Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

It is an exciting time for the resources sector as a whole. Never before in history have the economy and our livelihoods relied on the mining industry more than today. It's not just for energy, through oil or gas; it's not just through bulk commodities like iron ore or traditional hard rock metals like copper, zinc or nickel; there are a whole list of minerals that now are embodied in technology like that laptop there, which has lots of critical minerals. This phone here has heaps of rare earths in it. It's only because of those rare earths that we can enjoy all the mod cons of a modern society—including, I see, the Greens over there; they've got a few computers and phones. There's an iPad there for Senator Richard Di Natale. They wouldn't exist but for the mining industry. That's why we need to support it. That's why we support developing our critical minerals industry in Australia. That's why we've invested another $50 million today in a new CRC to develop new techniques to find new minerals so we can continue to use iPads, laptops and phones all around the world.