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

I thank Senator Macdonald for his question. He is right to outline that there was exciting news last week for Queensland—very exciting news—that jobs will be created in Queensland, thanks to the announcement that Adani has secured finance for its Carmichael mine. Immediately, that will mean 1,500 new jobs in North Queensland. I know Senator Macdonald knows how important that is for the state of Queensland and how important that is for regions like North Queensland and Townsville, the city he lives in, but it is important for the rest of the country to understand this. In the rest of the country, jobs growth is very strong. As Senator Birmingham was just outlining to the Senate, there has been record jobs growth around the country. That is not the case, though, in Queensland. In Queensland, at the moment, the unemployment rate is at 6.3 per cent—the highest in the country. In other regions of Queensland, like Townsville, where Senator Macdonald is from, the unemployment rate is 8.9 per cent—it has averaged that over the last 12 months. In Fitzroy, which covers Rockhampton—where I live—and Gladstone, the rate has been 6.8 per cent over the last 12 months. These areas need jobs; they need these opportunities. It is most important because of the personal impact that that has on people's lives.

I think the CEO of Adani, Lucas Dow, summed it up well:

On a personal level, my old man was an interstate truck driver. It has always struck me how hard he worked to give us a go and how well remunerated I have been as a result of the opportunities he and the mining industry have afforded me. That was all on the back of the Bowen Basin coal industry being opened up. I started work in the coal industry at the Goonyella mine. I am a parochial Queenslander and I really want to see this get up. This is personal, there is a personal drive there.

It is personal for Senator Macdonald and me as well, because we want to see our communities prosper. We want to see people like Mr Dow go from being the son of a truck driver to being the head of a major company in this country. It's that which the coal industry and the resources industry offers average Australians.