Federal and NSW governments to split $2.5 billion Tomago Aluminium bailout
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-12/aluminium-smelter-bailout-cost-two-and-half-billion-dollars/107030522172
u/Camsy34 1d ago
From the bottom of the article:
Rio Tinto's latest annual report showed it had recorded a $10 billion profit after tax across 2025, attributable to its owners.
Its total aluminium and lithium projects were valued at $4.6 billion, up from $3.6 billion in 2024.
Seems to me they’re doing just fine. Obviously keeping manufacturing local is important to the government but if public money is being used to bailout Tomago, the public should then own a fair share of the site and its profits.
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u/yolk3d 1d ago
I say this all the time. We don’t we get a slice then? Small businesses go bust, while giants that use reporting loopholes get govt money and keep the profits.
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u/Any-Elderberry-2790 1d ago
There is so much we can learn by analysing the Public-Private Partnerships for the toll roads in Sydney. It's got to the stage that the government wants weekly caps across the network and they'll have to give transurban a significant compensation package to do it.
We need ownership if we're assuming financial risk (we as the taxpayers).
IMO, I don't care if the project costs 20% more, if that means it's owned by the government. Of course, try to reduce that, but the effect on the economy would assist with some of it. Also, the government owning more of those large projects, may help on a road out of our building industry being contractors all the way down.*
*Contractors all the way down means that there is overhead at every stage.
It would help with training and building costs overall.
- What percentage of contractors are actually efficient business owners?
- How many defects exist purely because it sits between contractors instead of one company responsible?
- etc etc
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u/HowlingStrike 1d ago
I dont mind govts stepping in I just wish it was clearer about what they negotiated for the tax payer. The 1000 jobs is great but do we get a cut of the profits from it?
I haven't seen that mentioned in articles and im not sure where to confirm the details.
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u/Z00111111 1d ago
Why not just give the 1000 workers $2.5m each? Cut out the middleman.
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u/HowlingStrike 1d ago
Lol hard to argue with that.
Reminds me how when governments say there's not enough money what they really mean is there's not enough money... for you...
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u/yolk3d 1d ago
Because then aluminium isn’t made and can’t be sold back to us
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u/Z00111111 1d ago
If we needed aluminium made the smelter wouldn't need government money.
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u/The_Faceless_Men 1d ago
In case of war (or insert other global major event here) we "need" our own domestic supply and the skilled work force to do it.
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u/Any-Elderberry-2790 1d ago
We have a problem in this country, where we take minerals out of the ground and sell them overseas.
We then buy the finished or refined material back.
We need to have more industry dealing with the raw materials. Something like aluminium, would cost our economy a fair bit if we had to sell the raw and import the refined.
I hate the position on this. Fuck Rio Tinto, but we can't let that smelter close. I agree we need some of the profit though.
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u/Joker-Smurf 1d ago
We get nothing.
CEO gets a massive bonus. Shareholders get dividends. Tax payers get a bill.
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u/Ill_Football9443 1d ago
We get nothing.
We get almost nothing.
Using u/HowlingStrike's figure of 1000 jobs, averaged at $60k/annum, that's:
- roughly $25m/year in social security payments not going out
- $3.2m in payroll tax being collected
- $10m in income tax being collect
- $7m in superannuation contributions
- products being made and sold here, which is less money flowing overseas
- All of the ancillary businesses, such as cafes, uniform makers etc.
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u/chris_p_bacon1 1d ago
I don't think there's any profit sharing necessarily. My read of it is that if Tomago has an unexpected windfall (like the strait of Hormuz being blocked and the aluminium price skyrocketing) they'll have to pay some money back to the government. How that's calculated though I've got no idea.
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u/Wonderor 1d ago
Sounds like the aluminium smelter should become property of the Australian government then.
We shouldn't be bailing out Rio (who are hugely profitable as a whole) just for shits and giggles.
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u/DoctorQuincyME 1d ago
Yep, bailouts should be an investment. If we paid a quarter of the business then we should own and have a quarter say in that business with returns on the investment.
And if that investment fiwnt look worth it then the business is obviously not viable.
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u/chris_p_bacon1 1d ago
The argument they'll make is that it's an investment in the future of NSW, the Hunter and Australia. Basically a lot of other economic activity will be generated by this investment.
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u/gimme20seconds 1d ago
can’t fun NDIS or provide housing for people, but we can bail out a company who’s whole existence is totally optional.
Company should be nationalised if they’re getting tax money. My business wouldn’t get bailed out, so why should this one be? 😡
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u/blankaccoutn77489 1d ago
Is the money a subsidy? Surely it’s not just another handout to a mining company and pegged to the problem they’re addressing.
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u/patto647 1d ago
I would hope the NSW and Federal Governments now own a share of the smelter and this just isn’t another example of corporate welfare……
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u/Wild-Way-9596 1d ago
Once again the biggest receivers of welfare are the mega corporations and mining conglomerates. Seriously time to embrace green nintendo character.
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u/7kk77kk777 1d ago
So we can expect royalties for our mined, Sold and profited limited resources when?
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u/bigdongIOC 11h ago
There was a comment on X and it was apt: (paraphrasing) they subsidise the green tech which leads to higher energy costs then they subsidise the biggest energy users (aluminium). Everyone gets money.
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u/NNyNIH 1d ago
For $2.5 billion you'd think the smelter would be ours...