Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane slams silence on coal royalty rise

The head of the Queensland Resources Council has slammed Treasurer Cameron Dick’s silence around a possible rise in coal royalties, saying any increase could cost regional jobs.

Increasing coal royalties could cost future regional jobs according to resources boss Ian Macfarlane who’s claimed industry is being kept in the dark around how much it could be forced to pay.

Treasurer Cameron Dick on Wednesday confirmed he was considering an increase in the June 21 budget while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was “only just” that these discussions happen amid record coal prices.

QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane. Picture: Richard Walker

But the move has been slammed by Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane who said Queensland was already paying “double the royalties” of New South Wales.

He said the Treasurer had flagged creating new tiers for the royalties structure.

“We could only guess at what the next tier will be but it will be at a higher percentage, so that 15 per cent (current highest tier) is already more than double the rate of NSW,” he said.

“The Treasurer who has promised us an open and transparent process won’t tell us a thing about what he’s proposing so we are literally punching at smoke.”

Mr Macfarlane said a hike risked losing future investment which in turn meant losing potential regional jobs.

“We don’t see the justification but more importantly, we’re concerned about the sovereign risk profile of Queensland and its ability to attract future investments not just in coal, but more particularly in new metals, hydrogen, that whole range of projects, when foreign investors see a government … says we won’t increase taxes, and then the first opportunity increases the royalty taxes when they are already … the highest in the world and double that of New South Wales,” he said.

Treasurer Cameron Dick. Picture: Tara Croser

But Mr Dick, who in October 2020 said there would be no new or increased taxes, insisted it wasn’t a broken election promise.

“We’ve made it very clear in the election and we kept to our promise, there will be no new and increased taxes on working families in this state,” he said.

Mr Dick said the government had honoured a 10-year royalty freeze and that resources belonged to Queenslanders.

Asked about claims that Queensland risked being uncompetitive, the Treasurer said the industry had also made that claim 10 years ago amid royalty changes.

“We’ve seen record investment in the coal industry,” he said.

The Premier said if companies were “making record prices”, then they should return some of that to Queenslanders.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart said resources were owned by Queenslanders when asked whether he supported an increase.