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

Thank you very much. One of the three things that the high-quality Australian resources provide is energy security to other nations. It is about geopolitical stability to our trading countries and our allies, and it is, interestingly, about lower emissions, because, when Australia doesn't fill this role, then the rest of the world is served with coal from Indonesia and gas from other parts of the world whose emissions are not as low as ours. So Australia has a responsibility to do these things, but most importantly we have a responsibility to Australians. The three biggest royalty streams of corporate taxpayers and contributors to PAYG tax in this country are the iron ore, coal and gas industries. The only thing that has changed about those in the last few years is the order.

There is not a replacement for that income stream. It certainly won't be bringing in solar panels and wind turbines from offshore. That will not replace the jobs in those industries.