Des Houghton: Why Labor’s mining delays are costing us all
You don’t have to be Einstein to see Labor’s mining delays mean we are missing out on a wave of payments that may fund projects like the Olympic stadium and Bruce Highway upgrade.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Queensland senator based in Townsville has accused the Albanese government of undermining the nation’s prosperity by delaying mining and gas projects that are ready to go.
Susan McDonald, 55, the shadow resources minister, said more than $100bn worth of projects already in the pipeline were under threat from Labor because of pressure from the Greens.
She said 81 coal, gas and iron ore projects were at risk; 58 of them in Queensland and Western Australia.
“The 81 projects worth $119bn with an estimated workforce of 47,710 jobs have been stalled as the Albanese Labor Government mangles Australia’s economic and investment policies,” McDonald said.
You don’t have to be Einstein to see this means the Australian and state governments are missing out on a wave of royalty and taxation payments that may fund infrastructure cost blowouts and projects like the Olympic stadium and the Bruce Highway upgrade.
McDonald, who grew up on a cattle property near Cloncurry, east of Mt Isa, accused the prime minister and his Minister for Environment, Tanya Plibersek, of fiscal irresponsibility.
McDonald said the latest data from the Office of the Chief Economist made a mockery of Labor’s Future Made in Australia policy.
It found the value of stalled projects in 2024 was more than triple that of the previous year, she said.
“Without our resources there is no manufacturing, and without both there is no so-called Future Made in Australia policy,” she said.
Australia’s reputation as a reliable trading partner and a reliable investment destination was at risk. So was our reputation as a dependable supplier to our defence allies.
“This is the equivalent of scrapping the jobs of an entire regional city worth of workers thanks to Labor’s anti-investment policies.
“Queensland and Western Australia have the lion’s share of threatened projects.”
McDonald said a Dutton-Littleproud government would defund the Environmental Defenders Office that waged “lawfare” against mining companies
The EDO’s credibility nosedived after the Federal Court said some evidence it presented was “so lacking in integrity that no weight can be placed” on it, and that the organisation’s lawyers may have engaged in “a form of subtle coaching” of witnesses to prevent Santos’ massive Barossa gas project in the Northern Territory going ahead.
The court rejected the EDO’s bid to scuttle the $5.8 bn project which it pursued on behalf of its Tiwi Islander client Simon Munkara. The action alleged the proposed pipeline for the gas project would anger creatures of the islanders’ Dreaming stories.
The Australian reported that academic, legal and activist figures concocted a rainbow serpent and crocodile man songline map based on guesswork and minimal consultation with Indigenous leaders, according to court documents.
“Justice (Natalie) Charlesworth spoke at length about confected evidence to undermine a vital project,” McDonald said.
McDonald said the EDO was a taxpayer-funded green law charity that had engaged in “lawfare” that was not in the national interest.
It allowed government-funded activists to challenge projects already approved by government departments and regulators.
“As the shadow resources minister I want to be saying ‘yes’ to projects,” she said.
Worthwhile projects were also being tied in green tape. She wants to make it an election issue.
“Labor only got into government with the Greens preferences because its primary vote was so low,” she said. “They have been captured by the left wing of their own party.
“They no longer represent miners and workers and the people who they were established to represent.”
Labor was “desperate” to secure Greens preferences again because of its declining primary vote.
“People need to understand the policies of the Greens are a threat to their jobs.’’
The Greens was a minor party exerting more influence than it should. This was due to its support from the ALP, she said.
McDonald said the Liberal MP Julian Leeser, whose grandfather was a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, put the Greens-ALP alliance into sharp focus with a prickly question
in the House of Representatives last week.
Leeser asked Anthony Albanese: “The Greens political party is a racist, antisemitic party. Will the Prime Minister join with the Leader of the Opposition in committing to putting the Greens last at the coming election?’’
He wouldn’t answer.
“The Greens in other parts of the world support nuclear energy because they want low emissions energy. The Greens here don’t,” McDonald said.
“They don’t want anything that provides more electricity, more security, more manufacturing,
more mining.
“They are not pro-Australian; they are about small Australia.”
State digs in to approve mines and gas projects
The Crisafulli government has already begun to fast-track mining and gas projects held up for years by the Palaszczuk and Miles governments.
A resources cabinet committee chaired by Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last has three other heavy hitters: Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Jarrod Bleijie, Treasurer and Minister for Energy David Janetzki, and Minister for the Environment and Tourism and Minister for Science and Innovation, Andrew Powell.
“No longer will projects and opportunities languish for years without a decision,” Last said.
There would be greenfield projects and the expansions of existing mines. When he arrived at his job, Last found a pile of mines already given conditional approvals tucked away awaiting a ministerial signature. Some were six years old.
There are 52 coal mines operating in Queensland and another 14 that have been approved but are still in the construction or pre-construction phase. And there are more to come.
IRRITANT OF THE WEEK
Shannon Fentiman, for scurrying out of the parliamentary chamber on Wednesday to avoid the debate over her ally Jackie Trad, the former deputy premier.
Originally published as Des Houghton: Why Labor’s mining delays are costing us all
Man bitten by shark at Moreton Island
A young man has been flown to hospital after being bitten by a shark off Moreton Island.
‘He had me at hello’: Kay McGrath farewells beloved fiancé after overseas tragedy
Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Brisbane to farewell the fiancé of Kay McGrath with the popular TV presenter paying tribute to his “loyalty and free spirit”.