Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

See, they arc up now! When you talk about defending mine safety and you're intent on making sure that coalmines are safe, they arc up—because the truth is that this is all about culture wars from those opposite. They use them as cheap debating tricks, but, when it comes to protecting coalminers and making sure they can come home at night, they don't care. They don't care one iota—and they flee the place. The member for Hughes is leaving the chamber because he knows I'm telling the truth.

Let's return to some facts, because those on the other side never see a fact. They never have any familiarity with a fact. The truth is that the seaborne thermal coal trade is declining. The trade for seaborne thermal coal, which is the market for the Galilee Basin, if it ever gets off the ground, and the market for most of the Hunter coal exports, is declining. It peaked in 2013 and has declined every year since. Australian coal exports have increased during that time, as other countries have switched from Vietnamese coal or Indonesian coal to Australian coal, but that market is declining. Subsidising new coalmines in the Galilee Basin threatens 18,000 coalmining jobs in my region, the Hunter, because, if you subsidise new competition into a declining market, it will inevitably lead to declining prices for coal. That has been attested to by the CEO of the Newcastle coal port, the largest coal export port in the world. They have said that subsidising Adani and new Galilee Basin mines will undermine Newcastle coal exports, will drive down prices and will threaten the 18,000 coalmining jobs in my community.

I'm proud to stand up for those jobs. I'm proud to say that we shouldn't subsidise new coalmines in the Galilee Basin, because it threatens my coalmining jobs. I'm proud to stand up for this community. I'm proud to stand up for coalminers so that they come home safely every night from work. I'm proud to stand up and speak in this House in opposition to the recurrence of black lung in the Australian coalmining industry. I'm proud to stand up with all my Labor colleagues and oppose any diminution of coalmining safety, which is what those opposite stand for. They stand for that when they attack the CFMEU. They stand for that when they undermine safety in the Australian coalmining industry. See through their crocodile tears; see through all their cant and hypocrisy and ask: what do they actually do around coalmines? They do nothing but debate them.

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