Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleague from Lake Macquarie and the Hunter region, the member for Shortland, for her question, because we represent an area that is very important in the resources sector, and the fact of the matter is that the resources sector, the minerals industry, is set to prosper under the carbon price.

Last night I had the opportunity at the Minerals Council dinner to sit next to an executive of Peabody Coal, who updated me on the company's $5 billion takeover of Macarthur Coal. That is the takeover that humiliated the opposition leader, because it was announced the day after he visited a Peabody coalmine and declared that carbon pricing would destroy the coal industry. The very next day Peabody announced a $5 billion takeover. His precise words about the future of the industry were: 'A carbon tax means death to the coal industry.' Yet the trouble is, the coal and minerals industries are experiencing record growth. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics has reported that there is over $500 billion worth of capital expenditure in the investment pipeline.

Since the carbon price was announced, we have seen multibillion dollar takeovers, massive investment and new mine approvals. It is not just big companies that are investing; it is also many small investors—

Mr Dutton interjecting—

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