Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the . Minister, as you know my electorate is home to some of the most significant resources projects in Australia and in the world. Will the minister update the House on the state of Australia's resources and energy sector, and how is Australia's sector positioned to take advantage of future opportunities, through innovation, trade, and proximity to the growing markets? How will constituents in my electorate of Durack benefit from a strong resources sector?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Durack for her question. I recently had the pleasure to visit the member in her electorate. For those of us who take about half an hour to get from one side of our electorate to the other, spare a thought for the member for Durack, who has the second-largest electorate in the world, representing some 60 per cent of Western Australia and 20 per cent of Australia. Prime Minister, your electorate fits into Durack 53,000 times!

Durack is home to some of the largest resource projects in Australia and in the world—the Pluto and Wheatstone LNG projects; the $70 billion Gorgon LNG project; the North West Shelf; and, more recently, the Roy Hill iron ore project, which had its first shipment last December. It is with the resources in Durack that Australia has become the world's largest exporter in the world of iron ore, and by 2019-20 will be the world's largest export of LNG. Durack and the people of Durack are great beneficiaries of the boom in mining, which saw $400 billion worth of investment between 2003 and 2014, record terms of trade, record job creation and record income growth.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Perth will cease interjecting.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is true that commodity prices have come down, but that the outlook is still a positive one. That is because demand is growing. In December last year China had one of the highest rates on record of importation of iron ore, and China is growing still at around seven per cent, off a larger base. India had economic growth of 7.4 per cent and will be tripling its steel production between now and 2025.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Perth is warned.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The International Energy Agency has said that energy demand globally will increase by a third between now and 2040.

The Australian resources sector is also strong, because it is highly innovative and efficient. Three-quarters of the iron ore production in Australia is in the bottom half of the global cost curve, and companies like BHP, Rio and Fortescue, with assets in the Pilbara, in the electorate Durack, are remotely operating trucks and trains and drilling equipment from their operations centre 1,500 kilometres away in Perth.

Sixty per cent of the world's mining software is written here in Australia. So, when the Prime Minister talks about a culture of innovation, he is not just talking about a local start-up. He is also talking about established sectors like the resources sector, and the Australian resources sector in particular, which is highly efficient, has economies of scale, and, with the lower Australian dollar, is continuing to do well.

The electorate of Durack is absolutely critical to the success of the Australian resources sector. The people of Durack have been the beneficiaries, and they are very well-served by a hard-working local member.