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

The consequences would be felt by people; they would be felt by people who largely live in smaller towns and country areas of our nation, but not only in those towns—Brisbane and Perth are the biggest mining towns in our nation, where hundreds of thousands of people rely on the sector for their jobs. I'm very much keeping at the front of my mind people like Kel Appleton, a publican in Clermont, who, with respect to opening up the Galilee in Central Queensland, said, 'It's our chance to have the things city people take for granted—things like a strong, stable income and hope for your children.' Anne Baker, Mayor of the Isaac Regional Council and a proud member of the Labor Party, who I caught up with recently, wrote a few months ago that the Galilee Basin would help 'fund schools, hospitals and public services not only across our state but also across this country', and with that in mind she added, 'Can all levels of government afford for the Galilee Basin not to open?' These are the people who are at the front of our minds when we seek to support the resources sector so that they can have a better future for their children and we can make our country a stronger place.