Michael Ferguson (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Would the Prime Minister advise the House what initiatives the government will take following the Beaconsfield mine tragedy and rescue?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass will be aware that this afternoon there will be an opportunity for all of us to pay tribute to all of those involved in this remarkable event and also, of course, to temper that with our sadness at the loss of one of the miners, Larry Knight. More specifically, I can inform the House of a number of initiatives that the government will undertake in relation to the Beaconsfield community and also this particular event. The government proposes to contribute a sum of $8 million to a Beaconsfield community fund, the trustees of which will be representatives of the federal government and the local council. If, as I would expect to be the case, the Tasmanian government joins the federal government in making a contribution to this fund, there would also be a representative of the Tasmanian government. So there would, in that eventuality, be three trustees.

This structural adjustment fund has some precedence in relation to the response of the federal and state governments to the closure of the steelworks in Newcastle some years ago and also to the various iterations of closures or scaling down of activities by Mitsubishi in South Australia. I would hope that this fund would be drawn upon to provide some continuity of employment until the future of the mine is known. That, of course, is in addition to any other entitlements to which people affected by any prolonged closure of the mine may be entitled.

It is also the government’s intention to invest a sum of $1 million in a fund that will provide income of approximately, I am told, $70,000 a year to fund a Larry Knight memorial scholarship in mining engineering at the University of Tasmania. This proposal has been discussed with the family of the late Mr Knight and they have expressed their approval. We believe that this is a more practical and effective ongoing way of marking his life in mining and also the sad and tragic circumstances of his death.

Finally, the House will be aware that the Australian Workers Union has established a fund. I have indicated that, subject to the completion of the formalities, any contributions to that fund would enjoy tax deductibility. It is also the disposition of the government itself, after the details of the objects of the fund and so forth have been processed and made known to us, to make a contribution to the Australian Workers Union fund.

I believe that these three measures are an appropriate response to this situation. They do recognise the extraordinary dependence of the Beaconsfield community on this mine. They also recognise that the most practical way of remembering the late Larry Knight is to have a scholarship bearing his name in mining engineering at the University of Tasmania. There is also a recognition of the commitment of the Australian Workers Union to providing assistance to the Knight family not only by tax deductibility but by an appropriate contribution by the federal government.