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

I thank Senator Stoker for her question because I know that, in particular, Senator Stoker wants to see jobs and economic activity in the great state of Queensland. There was some good news last week about job creation in Queensland. We on this side of the chamber support the creation of jobs—we support those who want to work in their life to provide for their family—and new investments and new projects help to do that.

Last week, the Queensland Coordinator-General approved a new coalmine in North Queensland, the Macmines China Stone project, a $6.7 billion investment that would create 3,800 jobs in construction and 3,300 jobs in operation. It would help boost the Queensland economy by $1½ billion a year when it's in operation, and, very importantly, it would generate almost $190 million a year in royalties for the Queensland government, helping to fund better schools, better hospitals and better public services right throughout Queensland, in particular in North Queensland. This is a very important project, given that we need jobs in North Queensland right now.

Last week as well there was some not-so-good news released for North Queensland. That confirmed that in Townsville the unemployment rate has averaged 8.9 per cent over the past 12 months. As Senator Cormann was outlining earlier, there's been a buoyant job market around the country, with more than 300,000 jobs created in the last 12 months, but there are still pockets of North Queensland that are struggling, and they need economic fill-ups like these projects. That's why we support them—because investments like this are going to create jobs; they're going to create opportunity; and they are going to have a wider economic impact than just the mine itself, because this mine is right next-door to the Adani Carmichael mine. If we have multiple mines starting up, that will support more infrastructure, more development and more economic activity in the region as well, which will help communities right through North Queensland. It's great news for North Queensland, great news for Queensland and great news for the whole of Australia.