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

As I mentioned in the first answer to Senator O'Sullivan's question, there was a record amount of exports from our mining sector as well in December 2016. We are exporting record amounts of iron ore and coal, which is a great outcome for our nation. It is a great outcome for the environment too, because we have some of the highest quality coal in the world. In terms of carbon emissions it is better for the world that the world uses our coal and not some other coal in other countries which is not of such high quality. We have had record growth in our exports to China; even the European Union is increasing as a share of our resource exports. What is really important for our nation is that India and other Asian countries are coming onto the map. India is now our biggest destination for metallurgical coal. These parts of the world have strong growth prospects, so it is good for our mining sector.