Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Williams, for your question, and I acknowledge your strong interest and passion in the resources sector, particularly the way it supports jobs in New South Wales. The resources sector is an absolute cornerstone of our economy. On the latest figures, I would like to report it's now six per cent of Australia's GDP, around $200 billion a year in export revenue, and, most importantly, employment for 235,000 people. In your home state of New South Wales, approximately 48,000 jobs are supported directly, with 22,000 of those being in the very important coal industry. In Central Queensland, 10,000 people are directly employed in mining, and, as a result, regional businesses across regional Queensland continue to grow strongly. In the Northern Territory, it is $2.75 billion worth of our economy, and, as I said, more importantly, that translates to 5,700 jobs. That's about 12 per cent of the entire GDP of the Northern Territory.

We welcome significant improvements in metallurgical and thermal coal prices. The average metallurgical prices in August were about double what they were the same time last year. Thermal coal prices were about 60 per cent higher than they were the same time last year. That's because government is backing the resources industries and the jobs that they provide. We're encouraging, at every opportunity, further exploration, further investment, further development, because we know that those investments will ensure that others will invest in the jobs we so desperately need. It will also, so importantly, ensure that we put downward pressure on power prices for those who need that leadership most.