George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had one grievance, but I probably have another one now, after hearing that last speech. My goodness! To stand up in this place and argue for big government and to argue against small government—

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did not argue for big government.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You did. You argued quite clearly against the philosophy of small government. If you are against small government, ipso facto you are for big government. There is no other choice; it is either small government or big government.

You argued against things like the creation of Centrelink. We heard a hark back to the days of glory when the CES helped people. I will tell you about the CES and what the CES did. My father lost his leg to cancer. My father went to the CES and said, 'I want a job. I want to work. Give me something to do. I will do anything that's on the books that I can do.' The bloke at the CES looked at him and said, 'Mate, you can't do anything. Just go on the pension. That's it for the rest of your life.' He would not take that for an answer. He went and got a job, not because of big government, but out of his own initiative and private enterprise. He started a business creating high-performance racing car parts—a business that he continues to this very day.

I just found it unbelievable, hearing that long litany of complaints against the private sector and this argument in favour of big government, going back to the past, to the glory days of the Commonwealth Employment Service, and getting rid of what essentially is a working system, where we have Job Network providers out there incentivised to look for work for individuals. What we just heard is quite unbelievable.

The main grievance that I wanted to raise this evening is also with regard to jobs. Last week I undertook a jobs mission to India on behalf of my electorate. It was something that I self-funded and something I made the community aware I was going to do. The main purpose of that meeting was to visit the head of a mining company, or, at least, a company that has mining interests. I met with Mr Gautam Adani, who is the chair of the Adani Group, which is developing the Carmichael mine in Western Queensland. It is also wanting to develop a railway line which runs from the Carmichael mine to the port of Abbot Point, of which they currently have ownership via a 99-year lease from North Queensland Bulk Ports, a state government-owned enterprise. They are wanting to expand that port so that they can get more coal shipments through.

When I sat down with Mr Adani in Adani House in Ahmedabad, India, my first message for him was that the majority of North Queenslanders and people from the electorate of Dawson are very supportive of that mine going ahead, as well as the expansion at Abbot Point and the connecting rail line. My second message for Mr Adani was that we are ready for the work that his mine and his project will bring. We are ready for the business opportunities that his mine and his project will bring. We are ready, willing and able to work. We are eager to see the Carmichael coal project up and running, delivering jobs and economic growth for our region—right from Central Queensland up to North Queensland—as well as providing a valuable source of electricity for people in India who currently do not have that and who are suffering from energy poverty.

As you know quite well, Madam Deputy Speaker, there are many people over there who resort to burning things like cow dung in order to heat their homes and to do simple things like cooking. As a result, there are so many different ailments that come up—like respiratory ailments—that lead to death, in some instances. This is important for India to bring people out of energy poverty up into—at least—the middle class and to increase their living standards. You are only going to do that through something sustainable that is in place, such as electricity. I have to say, it was my pleasure to go and actually have a look at what was being achieved over there, which is basically all under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, who is really looking at bringing India up to First World living standards.

So, as I said, North Queenslanders are ready, willing and able to work. We want to get working on that Carmichael coal project. I hate to put up a prop, but that message was sent through these postcards here, which basically say, 'Mr Adani, we're ready to get working.' The message that went to Mr Adani was from thousands upon thousands of local residents who were happy to sign up to this message:

I support the Adani Group's Carmichael Mine project, the Abbot Point expansion, and the connecting rail line. Our region has supplied the workforce and services needed to build and operate mines in the Bowen Basin and we are ready to build your vision for the Galilee Basin and the people of India. We welcome the Adani Group to North Queensland and want you to know that we're ready to get working.

Those postcards were delivered in person by me in Ahmedabad. I sat down last Monday with Mr Adani and a suitcase full of those postcards, and I assured him that there was support for the project amongst the wider community. He seemed genuinely surprised and delighted to see such support, because the only feedback he receives is what he reads in the media and reports on the extreme greens' latest attempt to block the mine through frivolous court challenges. So he was very eager to see those postcards, and he said he was going to take them to the next board meeting. It was clear from our meeting that the Adani Group are committed to developing the Carmichael coal project, but the frustration was also evident. They are perplexed by how slow and difficult it is to get a project going in Australia. They are perplexed by how easy it is for extreme green groups to block a project based on misinformation campaigns and lawfare.

After meeting with the chairman, Mr Adani, I also inspected a coal-fired power generator that they have at the port of Mundra on the north-west coast of India, something that Adani have taken control of. The power plant that I went and had a look at has supercritical technology in it, which means lower emissions are produced in the generation of electricity. These are the types of high-efficiency, low-emission facilities that the extreme greens should be supporting. University of Queensland Energy Initiative director Chris Greig has suggested that new high-efficiency, low-emissions technology would produce 30 to 50 per cent fewer emissions. When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia, he said India would address climate change by reducing emissions in power generation, using nuclear, hydro and clean coal technology, and they are using it. The greens do not support any of those.

Next door to the power generator that I inspected in Mundra is another generator. They are both adjacent to the port, which is the largest coal-importing terminal in the world, and they are built next to that port for a reason. Each of those power plants requires 16 million tonnes to be put through it in order to get the power generation it needs. That is about 100 ships each—200 ships coming through that port. Those two generators—and I have to say there are more to come; they probably need at least another two and possibly three built in the next five years—are designed specifically to use imported coal, and if that coal is not imported from Australia it will be imported from somewhere else. They want it to come from their Carmichael mine. Currently they are taking it from Indonesia.

So there is a healthy dose of irony in the court challenge to the Carmichael mine approval which was lodged today by the Australian Conservation Foundation. It is ironic because their argument is that if coal is burnt it is going to release emissions, increase climate change and affect the reef. But the alternative, if it is not burnt, is that coal from another country is going to be burnt instead, which would release more emissions because it has higher ash content and, by their own argument, would have a greater impact on climate change and the reef. Australia has some of the best coal in the world. It is high in quality and low in ash and produces far fewer emissions when it is used for power generation. The extreme greens would do well to compare the typical energy content of Australian coal, at 12 to 14 per cent ash content, and that of the typical coal that comes out of foreign countries, where we have figures of 30 to 45 per cent ash content. There is about 50 per cent more energy content in Australian coal.

What should also be important to extreme greens is the conditions that come with mining coal in Australia. It is mined here under strict environmental regulations and strict labour laws. If the frivolous lawsuits and delaying tactics of the greens were successful and the coal were not mined here in Australia, it would come from somewhere else that may have poorer conditions for the environment and for workers. So let's get real. Let's get on with the job of creating jobs through the Carmichael mine. (Time expired)