Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you again, Senator McDonald. I respect the fact that the mining industry and other employer groups are out there, at the moment, running a political campaign against what our government is trying to do. They have every right to do so, but they also have a responsibility to put facts on the table, rather than to put 'facts' and figures out there that have no basis in reality.

Anyone who has any contact with the resources industry at the moment—and I'm sure Senator McDonald does, in her shadow capacity, and I certainly do, as a Queensland based minister—knows that the resources sector is incredibly excited about the opportunities that exist for investment in a range of commodities. Of course, in critical minerals there are massive opportunities, particularly in the north of our country. In some of the more traditional minerals, there are massive opportunities there as well. I have every expectation that, while ever commodity prices remain high, as they currently are, the mining industry will invest in those projects so that they can generate those profits.