LABOR MUST COME CLEAN ABOUT AUSTRALIA’S MINING FUTURE

Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald has called on Federal Labor to stand up to the Greens and give clear assurances and support to Australia’s mining sector.

“While Labor is held hostage in the Senate by Greens demands, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek must come clean to the Australian people and publicly condemn the Greens’ extreme agenda or tell Australians which industries are going to be sacrificed in exchange for Greens support,” she said.

In the mining hub of Mackay for the Queensland Mining & Engineering Exhibition, Senator McDonald lashed the ‘hypocrisy’ of the Greens for demanding an end to all new mining despite the vital role of mining in meeting renewable energy demand.

Greens environment spokesperson, Senator Hanson-Young called for an end to the “unsustainable extraction of resources” and claimed that “you can’t solve the climate crisis if you keep pouring fuel on the fire, and that means more mining, more environmental destruction and more pollution.” These extreme views amount to economic vandalism.

Australia’s resources industry pumped $39 billion into Australian and State Government coffers this past financial year in royalties and taxes and contributed a record $301 billion to the economy.

Australian mining has paid for countless roads, schools, hospitals and healthcare services across the country. It also supports rural and regional towns and provides double the average wage to workers and their families.

Nearly everything that allows us to enjoy a first-world lifestyle would not exist without mining. From high-tech manufacturing to the food on our plates, from energy generation to the steel frames that hold up our homes, the Greens cannot tell us where they would source these minerals from if they shut down mining.

While we will need to increase mining in order to meet demand for minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and silver used in wind turbines, solar panels and batteries, the Greens remain so detached from reality they appear to think these critical elements just drop from the sky.

With the Australian Energy Market Operator yesterday triggering the gas supply guarantee for a second time this year in order tostave off a potential gas shortage in Victoria, it is clear that continued development of new domestic supplies is vital and remains at risk under a Labor-Greens alliance.

The Australian mining industry deserves credit for continuing to operate profitably under incredibly strict environmental regulations. In fact, it is the mining industry that contributes the most to environmental offsets, mine site rehabilitation, and land management.

“We have a mature industry with experienced players who have a long history of meeting our world-class standards. The Government should be doing everything it can to make sure that minerals and metals extracted in Australia are used in households and businesses around the world. ‘Mined in Australia’ should be a badge of pride,” she said.

“Liberals and Nationals will always stand up for Australian mining. We know the Labor Government can’t and won’t as long as they continue to need the Greens to pass legislation. Every Australian should be concerned that our fortunes are in the hands of a Labor Government at the mercy of the Greens and their extreme agenda.”