost 200 major resource projects has already been identified with a total value estimated at up to $400 billion, as trading partners build long-term supply chains for electric cars and clean energy.
In the keynote speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Ms King also urged the sector to support the voice to parliament and executive government.
"Supporting this change is one small way the resources sector can help heal past injustices," she said.
"The history of the resources sector and First Nations peoples has not always been a happy one."
She said they are entitled to expect the sector will invest in local communities and stand up for the things that matter to them.
"I welcome the fact that resources companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Woodside, as well as the Minerals Council of Australia, have given their support to the yes campaign," she said.
Ms King said the resources sector also needs to play its part in Australia's net-zero pathway and ensuring the country can meet national climate goals.
Almost 70 per cent of the resources companies covered by the recently legislated safeguard mechanism have committed to net zero emissions - most well before the federal government, she said.
"Many Australian resource projects are already at the leading edge globally in deploying renewables, electrification, methane abatement technologies and carbon capture and storage," she added.
She said Northern Australia stands to benefit from the next wave of resources investment, with some of the world's richest deposits of minerals.
"We can be the same go-to producer of the critical minerals needed for clean energy components."
