Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister for resources. The minister told Phil Coorey of the Australian Financial Review that a $250 billion loan facility for the resources sector is the price of the National Party's support for net zero emissions by 2050. Can the minister outline his proposal for a $250 billion loan facility for the resources sector?

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I absolutely reject that. I did not say at any stage that there is a price. We are having a collegiate discussion with our colleagues and we are having a collegiate discussion in the Nationals party room. We are having a collegiate discussion, as our constituents expect, on a serious matter. It is only those opposite who show their hypocrisy. I can't tell from here, but I see a lot of scarves. If they're made out of acyclic, they come from the resources sector. They come from a sector that is delivering $346 billion into our economy over the next 12 months. I say again: we will continue to work on serious policy and we will continue to deliver for this sector. A sector that was forecast in the midst of the pandemic to be down to $246 billion has put on over a hundred billion dollars that will flow into this economy in the next 12 months. We should celebrate the fact that it exists, not continue to talk it down and talk down our country.