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

My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister Watt. The mining industry has told the government that tens of thousands of jobs are at risk due to Labor's IR legislation and mining tax 2.0 thought bubble. Minister, will you admit that 33,000 jobs could be lost due to Labor's latest proposals?

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

Again, I note that the shadow minister for IR has been banned from asking questions about IR issues, and that can only be because everyone remembers the work that Senator Cash did as the IR minister, when she inflicted conflict and low wages on the Australian public. But I'm happy to hear those questions. I'm happy to take questions from Senator McDonald, who I know has a genuine interest in the resources industry.

I completely reject the claims being made by some employer groups that the government's industrial relations plans will cost the sorts of job numbers that are being thrown around. In fact, one of the reasons the government is pursuing these IR changes is they offer the opportunity to deliver a win-win to both employers and employees. Under the former government and the policies it pursued, we had persistently low productivity with a conflict based system being inflicted on employers and employees, while at the same time delivering some of the lowest wage growth that our country has seen.

We can have every confidence that, as a result of the government's IR changes, should the Senate pass them—and I sincerely hope they do—employers will win, through higher productivity, and that includes mining employers. And workers will win, through getting the pay rise that they were denied by the former government for far too long.

The kinds of claims that we are seeing being made by some groups in the community, backed in by the coalition, are not based on fact. They are not based on the experience of every other country around the world that has pursued the kinds of changes that our government is pursuing.

Our changes are about driving up productivity and giving workers the pay rise that they finally deserve after waiting so long.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McDonald, a first supplementary?

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

The mining industry has told the government that $77 billion of resources projects are now at risk, due to Labor's irresponsible IR legislation and mining tax 2.0 thought-bubble. Minister, how many of the 140 projects in the pipeline will not go ahead due to Labor's latest proposals?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to 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.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McDonald, a second supplementary?

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

With $100 million budget cuts to critical minerals funding, irresponsible IR legislation and the mining tax 2.0 thought-bubble, can the minister confirm how many of the 46 critical minerals projects currently in the pipeline will not proceed under Labor?

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

Well, I'm not the Minister representing the Minister for Resources, so I'm happy to come back with a specific answer, or perhaps Senator Farrell, as the Minister representing the Minister for Resources, is better prepared to answer a question of that nature.

But again, in this government, our position on critical minerals has been clear for some time. We've been the ones out there, for the last 10 years; while you guys have been arguing amongst yourselves about whether climate change is real and whether we should have renewable energy, we've been the ones actually calling for the kinds of investment in critical minerals that will allow those kinds of developments to occur. So, please, don't give us some lecture about critical minerals and who wants to actually bring on the transition towards renewable energy and batteries and all the kinds of things that critical minerals involve. Our government has been backing that ever since we were elected, and we were backing it a hell of a lot earlier than that.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Watt. Senator Shoebridge.

Honourable sena tors interjecting—

Order! Order! I just called Senator Shoebridge and he couldn't hear it because of the noise in the chamber.