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

I thank Senator Macdonald for his question and recognise his longstanding support for a very important industry in Queensland. He understands well how important the coal sector is for the economy of Queensland. The strength of the North and Central Queensland economies certainly does track the strength of the coal sector. Not only does Senator Macdonald know and support that but we saw in results in a poll published in The Sunday Mail on the weekend that 80 per cent of North and Central Queenslanders agree with the statement that the coal industry is very important to the economy and jobs in Central and Northern Queensland. That's why we support it and that's why we back it.

It has been a couple of tough years for the sector, as prices fell and some projects were mothballed, but things are on the improve, with coal prices more than doubling in the past 18 months, coal exports increasing by 35 per cent last year and three mines are reopening: Blair Athol, Collinsville and Baralaba. This is great news for the coal sector because, as Senator Macdonald indicated in his question, the revenue from this sector that benefits Queensland and this country is substantial. There were $36 billion in exports last year from Queensland; nearly $3 billion in wages to over 20,000 employees; and $4 billion in royalties to the state of Queensland. In addition, $11 billion is spent by the coal sector on goods and services to supply that industry.

That means it's not just the people employed in the sector that benefit but also people like Brad Hamilton, who I met last week, who runs a small business in Mackay called Diacon Australia. He supplies goods to the mining sector and his business is intimately linked to the strength of that sector. It goes further than that. I met Roger Penrose last year at Great Keppel Island. He manages the resort there and is a third-generation miner. He understands the better the coal sector goes, the more people come out to the reef and the more people go through the tourism sector. If you want to support the economy of Northern and Central Queensland, you have to support the coal sector.