Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the shadow minister for resources, who has picked up the tradition of all shadow ministers for resources and ministers for resources for this country of working together on the things that actually matter. I want to acknowledge the work that we have done in recent weeks, particularly around the proposal for Australia's low-level radioactive waste facility, which we're having discussions on now. It has been congenial and it is in the national interest.

I'm asked about the Chinese trade relationship. Clearly it is an incredibly important relationship for Australia's exports, regardless of whether they are in the resources sector, the agricultural sector or otherwise. We continue to engage, both in country and through diplomatic channels, with our biggest-trading partner. That is the reality. Trade is trade is trade. Trade is built on relationships, and those relationships, particularly in the resources sector, are between companies in country. And they remain strong.

In terms of our coal exports, right now we have more people employed in the coal sector than there has been since 2012. That is a phenomenal result for this country. In regard to LNG—and I've been asked this question a couple of times—all of the information we have from industry is that demand is actually increasing and price is increasing, and that is in pretty much all of our trading countries right across the world, including China. That is the feedback from industry—that there is a very positive outlook for the LNG sector moving into the future.

I'm asked what we will do in addition to the other challenges and the other things we have in place. This is why we have implemented Australia's Global Resources Strategy. In the budget, $20 million was put on the table to help us look at diversifying options for trade to find additional markets at better value, to assist Australian companies to open up those markets and provide further opportunities for Australia's exporters. We must never forget that this is Australia's biggest export sector. It's more than 50 per cent of what we trade around the world. My expectation is that, in the very near future, we will find that we break through $300 billion in exports in this financial year. To put that into perspective, in the midst of COVID, the estimate was under $250 billion. There is no other industry in this country that can turn around a $50 billion increase, not only in economic activity but also in the jobs that go with it. And the resources sector has now well over 260,000 people directly employed, particularly in areas like the member for Dawson's electorate, where there is a significant amount of employment not only directly in mine sites and resource companies but also in the METS sector and right across that technological expertise which we export around the world.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:30

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