Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my good friend the member for Swan, and I also thank him for the tremendous support he gives to the resources industry not only in Western Australia but also, of course, throughout Australia. As he well knows, there are other states that mine resources other than Western Australia. Of course, Queensland is a very significant resource state, as are other states.

In relation to the floating LNG technology, I had the opportunity to visit the shipyard where Prelude is being constructed. It is a massive piece of engineering, which I am sure my parliamentary secretary, as an engineer, would greatly appreciate. To give members some idea of the size of this, the structure, if it was placed in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney Harbour, would actually shield the entire bridge. It would cover it from one end to the other and also cover the top of the arch. It is the latest in technology and Australia is the only place in the world that is currently deploying or has deployed the three LNG technologies—floating LNG, LNG from coal seam gas, with the first train being operated by QGC in Queensland, and of course the traditional LNG natural gas technology that we have seen built in Western Australia and Darwin, and there is further construction going on at the moment.

As the member for Swan quite rightly points out, the energy and resources sector is a key contributor to the national economy and generates crucial export revenue and, more importantly, keeps Australians in jobs and pays significant taxes and royalties. In fact, the previous government tried to pretend that the industry did not pay its fair share of taxes, but it certainly paid more taxes than most industries in Australia in a percentage sense, bearing in mind that, along with company tax and the like, it also pays a very significant royalty to most state governments.

The Australian resources and energy sector will continue to be challenged over the short term. It is no secret that the commodity prices have fallen significantly. Many of those commodities are still very profitable to mine. Whilst there has been a lot of discussion about iron ore prices in the media of late, the reality is that large companies like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are making significant profits on their costs. That industry is a very sustainable industry.

Perhaps the picture is not quite so bright in the coal area but, again, the industry is driving efficiencies and costs of production cuts in that area that will see the industry be maintained. It is interesting to note that exports of coal out of Queensland were said today to be at record levels. Australia will be a key supplier of mineral and energy commodities to the world and a reliable supplier well into the future. We have seen very significant investment in all of these sectors, but the reality is that now we are going to see a very significant increase in production as a result of those investments.

The member asked me what our government is doing in contrast to the previous government. We have removed the mining tax and the carbon tax. Why you would tax a sector that is holding up the rest of the economy is beyond me, but the Labor Party has never found something it cannot tax. We have also established the Exploration Development Incentive. That was the second failure of my predecessor, Martin Ferguson, who promised a flow-through share scheme. It must have just slipped through his fingers.

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