Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, I present the committee's report entitled Keeping it in the regions: mining and resources industry support for businesses in regional economies together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I think this report has been instrumental, already, in its outcomes. Already we've had Peabody and BHP come back to us saying that they will change their terms of payment to be more immediate with the services provided, in fact within 30 days. This committee managed to cover the length and breadth of our nation from the north-west in the Kimberley and Port Hedland, right down to Singleton and across to Kalgoorlie.

I'd like to thank the members of the committee: Luke Gosling; George Christensen; David Gillespie; Peter Khalil; Brian Mitchell, who went to every public hearing bar one, but, unfortunately—he's so good on the road and so bad in the chamber—he's not here at the moment; Ted O'Brien; Tim Wilson and the secretariat staff that we have worked with, particularly Tim, Susan and Emma.

I'd like to note that the essence of this report was also about how much wealth is extracted from an area and how much wealth stays there. Australia is envious, in places such as Central Queensland, as to where our Dallas is and where our Houston is. These areas have been the beneficiaries of the major oil wealth in the East Texas oilfields. We have an approximate wealth in coal in Central Queensland, but we don't have the cities that other places, such as the United States, have. The question that is always posed is: where has this wealth gone? It is not much use to the people of Emerald and it's not much use to the people of Rockhampton if the wealth from their area ends up in Melbourne, Sydney or, in some instances, London.

The report also talks about coal seam gas and how we can make sure that people on the land are partners in that industry, rather than just being exploited by that industry, to make sure that the beneficiaries of the wealth that resides in that area is seen in the towns and in the commercial hubs of that area.

I think it's also worth saying that, with the delivery of this report, it is great to see the collegiate spirit that was expressed by the committee members. So often what people see of politics is this chamber, and yet that is only a very minor part of what happens in this building and of what happens in politics. This committee report showed that, working together, we cannot only deliver a good report but get changes that are immediate and substantial and that make a huge difference to the lives of the people in the industry.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Thanks to the chair of our committee who did a good job leading us through what I think has culminated in a great report being tabled today that, as the chair just said, will have some positive affects for people living in regional areas in particular.

As the chair did, I want to thank the members of the committee and, in particular, the committee secretariat, Susan Cardell; the inquiry secretary, Emma Banyer; Tim Brennan; Tegan Scott and Tamara Palmer. I want to thank everyone who wrote into the committee for this inquiry, especially those who prepared submissions and all the witnesses who gave evidence as we travelled around the country—thank you.

I'll just make the quick point that I was very glad that we were able to get the hearing up to Darwin, to my electorate of Solomon. I'm glad the Territorians and peak industry groups also got to have their say, including the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the NT Manufacturers Council, NT Farmers and Charles Darwin University.

I won't go into too much detail, but I will just say that I think these recommendations essentially detail how we can improve the social licence of mining companies and strengthen relationships and partnerships between working communities and mining companies, between industry and governments and, indeed, between governments themselves. There were a number of recommendations that suggested ways that we could increase social licence of mining companies. There were recommendations that the federal government consult with state and territory governments on existing legislation and frameworks with a view to increasing that social licence for mining companies to work in regional areas of Australia. Obviously, our sincere hope is that regional areas of Australia are strengthened through that partnership with mining companies and with industry.

Just quickly, on payment terms—and the chair mentioned this—the committee came to a belief that payment terms that were unreasonable were having a really negative effect on the reputation of mining companies in some regions. This has a flow-on effect on the community and is detrimental to growth and sustainability and to the functioning of those businesses. For these reasons, the committee recommends that, if the industry does not get its act together, government should legislate maximum payment terms.

In developing the regions, one thing I think is worthy of note is some of the positive recommendations that were made about local employment, including Indigenous employment, in these regional areas. We all know that FIFO is an issue for regional Australia, and we want our regions to be resilient and sustainable. So we need to get the balance right, and we also need to make sure that there is a workforce in regional areas to service the mining industry, because that will be good for regional areas of Australia and it can be good for mining companies.

I will just quickly finish up by saying that the skills that mining companies will require into the future will require a workforce which we hope can be local as much as possible, but which obviously needs to be trained with the skills needed by the industry. Part of that is funding of TAFE, funding of proper education opportunities and reskilling where possible so that local people living in those regional areas have a great opportunity to have those jobs in those regions, and that would have a great effect for families living in regional areas.

In conclusion, I want to thank everyone that worked with the chair and me. It's great that the other members of the committee will have an opportunity to make some commentary as well. Through these recommendations, which were derived from consultation with our community and the regional areas of Australia, it is our great hope that regional areas of Australia will get a fair go and a better go and that that will make us better and stronger as a nation. Thanks to all who contributed to this report.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.