Cameron Dick: It’s only right Qld taxpayers share the returns from coal royalties
Mining companies such as BHP may express their unhappiness with Queensland’s coal royalties scheme, writes Treasurer Cameron Dick, but for every dollar taxpayers earn, the coal companies are still generating four times as much in revenue.
Opinion
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The recent Queensland state budget demonstrated the great benefits that our state derives from our prosperous resources industry.
The money delivered from the progressive coal royalties our government introduced last year has created the financial capacity for our state to invest into the future. That means new hospital infrastructure for regional Queensland. It means funding our $62bn energy and jobs plan, including the $14bn Borumba pumped hydro project and the $5bn CopperString transmission line.
And it means the most generous electricity bill rebates in Australia.
Coal royalties will continue to be an important revenue stream for the state economy for many years to come, because as the world decarbonises, Queensland’s coal industry has a strong and secure future. The majority of coal extracted in Queensland is not burned to generate electricity, but is used to manufacture steel.
Without Queensland coal, and the steel it produces, the world cannot manufacture the wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars our future economy will rely upon. Even the Greens accept the need for Queensland coal mining to continue for decades to come.
While LNP politicians and the mining lobby attack coal royalties, evidence shows the introduction of those new royalty tiers is not diminishing the coal industry’s bright future. Just last week, BHP released its operational review, which revealed it had increased its metallurgical coal production by 22 per cent on a quarterly basis.
Earlier in the month, the Environmental Impact Statement for Whitehaven’s Winchester South Project was formally accepted by the Coordinator-General, a major milestone for that future Bowen Basin coalmine. No fewer than six major companies are competing to spend billions of dollars buying BHP’s Blackwater and Daunia mines. The number of coalmining jobs in Queensland is as high as it has ever been.
Companies such as BHP may express their unhappiness with royalties. But for every dollar Queensland taxpayers earn in coal royalties, coal companies generate four times as much in revenue. BHP’s CEO has openly called his Queensland coalmines “cash cows”, which he uses to generate revenue to pour into other ventures.
It’s only right Queenslanders get their fair share from coal revenue, and it’s only right that we invest that revenue to support our state’s long-term future.
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