He reinvented the Art Gallery of NSW. This is where Michael Brand is headed next
And it seems like Brand is also done with Sydney – for now anyway. The former director is packing up and relocating north to Brisbane, where he will be based for the foreseeable future.
No new job yet – after more than a decade in one of the biggest roles in the Australian cultural sector, Brand needs a breather. But we hear he is set to do a bit of casual work for the Bhutanese royal family, who are hoping to establish a new museum in the picturesque, pint-sized Himalayan nation.
As far as cultural icons go, Brisbane is better known for the likes of Lang Park and the XXXX brewery on the banks of the Brown Snake at Milton. Jokes aside, the Queensland capital is working hard to build its own cultural capital in its quest to become a proper global city by the time the Olympics rolls around in 2032. It now even has a few restaurants nice enough for Brand's high-end tastes.
Could Brand be a part of that transformation? Watch this space.
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Meet the press
With 94 seats in the House of Representatives, you'd think the Albanese government might be feeling bold. Bold enough to take on those chumps in the Canberra press gallery, at least.
But the party's 24 new MPs are still feeling a little timid about starting out at big school. On Wednesday night, the National Press Club hosted a convivial, off-record drinks for new MPs to schmooze with the press gallery.
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Rare earths miners see opportunity in US trade war
Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage.
The Australian
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'This aligns with the Commission's recommendation to replace the Renewable Energy Target and Capacity Investment Scheme with more effective market mechanisms post-2030,' Squadron said in a statement. Read related topics: Climate Change Politics Business leader Warwick Smith has warned Anthony Albanese to hasten slowly with any reforms agreed upon at the upcoming economic roundtable, amid warring unions and corporate groups. Business Australia will set minimum prices for rare earth minerals and broker national supply deals to break China's grip on the critical defence material.
