Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. In answering it, I note that the unemployment rate in the electorate of Kalgoorlie stands at 3.4 per cent—3.4 per cent in that vast electorate covering much of Western Australia. That is good news for tens of thousands of workers and the families in the electorate of Kalgoorlie.

The member for Kalgoorlie asked me about an estimate from the Australian Mines and Metals Association—the association which represents all major mining and resource operators in this country and therefore an association which is very much at the core of the economic success of Australia at the present time. AMMA has estimated that the resources sector alone in Australia would lose between $6.6 billion and $9.9 billion of export revenue annually if Australian workplace agreements were abolished—up to almost $10 billion annually in lost revenue by this policy to abolish Australian workplace agreements.

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