Opinion: Government failing to deliver on commitments, writes mine boss

The Queensland government is failing to deliver on its commitments to the state’s resources sector, writes Bravus boss Samir Vora.

The Queensland government has assured voters that the state’s mining industry is so robust and so profitable that it can withstand all the knock-backs, rule changes, red tape and broken promises they can throw at it.

The Queensland government says the industry will continue to be the engine of the state’s economy and its biggest job-creator outside of the public service for years to come, no matter what.

Unfortunately for the people of Queensland, they are wrong.

This story is part of The Courier-Mail’s special Future Queensland: Resources series that reveals the truth about the contribution the much-maligned resources industry makes to Queensland. You can read all of our coverage here

The reality is that the Queensland government is choking the goose that is laying the golden eggs. This job and money-making machine won’t keep running indefinitely. You have to look after it.

Investment capital is not sentimental; the hard truth is that if the conditions aren’t right, capital will flow away from Queensland to jurisdictions where operating costs are competitive, and the mining industry is valued, as comments by CEOs and diplomats have made clear.

The Queensland government has pointed to the expansions of existing mines, the construction of new small-scale projects and the eagerness of companies to buy each other’s operating mines as evidence to support its actions.

Samir Vora.

But don’t be fooled. What is really happening in Queensland is that big new self-funded resources projects, which create new jobs, are not progressing to construction under this government, they are languishing on the “project pipeline” list.

That means no new multi-generational wealth creating projects like the $60b LNG plants at Gladstone and their inland gas fields, or Mount Isa and the railway to its copper refinery in Townsville are being built. This means that the jobs of the future for Queensland children and grandchildren in the state’s most productive and important industry will not exist and there will be less revenue to pay for schools, hospitals, and roads.

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The risks have become too high and the long-term returns are too low.

What steps has this government taken to give assurance that making new greenfield investment in Queensland is welcome and that it will honour the commitments it has made? Our experience is simply that this government has failed to deliver on its commitments to the resource sector.

If the Queensland government continues on this path, the state will be a poorer place in 30 years’ time when current operations reach the end of their lives and the jobs they support and government income they create disappears.

This change will be felt most keenly in regional Queensland where much of the economic activity and jobs rely on the resources industry.

Given these dire warnings, the Queensland Government should be collaborating with industry and nurturing relationships to foster new investment, to guarantee jobs and government revenue for the long-term.

Samir Vora is the Country Head and Executive Director of Bravus

Originally published as Opinion: Government failing to deliver on commitments, writes mine boss