Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by giving the Greens a dose of reality that will be hard for them to swallow, so I apologise in advance for any sobbing or whingeing you may hear coming from them. The fact is that as long as people want to buy our coal we will continue to sell them our coal. I want the last piece of coal ever to burn to come from our mines in the Hunter Valley because it is the best, most efficient and highest quality coal in the world. There will be no abrupt or enforced transition away from coal. Here is another fact for you. The vast majority of coal that we mine in my electorate in the Hunter is exported. So, while it's true that the market is moving away from using coal to power our country and this government has done amazing work to make sure this is happening as smoothly as possible, even after our last coal-fired power station is closed in Australia our coal will still be mined and exported for decades and decades to come. We will mine it and we will sell it until the day there is no-one who wants to buy it. So you can put your unrealistic pipedreams of a rapid transition away from coal to bed because it is just as much of a fairytale as the coalition's nuclear policy.

As always, the member for Brisbane has moved a motion without actually doing his homework. If he had done his homework before getting all worked up about how much he despises the mining industry, he would know that the most recent budget reports that the resources sector contributed to two-fifths of the company tax in the 2022-23 financial year. He'd also know that the mining, energy and water sector is estimated to have contributed $42.4 billion in tax in the 2021-22 financial year. I think he really needs a reality check. Instead of demonising the industry, he needs to open his eyes and think about all the ways that we really do rely on the mining industry.

Here is fact No. 3. We can't move towards net zero without the mining industry. I hope the Greens political party are listening today, because there is much to learn here. Without mining there are no solar panels, wind turbines or batteries. I'd like to see the member for Brisbane try to build a wind turbine without traditional resources like iron. It's not just us that will be relying on mining our rich deposits and critical resources so we can power our future; countries around the world will be as well.

Every day, every single person has a reason to be grateful for mining. Without mining we don't have the iron we need to build fridges, public transport or aircon. We won't have the copper we need for car brakes and plumbing. Without mining there is no gold for circuit boards, TVs and mobile phones and there's no aluminium for tinfoil hats or beer cans. That's right: if the member for Brisbane had his way, he would stop you from being able to crack open a few tins with your mates because he doesn't want us to be able to produce aluminium.

To the member for Brisbane, I say: Don't be ungrateful. Go thank a miner in your electorate or thank all of the miners around Australia for what they do. Get out of your inner-city office and have a look at electorates like mine in the Hunter that make our country run. The fact is that we need mining. Everywhere you look, we rely on mining in some way. Even as we continue to make amazing progress on reducing our emissions, mining is going nowhere. Thank goodness for that, because look at what we gain from it. Mining powers our economy. The sector directly employs more than a quarter of a million Australians, many of these in my electorate in the Hunter. The mining industry also supports more than 1.1 million indirect jobs. Mining has made my electorate what it is. Almost everyone knows a miner or has a family member who has worked in the mines or knows someone who has connections in the mines. It has provided good-paying, secure employment for generations and is firmly part of the identity of the entire Hunter region.

So the Greens can continue to hate on mining, but they live in a dream world if they think somehow they will convince us to rapidly transition away from mining. It's here to stay. The final fact of the day is that mining is definitely here to stay. I say to the miners in my electorate and all around Australia: thank you for the hard work you do, the long shifts and the time away from your families, friends and loved ones. Keep up the great work. We support you. We will continue to support you in the future. I look forward to continuing to see many of you in the Hunter but also around Australia as well. Hopefully the member for Brisbane can go and thank the miners in his electorate, because there are a lot there that do great, critical work for our country. I think you could go and say thank you to them, because mining matters. Thank you to all the miners in the Hunter. Cheers.

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