Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. Is the Acting Prime Minister aware that Peabody Energy has announced that it will close its Wilkie Creek mine near Dalby in my electorate of Maranoa, leading to the loss of 120 jobs? Is he also aware that the company identified the carbon tax as a substantial burden? Acting Prime Minister, what impediments are there to repealing the carbon tax and creating jobs?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am aware of the news that the Wilkie Creek coalmine, in the member's electorate, is to close. It is an electorate where drought has affected agricultural production and where there have been a number of other setbacks over recent years. To lose these 120 jobs just a couple of weeks before Christmas is very bad news indeed.

The reality is that these are some of many jobs which were lost in the mining industry over the term of the previous government. In fact, if you go to the ABS statistics of August this year, you will see that they confirm that, since May 2012, 7,100 jobs have been lost in the mining sector—7,100 jobs have been lost in the mining sector alone.

As the honourable member mentioned, when commenting on the closure Peabody referred to the carbon tax. They acknowledged other things that affected their profitability, but they said that the carbon tax 'represents a substantial burden on an export-driven mine'. This comes after Origin Energy's managing director also expressed concerns yesterday about the imposition of this damaging tax. The reality is that the carbon tax destroys jobs; it takes jobs away, particularly in the mining sector.

This should not come as any surprise to the Labor Party, who introduced this tax. It was the objective of the Labor Party to close coalmines. That was one of the purposes of the carbon tax. The Greens rejoice every time there is a lost job in the coalmining industry.

The reality is that this is a part of Labor's mess which we must now work to fix up. The government have been active in getting new projects moving forward. More than 100 significant projects, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, have been approved by this government since we came into office, and many of those are in the resources sector. So it is possible to approve these projects and get them moving again, but many of them will falter while the carbon tax is still in place. If members opposite want jobs created they can start by approving the abolition of the carbon tax forthwith. If they are serious about jobs, they will get rid of the carbon tax and encourage employers to invest in this country and create those jobs.