Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member and recognise what a is magnificent contribution the mining industry makes to his electorate and the people of South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Victoria—I am not sure about the ACT. There are 270,000 people directly employed in the mining industry in Australia and over 800,000 other Australians rely on the mining industry for related employment.

It is hugely important for the generation of wealth right across the nation, representing around 55 per cent of merchandise exports from Australia. Yet it is 10 per cent of GDP. So the mining industry is hugely important. It helped, unquestionably, to get us through the challenging times of the global financial crisis—

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