Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moore for his question, and I note his deep concerns about the importance of the resources sector for the Australian economy. Yesterday, as the Treasurer has indicated, the national accounts showed that fuel exports, driven in large part by new LNG plants in Australia, rose by almost 25 per cent. Liquefied natural gas will play an increasingly important role in Asia's energy needs. In fact, the International Energy Agency has assessed that by 2030 LNG demand will almost double. Australia is already the second-largest exporter of LNG, and over the next three or four years, due to large resource projects in Western Australia, we will become the largest exporter of LNG in the world—overtaking Qatar.

About two weeks ago I was able to visit Geoje in South Korea for the naming ceremony of the INPEX corporation's largest semi-submersible vehicle in the world. The Ichthys project LNG platform will be towed down to the Browse Basin and about 200 kilometres off the North West Shelf of Western Australia. During the construction phase of the Ichthys project, there were about 10,000 Australian jobs, and many of them were in Western Australia. And now, during the operation phase, there will be many jobs. It is estimated that the Ichthys project will produce about nine million tonnes of LNG a year, and 70 per cent of that is already onsold in long-term contracts to Japan. So this demonstrates the importance of LNG exports to our export income and therefore the strength of the Australian economy and the Western Australia economy.

It is quite apparent to those with an understanding of the resources sector that investment confidence must be maintained. I congratulate Premier Colin Barnett for his leadership and his vision in relation to large-scale resource projects.

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