Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

It will be of no surprise that the coalition won't be supporting this committee referral, for a very long list of reasons. Probably the most important one is that the entire argument for holding this committee is based on misinformation, lies and hysterical activism. It in no way supports the future of Australia, whether it be economically, environmentally or for the taxpayers and those Australians who enjoy great jobs, which fund their lifestyles and the First World life that we have in this country.

The coalition has never made any secret of the fact that, once we were sufficiently informed about the Middle Arm sustainable project and the potential costs in this development, we have been very supportive of it. That is because the Middle Arm project is incredibly important for the Northern Territory and for Australia as a whole. There has been an enormous amount of work undertaken in relation to the interactions between economic and environmental considerations in the creation and operation of this project, and this is the bit that I think is completely missing so far in this debate. There's a lack of understanding about the role that the Beetaloo gas project, in particular, can play in reducing emissions, in improving the quality of life for people in the Northern Territory and, yes, in increasing the royalties and company taxes and PAYG taxes that these industries provide to Australians.

The Greens talk about who's going to fund more medical care and more social security. Guess who it is? It's mining and resource projects. Over $38 billion worth of wages and salaries are paid to Australians by those companies. The vast majority of environmental projects in this country are paid for by resources projects. Forty per cent of Australia's corporate tax is paid for by resource companies. PRRT is already nearly $2 billion in the last financial year, which is paid for by offshore gas projects. The bit that the Greens will never talk to you about is that it is these projects that pay the bills for Australians. It is these projects that allow us the luxury of having these conversations. And the Northern Territory, a jurisdiction that is desperate to raise its people up and to provide greater services, desperately needs the taxes and PAYG jobs that these projects through the Middle Arm development will provide.

In our years in government we took a leading role in assessing and progressing the Middle Arm precinct. In April 2022, we announced a $1.5 billion commitment to the project, which was subsequently matched by the Labor Party. Our decision came after careful and comprehensive consideration more than a year after the project was included in the national Infrastructure Priority List. That consideration included embedding a clear focus at the precinct on advancing, in the words of the Northern Territory government, 'low emission hydrocarbons, green hydrogen, advanced manufacturing, carbon capture and storage and minerals processing'.

We absolutely cannot move to a lower-emissions, higher-energy economy and environment unless we bring on projects like this. There is absolutely no way to do it. There is no way that we can bring online the scale of renewables that is proposed by the Greens in the time frame that will allow us to support lithium processing projects, rare earths projects and critical minerals projects. It is an absolute fantasy to be trying to stop important gas projects which will allow us to have reliable and affordable energy in the foreseeable future.

It makes me very nervous about what would happen if we removed those industries. If the Greens were successful and there were no more new projects, who would pay the bills? Who would pay the bills for Australia? Who will pay the company taxes?