Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I am simply reminding us that fear campaigns in the past have been simply that. When we have seen fear campaigns about mining in the past, we have seen mining growth afterwards. That was true of the fear campaign following Kakadu when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister. It was true of the fear campaign run by the coalition about native title. Mining has grown since. It is true of the fear campaign we saw last year by the coalition about the minerals resource rent tax, when now, of course, they are there saying, 'It's okay to put royalties up but mining taxation is fine as long as it is decided upon by a state Liberal government.' Despite all of that fear campaigning, we have seen jobs and investment in mining rise. Of course, the responsible minister was on radio discussing these matters this morning, and I would refer the Leader of the Opposition to his words—and I think these are very wise ones: 'Yes, there are going to be a few gaseous mines challenged, but there is also going to be a huge expansion in this industry that is actually going to create jobs over time.' Let us go through those words again: 'create jobs over time'.

So, for people who work in mining, what they should be reassured about in the future is that there will be more jobs in mining. For communities that directly rely on mining, what they should be reassured about for the future is that there will be more jobs and more investment in resources. For the Australian economy overall, what people can be reassured about is that there is a huge pipeline of investment into our resources sector. This is a very special time in the Australian economy and it falls to us to make sure that that new prosperity is shared as new opportunities for all Australians. The fear campaign of the Leader of the Opposition will be exposed as just that. The resources industry has a very bright future and people who work in it, like the people in the member for Capricornia's seat, know that from their own experience.

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