Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are many unsung heroes in the electorate of Flynn that often leave for work in the dark and return home in the dark. These heroes work in the mining, resource, gas, heavy industry and agricultural sectors. I call them heroes as they are the men and women who keep the lights on, build the products Australia and the world need, and grow the food and fibre that we eat from our plates every day. I want to dedicate my speech to these hardworking men and women because I'm sick to death of successive governments treating them like their industries are cash cows, demonising their work and putting their futures at risk.

According to the Queensland Resources Council:

In 2024-25, our resources sector made a contribution of $115.2 billion to the Queensland economy—supporting jobs, businesses, infrastructure and services to benefit communities across the state.

In the electorate of Flynn, the resource sector, in the same financial year, supported over 38,000 local jobs and produced a gross regional product of $8.2 billion alone. What does this Labor government think about this critical industry? In 2019, the now deputy prime minister said:

I mean the global market for thermal coal has collapsed and at one level, that's a good thing, because what that implies is that the world is acting in relation to climate change.

In the Flynn electorate, there is the CSG gas industry, producing approximately 25 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas, which is exported to the world through the Port of Gladstone. An estimate of this export is valued at around $7 billion alone each year. You would think, with all of this gas in the market, that Australia would have a thriving domestic industry. Well, not in Victoria, where the Labor state government has given the provisional green light for a fuel supplier, Viva Energy, to build a floating gas import terminal. Australia has an abundance of gas, but Victoria has gone so far backwards under Labor that this new refinery will aim to receive shipments of liquefied natural gas from my home state of Queensland, as well as from Western Australia and overseas, for use in their local network. You can't make this stuff up—governments need to subsidise gas import facilities in a country like Australia.

Gladstone is known for being a heavy industry powerhouse primarily due to the alumina and aluminium industries. This includes the Yarwun alumina foundry, QAL and Boyne Smelters, with around 4,500 direct jobs, making up 16 per cent of the workforce of the Gladstone region. Furthermore, NRG Gladstone Power Station employs approximately 250 people, encompassing trainees and apprentices and a further 100 contractors onsite at any time. This power station provides most of the energy to the alumina and aluminium industry in Gladstone and is vital for 24/7 power generation.

What does the heavy industry future look like under this Labor government? Firstly, the Yarwun and QAL refineries, as well as the Boyne Island smelter, are included in Labor's carbon tax hit list, also known as the safeguard mechanism. This means that they are literally taxing our manufacturers to reach their emissions targets. Yet, at the same time, we've had to give handouts to the Tomago aluminium facility near Newcastle to keep their doors open. Gladstone Power Station has also signalled it could close as early as 2029. The early closure of the Gladstone Power Station will be devastating to Gladstone. It supplies approximately 80 per cent of its power production to the alumina sector and to the Port of Gladstone and the heavy industry there.

Here's an example of the Labor government's contempt for our agricultural industries following their crusade to close down the live sheep export trade. The Prime Minister shocked the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award gala dinner at Parliament House when he said he'd dined earlier with the Indonesian President-elect. The Prime Minister stated:

We had dinner, beautiful Australian beef—not the live export, we made sure it was dead.

Put simply, the Prime Minister chose the AgriFutures award gala, a night celebrating our agricultural sector, to mock the phase-out of the live sheep export industry. Do these people have any idea what they're talking about and how their actions have detrimental effects on rural people in regional Australia? I believe the answer is a comprehensive no. For me, I'm very proud of our traditional industries, particularly in Central Queensland, and I'm always committed to fighting for the future of Central Queensland and its people and industries.