Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. We know how important the Carmichael mine is. We know how important it is in underwriting the jobs, especially for miners, in Central Queensland. It is incredibly important. And it is incredibly important that we stand behind this $16.5 billion project, because we need to drive jobs into that area. It is also incredibly important that we understand some of the misnomers that are peddled around. Misnomers such as it being on the Great Barrier Reef have to be dealt with. It is three hundred kilometres from the Great Barrier Reef—about the same distance as Goondiwindi is from Byron Bay or Parkes is from Sydney.

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