John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For some time, the jewel in the crown of what was previously Parkes but which is now the Calare electorate has been the town of Cobar. It has a proud tradition in pastoral management but also in mining and in the mining of copper in particular. It has been mining since the 19th century and has done it very successfully. In recent times, Cobar has become the town in my region and probably in the whole of western New South Wales with the youngest population. It is a dynamic town. Officially, it has 5,000-odd people, but due to the mining growth and the stability that has come from that it has probably at times exceeded 6,000 people quite easily. It is a town that has provided to the state government untold royalties over recent time.

But at this point in time Cobar is in trouble. In the last 40 days, the price of copper has gone from around $3.20 to around $1.85, a drop of over 40 per cent, and zinc has gone from around $1.20 to 50c in a very short space of time. The mine with the greatest number of people working at it, Endeavour mine, which is owned by CBH, has in the past six months put off in excess of 400 people, including contractors plus their own staff. In a town of 6,000 people, this has obviously had a huge effect. The town is very wary of what is going to happen in the future.

There is no town like this one. It is 460 kilometres west to Broken Hill and 300 kilometres east to Dubbo. It is a major staging post in western New South Wales. But it obviously revolves very much around the price of copper and to a lesser extent that of zinc. One mine there is mainly gold dependent, so it is in a much happier position.

I believe that the time has come for the state government and the federal government—which has been able to help the car industry at this time—to look at what is happening in western New South Wales and the profound effect recent events have had there. When you look at what is happening, the reserves of copper around the world are something like a week’s worth; there is only a week’s reserve. There is no obvious reason why the price should have dropped to that extent—40-odd per cent—in 40 days. Obviously, it is not related so much to the usage as it is to the liquidity situation—the credit situation—around the world. It is having an enormous effect at this time in my electorate, particularly in that region—more than any other mining situation I have seen. I would hate for this to be a forebear of things to come, but if the price of copper drops much more then more mines in Australia will feel the effect. And there are more mines in my region that we are worried about.

Governments, both state and federal, have to look at this situation. Hopefully, it will be a short-term one, but we have no guarantee of that. The indications at the moment are not good. The mayor of Cobar, Lilliane Brady, has called upon the state and federal governments to look at their situation. While there is not much that can be done about the price of copper, there are a lot of things that can be done about infrastructure and about helping the region by investing in it. That is what must happen. I call upon federal and state governments to take notice of the situation. And the federal government is the one that can help.