George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's my pleasure to rise to ask a question to the minister for resources and northern Australia, which are two of my favourite things: the resource of coal and the great north, Northern Australia, and North Queensland in particular. I refer the minister to the ongoing demonisation of coal. We've just heard a bit of it, badmouthing the Collinsville coal-fired power project—

Mr Husic interjecting—

I can speed it up if you want, Ed, but I really need to talk slow so that you can understand! The clean coal-fired power project in Collinsville and their opposition to it over on that side of the House is symptomatic of their entire opposition to coal. It seems, unfortunately, that the once great party of the worker, the Labor Party, is now the party of the inner city greenie. They are led by the nose by the green movement.

We hear all sorts of things from those opposite. The member for Shortland over there is supposed to be a champion of mineworkers, but gets up here and rabbits on about renewable energy all the time rather than worrying about the jobs of his own workers. I'm very worried about the jobs of local workers, particularly when we've got negativity from—

Opposition members interjecting—

That's not what happened at the last election. I can tell you, Minister, that the coalminers were that supportive of me and the government that I, on Labor Day of all days, standing outside the prepoll booth, got a big hug from a guy who'd just wrapped up in the march, emblazoned with his bright green CFMMEU shirt and hat. He told me that he was voting for me because I was such a strong supporter of the coal sector and the coal workers. That's the kind of record that I have in my electorate.

We always hear this talking down of the sector from those opposite and from the green movement, so I thought I'd put some facts on the table. Interestingly, I got this brochure from the Minerals Council earlier today with some quick facts in it that the minister would certainly know about: 199 million tonnes of coal, making Australia the world's second-largest thermal coal exporter in 2020, generating revenue of $16.6 billion. Some important facts: along with metallurgical coal jobs, there are 40,000 jobs in this nation directly from coalmining; $5 billion in royalties for state governments, paying for hospitals and schools; an investment of $6.3 billion capital expenditure in coal projects across the country; and $289 million in exploration. Coal-fired power plants, it says, produce 58 per cent of the power in our homes. And we've seen what happens when you take out coal-fired power, with the sad situation at Callide, where we've now got a coal-fired power plant out of action, and the resultant impact on wholesale power prices in Queensland in particular.

Minister, my worry is that we've got all of this negativity from the other side of politics—the Labor Party, the green movement, all of the groups that are out there like GetUp!—coming towards the coal sector. But, fundamentally, if you take politics out of it, the coal sector is very, very strong, including the thermal coal sector; there is much demand for it. I know the minister knows this. So what I'm wanting to understand, minister, is: how does the government see the outlook for coal, particularly thermal coal, into the future? Is the government completely supportive of the coal sector and all of the people that work for the coal sector? How does the government respond to the attacks on the coal sector from the other side of politics, from the green movement and from all of the groups like GetUp!? I would be very interested to know this, as would all of the workers in my electorate and throughout Central Queensland and throughout the Hunter whose jobs rely on the coal sector, because they want the minister and the Morrison Liberal-National government to continue its strong support of the coal sector. I'm sure that's the answer we're going to hear from you, Minister. I really want to hear that.

Opposition members interjecting—

I'm sure those opposite want to hear it, because they can't get the same kind of thing out of their own shadow minister or their own leader. They'll never, ever support coal, much to their shame. They've walked away from coal workers, who were once the backbone of the Labor Party. (Time expired)

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