George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

While North Queensland supports mining and mining jobs, a handful of extreme Greens insist that their own political beliefs and ideologies be shared by everyone. About ten of them gathered outside my office last week in yet another protest against local mining jobs. They were threatening a queue-in, blocking public access to my office, so my staff closed the door for the two hours of the protest. While they were protesting, my staff and I got on with the job of meeting genuine constituents and dealing with their concerns.

Mackay's economy is now back on track, with mothballed mines reopening and new mines being constructed. The Carmichael coal project is opening up the Galilee Basin, creating thousands of jobs. Thousands of jobs are also going to flow from the China Stone project, promising to be bigger than the first stage of the Carmichael mine. The extreme Greens have now found an echidna to hold the China Stone project to hostage, hoping to prevent the project, but their skink and ornamental snake hostage plans failed to prevent approvals for the Carmichael mine. For those extremists, it's not about the wildlife. If it were, they would go out looking for lizards or whatnot to prevent the numerous solar projects across North Queensland. Likewise, it's not about carbon dioxide. If it were, they would support the use of high-grade Australian coal being burnt instead of coal from Indonesia, which produces more emissions. For these extreme Greens, it's not about listening to what the majority wants. I'm listening to my electorate, and the vast majority of my constituents are telling me they are sick and tired of listening to the extreme Green whingers.

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