Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia. I know that as a hardworking local member she is fighting for regional jobs in Rockhampton, in Sarina, in Pioneer Valley and in the coalfields of the Galilee and Bowen basins. The most important mining project for the people in her electorate is the Carmichael mine. That is why eight mayors—Labor mayors and conservative mayors—signed this open letter in support of the Carmichael mine. The mayors of Rockhampton, Mackay, Whitsunday and the Isaac Regional Council signed the letter. These mayors and these local communities have not waivered in their support for the Carmichael mine, despite the rigorous environmental processes, despite the legal challenges and despite the personal attacks, they haven't waivered in their consistent approach for this mine.

But I tell you what, the Leader of the Opposition has. He will say one thing to the miners in Mackay and another to the baristas in Brunswick. He will say one thing to people in Queensland and another to the people of Melbourne. This is what the Leader of the Opposition said in April last year: 'I support the Adani mine.' But, in Batman, the Leader of the Opposition says he's 'increasingly sceptical', holding out the prospect that the mine doesn't deserve to go ahead. The member for Shortland says of the Adani mine on his website:

… I welcome the jobs that it will provide in Queensland.

The Leader of the Opposition, on the other hand, says to the people of Batman that the Carmichael mine will create fake jobs—they're never going to materialise, he said. The Leader of the Opposition goes to the Latrobe Valley and says to the workers that coal has a future in Australia. At the same time, the Labor Party supports motions in this place that say coal has no future in Australia. The Leader of the Opposition tells Pauline Hanson that he supports the coal industry.

See this speech in context