Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Flynn for his question because I know how strong a supporter he is of the future development of the resources sector in his part of Queensland. The government strategy is to build a stronger economy, to protect Australian jobs and to support Australian families by protecting Australian jobs. That is why we acted in the way in which we did in response to the global economic recession and, as a result of that, why Australia remained out of recession.

Today Woodside made a significant announcement in relation to the Browse gas project. Woodside announced that the Browse joint venture had selected a site at James Price Point, 60 kilometres north of Broome, as its preferred location to process gas from the venturers’ gas fields. There will be more than $1.25 billion invested over the next two years. That this resource is likely to be processed in Australia is welcome news for both the WA economy and the Australian economy. The Browse field contains a contingent resource of about 14 trillion cubic feet of dry gas. The Browse LNG development is expected to contribute about $50 billion to Australia’s economy over the life of the project. It is estimated that around $9 billion in additional revenue will flow to the Commonwealth government over the life of the project. The Browse development is expected to generate around 2½ thousand to 3½ thousand jobs on-site during peak construction.

I also welcome pronouncements yesterday by Incitec Pivot and British Gas concerning their very substantial projects in Central Queensland. Incitec Pivot has announced that it will restart its billion-dollar Moranbah ammonium nitrate complex. The Moranbah ammonium nitrate complex was mothballed as a result of the global financial crisis in February last year. Restarting it one year on is a huge vote of confidence in the recovery of the Australian economy. When the project restarts in May this year, 500 to 600 jobs will be recreated in civil works.

Even more evidence of a bright future for Central Queensland is BHP’s 18 January announcement that it has approved a US$267 million investment to accelerate the development of the Caval Ridge and Hay Point Coal Terminal stage 3 expansion projects. These are good projects for Australia. They are good projects for Western Australia, they are good projects for Queensland as well and they reinforce the government strategy of building a stronger economy for the future.

Australia is regarded as a desirable investment location around the world. This is reflected in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, which shows that Australia was ranked eighth highest out of 55 countries in 2007, sixth highest in 2008 and fourth highest out of 57 countries in 2009. According to the yearbook on whether ease of doing business is supported by regulations, Australia’s rating increased from 5.65 out of 10 in 2007 to 6.03 in 2009. This is real progress in making Australia an even more desirable investment location.

The government and the Deputy Prime Minister entirely seized on the implications which these projects have for the future skills demands of the Australian economy. That is why we have put a range of measures in place to deal with that skills shortage. We want to make sure we do not repeat the mistakes of the past whereby the expansion of resource projects was not accompanied by a parallel investment in infrastructure and skills.

The member for Flynn also asked me a question about risks to the Australian economy. I would draw the attention of honourable members in this House to one big risk to the Australian economy, and that is the appointment by the Leader of the Opposition of Senator Joyce as alternative finance minister and, secondly, Senator Joyce as alternative finance minister of Australia saying today, ‘We are getting to a point where we can’t repay it,’ meaning our debt. You have the alternative finance minister of Australia standing up and saying that Australia is at risk of defaulting on its sovereign debt. This is the height of irresponsibility. It is the height of risk to Australia’s global economic reputation. He has done this already in relation to the United States, he has done this in relation to the individual states of Australia and today he has done so with a public statement—which will be read in marketplaces across the world—about the sovereign debt of the Commonwealth of Australia.

Can I say to the Leader of the Opposition, as he finds this statement really amusing, that investors around the world do not find these remarks amusing at all. They take them seriously. We know that the Leader of the Opposition thinks he is on a roll to win the next election. We know he has had a bit of a hoopla in the party room about winning the next election. Well, one of the big risks which the Australian public are evaluating in their minds is what sort of economic risk they buy with a Leader of the Opposition who says he has no interest in economics and an alternative finance minister who today said Australia may default on its sovereign debt. The Leader of the Opposition has got two choices: (1) go out and repudiate the remarks by Senator Joyce, the alternative finance minister and (2) if he has any courage whatsoever, dismiss him today. Even when he does that—and it is coming, as sure as night follows day—his decision in the first place to appoint Barnaby Joyce as the alternative finance minister will still cause the nation to scratch their heads about what possible process of judgment could have been applied to that appointment on day one.

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