Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Canavan. Can the minister please update the Senate on any recent developments that are delivering jobs and opportunities to northern Australia?

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

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for his question and his keen interest in the economic fortunes of North Queensland. I was able to join another senator in North Queensland, Senator Macdonald, in Townsville last week on what was a banner day for North Queensland and a historic day for North Queensland when Adani announced that it had made the final investment decision for the Carmichael mine and was proceeding with it.

We were also there to open the headquarters of Adani in Townsville. It is great news for regional Queensland that a large company making what will be the largest investment from an Indian company in Australia has decided to headquarter in a regional town, in Townsville, creating hundreds of administrative jobs and an economic ecosystem for the people of North Queensland and Townsville as well.

Of course, I want to recognise the great efforts of Senator Macdonald in promoting North Queensland, standing behind projects like this one and supporting those people in North Queensland who just want to work hard, have a job and provide for their family. That is what this project offers. This project offers the people of North Queensland who are desperate to have a job, to have a go in life, to be able to provide for themselves, the ability to do that for their families by getting a decent, hardworking job in our coal sector, which we fully support.

We have seen the unemployment figures come out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. They show that unemployment in Queensland remains elevated at 6.1 per cent. It has dropped marginally but is still well above the national average of 5.5 per cent. We need these jobs in Queensland. That is why this announcement last week was so important.

It is not just about the Carmichael mine, which itself will employ 1,400 people and up to 3,800 people over time, according to the Queensland government. It is also about opening up a new coal basin in Australia—the first coal basin that would be opened up for nearly 50 years in Australia. Altogether, according to the Queensland government Coordinator-General, mines in the Galilee Basin that are on the books right now could produce over 16,000 jobs in the sector. It is an enormous prospect for our nation and particularly important for the economic future of North Queensland.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hereby decree: it was magnificent, Matty; that was a great answer. My next question is: can the minister advise the Senate if there are any other potential projects that could deliver further jobs and development in regional Queensland?

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

The senator is also right that there is enormous opportunity across northern Australia as well, despite depressed economic opportunity in some areas at the moment. The resources of northern Australia have already produced enormous amounts of economic wealth for our country. It accounts for more than 50 per cent of our exports. More than 50 per cent of our exports leave from northern Australia because of mainly the mineral resources and energy resources of northern Australia.

There are enormous water resources in northern Australia as well. More than 60 per cent of our rainfall falls on the 40 per cent of our land mass that is northern Australia. Those resources are largely untapped, particularly in my area of Central Queensland, where the country's second-largest river catchment, the Fitzroy Basin, exists. There is only one major dam there, but we want to change that. We want to build the Rookwood Weir, which could create 2,100 jobs, double agricultural production in the Fitzroy Basin and droughtproof the towns of Rockhampton and Gladstone as well. But we are being held up by a Queensland Labor government that wants to talk and talk, do more studies and invest in projects in inner-city Brisbane but not back a dam in Central Queensland.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a final supplementary question.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate what barriers exist, sadly, in unlocking the potential of northern Australia?

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

There are some in this place who do not share the interests of those people in North Queensland. There are some who do not live there but want to tell the people of North Queensland how they should do things and what they should invest in. I talk particularly of the Greens. Last time I checked, the Greens at the federal election received the support of about three per cent of North Queensland, so you could say that there is a 97 per cent consensus among the people of North Queensland that the Greens do not have a plan for the people of North Queensland. They do not.

I welcome the fact that Senator Chisholm today was calling out the extremism of this party. I welcomed Senator Chisholm's reports in the media today that the Greens are extremists who are against the economic development of North Queensland. Unfortunately, sometimes his party is conflicted, though, because yesterday, despite his comments today, Senator Gallacher was in this place calling into question the Adani project and saying that it has to stack up environmentally, even though it has got all its environmental approvals. It is probably the most assessed project in our history, but still we see the Labor Party trying to walk both sides of the street on this. They have to get on this train. They are either for jobs or against them.