Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening in this debate on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2006-2007 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2006-2007 to bring to the attention of the House the importance to the economy of Australia of the mining sector and the wealth that all Australians benefit from as a result of its exports and the jobs that it creates, not only in our regional towns but also in many rural communities where mines are located. I do not like using the word ‘boom’ but the mining sector in Australia is certainly going through a very strong period. We in this country are very lucky to have those resources, so many of them still untapped and undiscovered. We are able to draw on those and develop those mines to bring wealth to all Australians.

I draw attention to this against the backdrop of the exceptional drought that still extends right across the length and breadth of Australia and the impact that that is having on the national economy, particularly in relation to agricultural exports. In the last 18 months our agricultural exports have been hit by this drought. The impact of the drought is felt not only by farming families but by the whole nation because it has tended to slow the economy down. Maybe the announcement by the Reserve Bank today was tempered by its knowledge of the impact of the drought on our agricultural exports—it saw the drought as one of those factors that is tending to slow our economy.

I want to talk about the importance of the coal industry, particularly to Queensland and to my electorate of Maranoa. The coal industry in Queensland is important for exports and for the jobs it creates in many rural towns. It is an important driver of the power that is generated in Queensland and feeds into the national grid. Of course, without those coal-fired power stations we would have to ask: what would we use as the energy source to generate the power that Queensland and the nation needs, not to mention the regional jobs that I have seen grow in Maranoa? I cite the town of Emerald, which 15 years ago was a town of about 5,000 or 6,000 people. Today its population is about 15,000 and growing because, quite apart from the agriculture, horticulture and irrigation in that community, Emerald has become a hub for the coal industry in that region of the Bowen Basin.

I want to highlight the importance of the coal industry to Queensland because it is the state’s No. 1 export. It now exceeds the value of beef exports, which are the No. 2 export from Queensland. So coal generates more export wealth from the state of Queensland than any other single export. And it is important, both for those companies that are out there looking for more coal and looking to how they can develop those mines and for the workers and their families, to know that there is security for those leases and therefore security for their jobs. Their jobs are in the coal industry; they have made it their life. I am sure members opposite would be aware that there are many second and third generation workers and working families in the coal industry. That is how they have grown up; they are now second and third generation coalminers. That is why I was surprised to hear the Labor spokesman on the environment, the member for Kingsford Smith, say that the Labor Party, if it were elected, would not allow any new coalmines to be developed in Australia. What a draconian policy. What would that do to regional Australia? What would that do to Queensland’s economy? What would it do to the national economy? That is an undeniable statement by the environment spokesman for the opposition, the person who would like to be on the Treasury benches as the environment minister, the person who, if Labor were elected, would want to see the policy implemented.

As I said earlier, the Bowen Basin is partly in my electorate of Maranoa. Towns like Emerald, Tieri, Capella, Blackwater, Moura, Springsure and Rolleston are all towns that today are growing and vibrant because of the coal industry. This time last year I was in Rolleston when Xstrata opened its new mine. Perhaps if the member for Kingsford Smith had been the minister, rather than the coalition government being in office, that mine would never have come onstream because it is a new mine. Not far down the line from Springsure towards Rolleston is another lease that is going to be developed by a coal company. But under the policy of the Labor Party, from its environment spokesman, there will be no new coalmines. So how can investors, people who invest their hard-earned savings in these companies through the share market, invest with confidence? How can the working families have confidence? The Labor Party used to say it was the champion of the workers. How can Labor members come into this place and say that they are the friends of the working men and women who work in the coal industry? They would like to see it shut down. They do not want to see any new developments.

I also have the Surat coal basin in my electorate. The Surat basin is yet to be developed. It is one of those mining areas I referred to earlier. We are a lucky country. In the Surat coal basin there are a few very small mines that have started to open up. Its development has been restricted because the lack of essential rail transport networks to the port has hampered its development.

I have met with the proponents of the rail line that would connect Wandoan through to Theodore and allow the expansion of the coalmines within the Surat coal basin. It is essential, if we are to see the Surat coal basin develop to its full potential, we make sure the rail transport links to the export ports are there. The only outlet they have now is through the port of Brisbane, and that is a very restrictive rail line—it goes down the very steep Toowoomba Range and then the coal trains have to go right through the length of Brisbane to get to the port of Brisbane. That is slowing the potential development of the Surat coal basin considerably.

Of course, if Labor were elected they would not want to see the Surat coal basin developed. The member for Kingsford Smith said ‘no new coalmines’. Here is a resource; many mining companies have leases there, they have worked out their investment strategy and a consortium is looking at the rail line that would go from Wandoan to Theodore, connecting into Miles from Chinchilla-Dalby and into Toowoomba, allowing those coalmines across the Darling Downs to develop. Not only would they be able to develop and bring wealth to the nation, they would bring wealth to those towns—Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles, Wandoan and Taroom—that for decades and decades relied on the agricultural sector almost exclusively for the jobs and wealth that was created to benefit those communities.

I say to the member for Kingsford Smith, other members of the Labor Party and my electors in Maranoa: if we had a Labor government and they implemented that policy, these mines would never develop. There are towns like Chinchilla that have waited for 50 or 60 years for something to come along that would help them grow as a regional community. It is the same for Dalby, Miles and Wandoan. They have been waiting for years and years for these mines to be developed, and to see the wealth that would be created benefiting the towns. Already the towns of Chinchilla and Dalby have grown by over 1,000 people in the last three years. A new power station has recently been developed just near Chinchilla. It is a coal-fired power station, would you believe, Mr Deputy Speaker Jenkins, relying on a new coalmine to be able to resource that power station which feeds right into the national grid.

The coal industry is important not only for Australia but also for the regional communities. We all benefit from a healthy, well-developed mining sector. I say to the member for Kingsford Smith that his comments are ones that my colleagues, the parliamentary secretary at the table and I will certainly tell the people of the new electorate that has been created in Queensland: the electorate of Flynn.

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