Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The rest of Australia will find it inconceivable that state Labor in Queensland is intending to kill off sandmining on North Stradbroke Island. Picture yourself as a family utterly reliant on a mining income. State Labor thinks that you can clean camp sites and make cappuccinos. That is no substitute for the important jobs and skills that sandmining delivers. 2019 means four years away. Imagine if I told you that your family's livelihood will be snuffed out by government decision in just four years. There is a compromise policy from the Katter party that will be 2024 and another option for 2027. Have some understanding of the importance of mining. You can chew gum and walk at the same time.

North Stradbroke Island provides vital export dollars for Australia. It employs 50 Indigenous families that live in complex, difficult, remote circumstances and without these jobs are condemned to the lives of other Indigenous communities we see around Australia. Mining is the key to being connected to the real economy. They invest millions of dollars back into that island and the Queensland economy.

But of course Greens preferences are way too important for state Labor, who are going to kill off sandmining for no other reason than that they are doing a dirty deal with the Greens. We want to look after that island and look after those livelihoods. Whether you are an Indigenous or non-Indigenous mining family, you deserve the chance to transition without having your livelihood snuffed out by Queensland Labor.