Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Australia is a relatively small market located far from global supply chains Australia is also the world's second largest exporter of rare earth metals. It does, in fact, have a considerable part of the raw materials required for fabrication already being extracted in-nation. It would not take much for Australia to insert itself into that global supply chain, as a more reliable and stable political environment than…
Define “not much”. The idea sounds nice but how do you execute on it? Should Australia tax or ban rare earth exports to try to force value add industries here? That would go against our position as a stable supplier and would seem more likely just to make customers source their rare earth supplies elsewhere (they’re not that rare).
You're right that doing so would appear to be a hamfisted approach to creating a homegrown economy that is attractive to industry, and would likely be doomed to failure.
Rather than trying to browbeat the industry into slowing exports, provide the opportunities for using the materials here, within the nation. That is done by providing a less-costly way of turning a profit. Less transportation, etc.
This is done by projects that would consume those resources. Government-led infrastructure investment projects can be successful, such as the Snowy Hydro project which was delivered under-time, under-budget, and over-performing expectations.
We don't need to tax or ban anything. We can invest in creating existing technologies here in Australia... Rather than investing in pipedream technologies that don't yet exist like the carbon sequestration investments that were just announced.