Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to place on record my appreciation to the Minister for Industry, the Hon. Ian Macfarlane MP, for his recent visit to Ryan, where he got a quick snapshot of some of the exciting innovation happening in my electorate. CRC ORE and CRCMining hosted the minister at their facilities at Pinjarra Hills, where they are currently working on a water-powered drill which will revolutionise the way we can mine coal-seam gas. Basically, it will eliminate fracking. The drill head looks like a miniature missile with water jets at the front determining the direction, and water jets at the back propelling the drill through rock at four metres a minute.

As funding for CRC ORE and CRCMining draws to a close, they are quickly moving towards being privately funded. They are already saving the mining industry millions of dollars each year with their improved tools and technology and their new perspective on making mining strategically more efficient and effective. The mining industries should be knocking at their doors in support.

The minister also met with UQ College. This college provides students who would not usually have the opportunity to do so with the ability to complete tertiary preparation courses or bridging courses and so to then go on and study tertiary degrees. I thank the Minister for Industry for his support.