John Anderson (Gwydir, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services. Would the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the government is supporting the jobs of working families in coalmining areas of regional Australia, including in my electorate of Gwydir? Can the Deputy Prime Minister advise of any threats to the livelihoods of those families?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gwydir for his question and recognise his commitment to the working families whose livelihood is drawn from the coalmining industry in his electorate and to an industry that is growing in his electorate. Coal exports last year were worth $25 billion to the Australian economy. It is an incredibly important industry in Australia, particularly for those jobs generated from those exports—jobs that have made a contribution to the figure the Treasurer quoted of two million new jobs in the Australian economy over the last 11 years. A lot of those jobs are coming out of the coalmining and associated industries. Our government has continued to support the coal industry in Australia. We have invested in infrastructure to ensure it remains efficient and competitive with the rest of the world.

We also need to address the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. We have been doing that through investing in the development of new clean coal technology to help the coal industry maintain a sustainable base for coal, both within Australia as an energy generation product and also internationally as an export product for the Australian economy. We have allocated $410 million towards low-emissions technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Four of the six projects already announced relate to clean coal technology. I know the member for Gwydir would support those projects to ensure that the coal industry in his electorate maintains a sustainable base.

The practical measures that we have introduced will see Australian emissions reduced by 87 million tonnes by 2010. So investment in clean coal technology can see actual reductions in our emissions of carbon of 87 million tonnes. That is the equivalent of all the emissions from the transport sector in our economy.

The member for Gwydir asked if there were any threats to the livelihoods of those families, and there are some. They have been made very clear by the Australian Greens. We need only to look at the Shift Miner magazine, which has a quote from Senator Brown. He said:

I am talking about having a plan, within one term of government, for the phasing-out of coal.

He wants to phase out the coal industry altogether and do away with thousands of jobs in many electorates across Australia. We have seen quotes in the same magazine from the member for Kingsford Smith. He said: ‘Automatic expansion of the coal industry such as we have seen in the Hunter Valley over the past decade is a thing of the past.’ I know the member for Hunter is concerned about those quotes.

So there are some threats, but the threats are getting even closer. In recent days we have seen a preference deal done between the Australian Labor Party and the Greens in New South Wales.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Albanese interjecting

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler would know all about this one.

Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Tanner interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Melbourne is warned!

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a press release put out by the Greens, upper house candidate in New South Wales Lee Rhiannon is quoted as saying:

We have also agreed with Labor to establish a preferencing framework for the federal election in New South Wales …

I think the Leader of the Opposition needs to tell the voters not only in New South Wales but across Australia what deal he has done with the Greens in New South Wales and across Australia for the federal election later this year. Is it about closing down the coalmining industry in Australia? Is it about costing thousands of Australian coalminers their jobs? We need to hear from the Leader of the Opposition what deal he has done with the Greens in which they want to, as Bob Brown has said, close down or phase out the coal industry within one term of government.

They cannot walk away from this, because we all remember the preference deal the Australian Labor Party did with the Greens at the last election, which only surfaced in the last week of the campaign. If the then leader, the former member for Werriwa, was going to trash thousands of jobs in the timber industry, and that came to the surface as a result of the preference deal he had done with the Greens, what will be the cost to coalmining jobs across Australia, and particularly in New South Wales, as a result of the preference deal with the Greens done by the Leader of the Opposition?

Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who do you give your preferences to?

Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We give them to the Liberal Party.