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

The resources sector continues to set more records than Ian Thorpe. We delivered a record trade surplus for the September quarter driven by lots of great Australian industries, including our agricultural sector. Our resources sector provided a huge chunk of the growth, particularly in the last year, in increased LNG, coal and iron ore exports. In fact, for the first 10 months of this year, our resources exports were worth $245 billion, a big increase on last year. Our total resource industry exports have increased by 19 per cent in just one year. Yesterday's national accounts showed that the resources sector accounted for one-quarter of the total growth in that quarter. It is only by backing sectors like the resources sector that we can afford to pay for the public services and good welfare system that we have in this country. That's why we back this sector and that's why we will always stand up for it.