Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. Would the minister inform the House of the latest export forecasts for Australia’s resources sector?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question and acknowledge his ongoing work in ensuring that the resources sector is promoted in Australia for the work that it does. 2006-07 will be another record year for exports in the resources sector, with ABARE today releasing figures which show that exports will reach an unprecedented $101 billion for minerals and energy. Iron ore exports will rise some 26 per cent to $18 billion and be almost double that which they were in 2004-05. LNG exports are expected to rise 22 per cent to $6 billion, again virtually doubling since 2004-05. Uranium exports are predicted to grow some eight per cent to be worth around $800 million.

All this is very encouraging and this government continues to strive for improvement. The surge in global demand for uranium presents a real opportunity for Australia to build on its export performance. We have some 41 per cent of the world’s uranium here in Australia and, with prices at a 20-year high and rising, there is an opportunity begging for Australia to do more and see these opportunities fulfilled, provided, of course, the rigorous environment, Indigenous, safety and non-proliferation safeguards are adhered to.

The member for Kalgoorlie and, I am sure, the member for Solomon would also reflect on this when they ask about threats to the uranium industry. I need look no further than the policy shambles of those opposite. The Leader of the Opposition says that there is a three-mines uranium policy which still stands even though there are four uranium mines in Australia. The Deputy Premier of South Australia says the policy is ‘idiotic’ and should be scrapped, and I would agree with that. The member for Batman, of course, says the policy does not even exist. It is a joke, quite frankly, and it is costing Australia. Even as recently as last weekend we saw Eley Griffiths portfolio manager Brian Eley state that the Australian uranium industry is at the mercy of the Labor Party. He said:

It’s not like nuclear power is new—

and the Leader of the Opposition should listen to this—

18 per cent of the world’s electricity is nuclear, but mining law is state based and it’s very much a Labor Party debate.

The opposition leader should also note that his colleagues in Western Australia are now agitating for a debate. I urge him to get on with it and produce a coherent uranium-mining policy for the good of jobs, investment and exports in Australia.