Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gwydir for his question and recognise his commitment to the working families whose livelihood is drawn from the coalmining industry in his electorate and to an industry that is growing in his electorate. Coal exports last year were worth $25 billion to the Australian economy. It is an incredibly important industry in Australia, particularly for those jobs generated from those exports—jobs that have made a contribution to the figure the Treasurer quoted of two million new jobs in the Australian economy over the last 11 years. A lot of those jobs are coming out of the coalmining and associated industries. Our government has continued to support the coal industry in Australia. We have invested in infrastructure to ensure it remains efficient and competitive with the rest of the world.

We also need to address the issue of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. We have been doing that through investing in the development of new clean coal technology to help the coal industry maintain a sustainable base for coal, both within Australia as an energy generation product and also internationally as an export product for the Australian economy. We have allocated $410 million towards low-emissions technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Four of the six projects already announced relate to clean coal technology. I know the member for Gwydir would support those projects to ensure that the coal industry in his electorate maintains a sustainable base.

The practical measures that we have introduced will see Australian emissions reduced by 87 million tonnes by 2010. So investment in clean coal technology can see actual reductions in our emissions of carbon of 87 million tonnes. That is the equivalent of all the emissions from the transport sector in our economy.

The member for Gwydir asked if there were any threats to the livelihoods of those families, and there are some. They have been made very clear by the Australian Greens. We need only to look at the Shift Miner magazine, which has a quote from Senator Brown. He said:

I am talking about having a plan, within one term of government, for the phasing-out of coal.

He wants to phase out the coal industry altogether and do away with thousands of jobs in many electorates across Australia. We have seen quotes in the same magazine from the member for Kingsford Smith. He said: ‘Automatic expansion of the coal industry such as we have seen in the Hunter Valley over the past decade is a thing of the past.’ I know the member for Hunter is concerned about those quotes.

So there are some threats, but the threats are getting even closer. In recent days we have seen a preference deal done between the Australian Labor Party and the Greens in New South Wales.

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