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

I am tired. I am tired of the Greens' hysterics. I'm tired of this crazy binary situation that they give, where it is coal and gas or save the planet. I'm tired of them presenting themselves as being soft, cuddly tree-huggers. For the people, particularly in Brisbane, who voted for the Greens at the last election, I think we need to be discussing what they're really all about, because their choice is binary. It is a choice between using the best resources in the world from Australia, having human ingenuity and practicality, jobs and food and human lives, and what the Greens offer, which is to shut everything down. It is their policies that are driving up the cost of living. It is their interventions in trying to stop ordinary coal and gas fired power. It is their interventions that threaten our geopolitical stability by trying to intervene in the gas market and stop supplies to our near allies. This is an incredibly serious discussion, and we have got to stop having some sort of binary conversation that does not protect the human condition.

Of the UN sustainability goals, the first three are about protecting people's rights to shelter, food and their way of life, and the last three are about climate change. But, if you listen to the Greens, there is no place for humans in this world. It is important that we are clear about this. The policies of the Greens will mean that your kid, no matter if they're working in a supermarket or as a tradie, getting an apprenticeship or going into a high-tech critical minerals processing facility—none of them will have a job, because of energy policy being driven by the Greens. There will be less affordable food and fewer real jobs. It isn't a fantasy world that we live in, and Australians know that. They're the ones that are struggling with the cost of living and with rising food costs, all being driven up because of this rushed renewable expansion. We have to be clear that our resources raise the standard of living around the world. They bring people out of poverty.

The three things that Australian resources do, whether they be coal or gas, are that they provide energy security to these countries, provide geopolitical stability—