Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, the Queensland Labor government has seen sense and provided the remaining approvals for the restart of the New Acland coal mine. The water licence is in, and we'll see work resuming in the coming months. This is great news for our community. That means jobs for locals and extra cash flowing through our region's economy. What these approvals also bring—so crucial for our area—is certainty: certainty for the workers, for the people of Oakey and for the local suppliers.

You have to remember this has been 15 years in the making, with endless legal challenges from green activists and political games from the Queensland Labor government. There was never a justifiable reason to delay this decision. While they did, we saw 450 people lose their jobs. So, while there's a great opportunity now for these people to get their jobs back and come back to Oakey onsite now, we can't forget the pain and the stress that was put on these workers, their families and our local community. It's something that I don't think the people of Oakey will ever forget or forgive the Premier for, and why should they? They deserve better.

Coal plays a very, very important part not only in Queensland's economy but in our local economy, where it provides up to 10 per cent of our gross regional product. The truth is that coal will still be a part of our energy mix for a long time to come. You can't just make a political decision to opt out of it; the economy just doesn't work like that. I'm glad the Queensland Labor government have learned their lesson about the importance of coal. It's a lesson I hope those opposite take note of, although I don't hold my hopes very high.