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

Yes, I have spoken to the Queensland tourism industry about these issues, but I reject the premise of your question, Senator Di Natale, that somehow these two things are inconsistent. The tourism industry you refer to is very important to the North Queensland economy, and it has largely been built up alongside and in parallel with significant increases in coalmining in Queensland. We have developed that tourism industry, alongside the developments in the Bowen Basin, alongside the coal developments in the Surat Basin. I would posit to you, Mr President, they are not completely unrelated. We have many beautiful areas in this country, and the Great Barrier Reef is a prime one, but a key driver of a strong tourism sector will be to have strong residential communities close to those sectors that are able to holiday there and go there. The fact that our mining sector brings thousands of people to Central Queensland, thousands of people to North Queensland, allows our tourism industry to market their services to those people who have a job, who can afford to go to the reef and actually enjoy the wonderful splendour that exists there. (Time expired)