this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2026
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Australia opens trade frontier on its doorstep as counterweight to China, pushes to increase business with south-east Asia at a time of heightened tensions (www.ft.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org to c/australia@aussie.zone
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[...]

Australian companies and investors who focused on China, the US and Europe risked missing out on the opportunity presented by south-east Asia’s booming middle class and projected GDP growth of between 5 and 6 per cent. “There’s a much bigger opportunity to embrace in the region,” he said, forecasting trade to double over the next 10 years.

Trade had increased by A$5.7bn (US$3.8bn) in 2024, a 3 per cent rise on the previous year, according to government data. Exports of Australian goods and services to south-east Asia reached A$85bn the same year, with Laos seeing the biggest growth at 32 per cent and Singapore, Canberra’s largest trading partner in the region, registering 6 per cent. The Australian government invested A$75mn into Singapore’s clean energy transition fund last December.

[...]

Much of the growth has been driven by agriculture. But other sectors, such as mining, finance and manufacturing, are also expanding.

Breville, the kitchen goods maker, shifted its manufacturing base for espresso machines from China to Indonesia’s Batam island, spurred by US President Donald Trump’s volatile trade policy. Meanwhile Lynas, the mining company and the largest non-Chinese rare earths company, refines its metals in Malaysia.

Canberra was keen to encourage more, said Moore, adding that 500 Australian business leaders would have participated in trade missions and delegations to south-east Asia by the end of this year.

[...]

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[–] hanrahan@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Meanwhile Lynas, the mining company and the largest non-Chinese rare earths company, refines its metals in Malaysia.

This is because Lynas couldn't get permission some 20 years ago to refine in Australia as the waste from processing rare earths is always super toxic and radioactive. Malaysia spat the dummy in 2023 and said the cracking and leeching could no longer be done in Malaysia or they'd shit the plant as its too toxic

https://www.malaysiasun.com/news/278525788/pollution-issues-and-controversy-over-rare-earth-company-lynas

The cracking and leaching generates radioactive wastes, which is the most polluting and controversial part of Lynas production. Before 2023, the cracking and leaching was done in Malaysia. However, the radioactive wastes produced in this stage was unacceptable to Malaysia, so the Malaysian Government required Lynas to relocate it or the entire plant would be shut down. In order to ensure the integrity of the rare earths production, Lynas had no choice but to move its cracking and leaching facility to Kalgoorlie.

The water supply has also been a controversial issue since the Kalgoorlie facility began its operation. The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder signed a 30-year deal with Lynas and agreed to the annual supply of up to 1.7 gigalitres of recycled water, which left Australias biggest island cities facing severe water shortages.

It has generated much more discontent and controversy as the Australian Government and Lynas decline to disclose details of the deal.

Mutiple times the waste dams have overflowed and released toxic shit into Mayasia river sysyems, to the point they were threatened with closure a few times

Why we do this stupid shit in a monsoon area is just another data point on the human stupidity graph, the Ranger Uranium mine is another example, their tailings dam must fail eventually.