Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to remind the House how amazing and important the resources sector is. Unlike the members and senators of the Albanese Labor government, I want to acknowledge and thank the hardworking men and women in hi-vis who work in our resources industry. The Albanese Labor government has clearly forgotten to thank the hard workers in the resources sector. Instead, they slam them at every chance they get.

I often wonder what has happened to the Labor Party. The old Labor Party would never have given in to the green policies above what is right for the hi-vis worker. The old Labor Party used to stand up for the miners and stand up for the resource sector. Now, they just tax the life out of them. The Labor Party's constituency base used to be the worker. These days, they're in an identity crisis. It isn't clear what they stand for or what values they base their policies on. What is clear is that they no longer value the hardworking Aussie. Instead, they penalise those who work hard and those who want to get ahead without relying on government handouts.

Labor reward the loud minority groups and forget about the quiet Australians who just want to get on with the job without whingeing and complaining. Despite the billions of dollars of returns, wages, royalties and taxes that the resources sector provides the economy, this Albanese Labor government has refused to reinvest in the sector. The coalition has continued to warn of the risk to the future prosperity of the resources sector if it continues to be abandoned by this government. Unfortunately, these warnings have been ignored.

We are seeing the effects of the Queensland Labor government's coal royalties. Now, with the federal carbon tax 2.0, we're seeing what that's doing to affect Queensland right now.

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