Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator O'Sullivan, for your question. The mining sector remains of incredible importance to our national economy. As the Minister for Finance was saying earlier in question time, our economy remains strong—one of the strongest in the world. We have had a period of almost unprecedented continual economic growth in this country. A lot of that is, of course, due to the strength of our resources sector.

It remains a very resilient sector. It is a sector that has gone through a massive change and a boom, but that now, thanks to that investment boom, is bigger than it has ever been—at least since the war. It is going to be a bigger deal in our economy going forward because of that investment. The starkest statistic that shows this is that before the boom fewer than 100,000 people were employed in the sector and now more than 200,000 Australians owe their jobs to the mining sector.

Last week I was fortunate enough to be in Senator Cormann's spot over there in the Pilbara and I was taken around in a bus by a guy called Tony. Tony grew up in Newman, a small town in the Pilbara region, and he has been able to stay in Newman, thanks to the benefits of the iron ore industry and having a job there. He loves it there in Newman. It gives him a chance to go camping there. It is a beautiful part of our country, and he is able to stay there because he has something to do from Monday to Friday by working in the iron ore sector.

It is an incredibly resilient sector, too. It has gone through tough times, with the lower prices at the moment, but one thing we should reflect on is that, in the last financial year, productivity in the resources sector increased more than 20 per cent. Labour productivity is up by more than 20 per cent—a remarkable achievement from a strong sector of our economy. Multifactor productivity, which takes into account capital investments, is up five per cent—a very strong result, contributing to our strong economic performance over the past year. Of course, while prices have been low, they have bounced back lately. Met coal prices are up over 100 per cent, thermal coal prices are up 20 per cent and iron ore has stayed stable. It is a strong sector and it is continuing to contribute to our very strong economy.