Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

First, I have to point out the farcical situation we are faced with, where the chair of the committee has offered no recommendations. In fact, the only thing the alliance of Greens and Labor committee members did recommend was to remove the executive summary and the committee views in chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5. Using Senate processes to push a politically charged anti-mining, anti-farming, anti-regions agenda has spectacularly backfired. Now Labor and the Greens are trying to pretend that it never happened. After six months of hosting hearings in places like Newcastle, Western Australia, Whyalla and Townsville and spending many hours and many thousands of taxpayers' dollars, we're told 'there is nothing to see here'. That was because it was made clear during the hearings that any government attempt to shut down mining and resource extraction would have disastrous consequences for regional and rural towns.

My colleague Paul Scarr and I were part of this committee. We saw straight away that the inquiry was a cheap attempt to attack the mining and resources industries and, sadly, the thousands of families who rely on the sector to survive. We have lodged a dissenting report on this inquiry after the Labor and Greens majority of committee members could not reach agreement on what recommendations to make. The evidence supplied to the inquiry showed regional Australia relies heavily on a strong resources sector that will provide jobs for many years to come. The last federal election delivered an overwhelming rejection of Labor's economy-wrecking renewable energy agenda and gave a big tick to the coalition's plan for strong, well-managed and sustainable resources and agricultural sectors.

Regional Australia has had a long history of innovating in these traditional industries that keep communities viable, and this should be encouraged to flourish. The Greens and Labor despise the regions and, even after being called out on it during the election, they are still wagging a disapproving finger at the hardworking men and women in the regions whose futures and those of their children rely on the government support of these industries. They continue to attack a sector that provides some of the world's cleanest coal and employs 220,000 people, supplying Australia and the world with reliable, affordable energy and minerals. This inquiry tried to pre-empt Australia rushing away from coal and gas to the mass adoption of renewable energy. Australia has world-leading deposits of rare earth and critical minerals representing a substantial commercial opportunity. The Morrison government will secure the future of this mineral extraction with a dedicated office within the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

World Energy Outlook 2019, released by the International Energy Agency in Paris, reports that global energy demand increased by 2.3 per cent in 2018, with consumption of coal-fired power up on the previous year. Our Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, said the report showed coal will have to be a major contributor to the energy mix for the foreseeable future and it remains the largest and cheapest source of electricity generated in Asia. By 2040, Australian net coal exports are forecast to grow by 18 per cent and liquid natural gas production could double. Yet we have Labor and the Greens continuing to peddle climate change hysteria, demanding Australia turn its back on mining and miners. This is despite the Australian Energy Market Operator suggesting that from 2022 soaring levels of intermittent renewable energy could cause rolling blackouts.

It is clear that the coalition's approach to a gradual rollout of renewable energy in conjunction with reliable dispatchable and consistent coal- and gas-fired energy is best for the Australian people and industry. And it is also clear that to follow the plan of Labor and the Greens to torpedo our more than $100 billion coal, gas and oil industries is a fast-track to disaster, especially for our regions. What I find utterly deplorable is that federal Labor wants to dictate to people how they should earn a living away from mining while their Queensland Labor counterparts are shutting down non-mining industries. In Queensland, Labor has grossly mismanaged forestry, fishing, farming and education, thereby denying jobs to people in the regions. They've closed agricultural colleges that gave people the skills to obtain good jobs on the land, and they don't supply enough STEM teachers to western and northern Queensland, which further disadvantages our children in the regions in gaining the education they need to get the jobs of the future. It is Queensland Labor that tells regional people working in the resources sector that they should reskill. How unbelievably senseless to then make it virtually impossible for them to find different work.

This is yet more evidence that Labor despises regional Queensland and doesn't deserve to lead our great state. They are not interested in the innovation, the modern practices and the bright future that we have in regional Queensland with the advent of digital connectivity and modern technology which were not referred to in this report.