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

I thank Senator Paterson for his question and recognise that his home state of Victoria has made a proud contribution to our nation's resources history. Indeed, in some respects, it is the home of our resources industry, going back to the days of the gold rushes and, in more recent times, the use of its extensive brown-coal resources and oil and gas resources. It has played an enormous role in developing our nation.

We're also seeking to make sure that Victoria in particular continues to contribute to the future strength of our resources sector. That's why it was so great last week to join my good friend and colleague Senator Birmingham and Minister Tim Pallas from the Victorian government to turn the first sod on the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain project in Victoria, an exciting project for our country. It is a $500 million project which builds on the best of what we have done in the past to develop our resources sector to create future opportunities. It is involving the best science and technology that we have in this country. The CSIRO has been involved. Our Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, has been involved. We have a proud history of being at the cutting edge of developing resources and energy for the world, and we have a new opportunity here in hydrogen. It builds on our record of working with other countries to supply their energy and resource needs.

This $500 million project is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian governments and by Kawasaki Heavy Industries from Japan. The Victorian and Australian governments are both contributing $50 million to the innovative project, and the Kawasaki Heavy Industries company is contributing the balance. We are working with our partners to supply the region and to develop stronger relationships to the north and are using our natural resources to create jobs, to create opportunities for Australians that will allow us to build a prosperous nation in this country. We in this Liberal-National government will continue to do that. The hydrogen industry potentially creates a new opportunity for those brown-coal resources in the Latrobe Valley and for jobs in Victoria.