Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has been disappointing news for Tahmoor, a village of 4,500 people in the north of my electorate. The Tahmoor Underground Mine, run by Glencore, will be making about 40 workers redundant next month. This is a major blow to those families who will be directly affected and to the Tahmoor community. I offer my full support and the support of the federal government to help those staff find other employment quickly.

However, I will put this news in context. There is a major structural problem in our resources sector. Our costs—labour, energy and transport—are continuing to climb and our competitors are selling cheaper coal; it is as simple as that. The former Labor government's failure to run budget surpluses has contributed to an unnecessarily high exchange rate. The coalition government is restoring business confidence and laying the foundation for future economic prosperity. In our first six months, 100,000 new jobs were created nationally. I met with Glencore representatives in my Goulburn office last Friday and there is good news on the horizon for Tahmoor. Another major project is in the planning stages which, if approved, will extend the life of the mine by 18 years. We may be coming off a resources boom but there is plenty of life left in our mining sector.