Coal, gas, iron ore audit to unleash mining sector
A Dutton goverment would conduct an audit of what the Coalition claims is $119bn of stalled resources projects that could deliver high-paying jobs and greater tax revenue.
A Dutton government would conduct an immediate audit of stalled coal, gas and iron ore projects to attempt to expedite the delivery of new resources jobs, with the Coalition claiming the value of proposed developments that are delayed or with no start date has blown out to $119bn.
As incoming President Donald Trump vowed on Monday (AEDT) to “drill baby drill” to bring on more oil and gas development in the US, opposition resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald said a Coalition government would move to unleash jobs in the 87 coal, gas and iron ore projects she had identified as being stalled or unprogressed.
The Coalition is claiming the coal, gas and iron ore projects that were delayed or without a start date could yield 47,000 jobs.
Senator McDonald said she would work with mining companies and state and territory ministers to try to bring forward developments, with more than half of the projects in Queensland and Western Australia.
“While we know Labor’s anti-mining policies are deliberately designed to slow and complicate the approval process, we need to pinpoint exactly where the delays are and take urgent action to bring these projects back online,” Senator McDonald said.
“We need to identify and remove the obstacles to get these projects going, to get more Australians in higher paying jobs, and to get our taxation revenue flowing again.”
A spokesman for Resources Minister Madeleine King said Senator McDonald’s analysis “deliberately ignores or fails to understand changes to the methodology of the production of the resources and major projects report”.
“If a project proponent has not published an expected completion date, it does not mean the project has been delayed,” the spokesman said.
“To use this data to suggest these projects are delayed or cancelled would be incorrect.”
While the Coalition’s analysis focused on coal, gas and iron ore projects, the report showed there were 455 total resources projects under development in 2024, up from 421 last year.
But the value of committed projects decreased by 16 per cent to $65bn.
As the Coalition talks up the need for jobs in traditional sectors, Anthony Albanese on Monday visited the NSW Hunter Valley to sell his plan to pour $2bn into helping aluminium producers switch to renewable energy.
The Prime Minister said the new green aluminium production credit was part of Labor’s Future Made in Australia agenda to support low carbon jobs.
Standing in front of the Tomago smelter, Mr Albanese said the government wanted to ensure that aluminium could be produced in Australia “for the next 40 years and beyond”.
“If there is a lesson from the pandemic, it’s that Australia cannot continue to be just at the end of supply chains, be vulnerable as a national economy by not making things here,” Mr Albanese said.
“We need to be more than a quarry. We need to be a country that value adds ourselves, not that exports the raw material, waits for someone else to create jobs and value add, and then import the products back. And we can do it right here in Australia.
“We have everything under the ground. We have the skilled workforce, we have the capacity to do things here. And if we get it right, as the world transitions to net zero, we can be incredibly successful at making sure that we are taking advantage of where we are in the world.”
Mr Albanese said his government supported coalmining and gas industry but the shift to net zero provided an opportunity for jobs in other sectors.
“Historically, coalmining and other mines have been important,” he said. “Increasingly, the resources that will power the 21st century – vanadium, lithium, copper, cobalt – all of these resources we have in abundance.”
Peter Dutton said the Coalition would oppose the $2bn of tax credits to encourage the production of green hydrogen, arguing it would “push up the price of electricity even further in this country”.
“The Prime Minister went to the last election promising a $275 reduction in power prices, power prices are up by $1000,” the Opposition Leader said. “Now the Prime Minister is promising the Australian public that their power prices will go even higher and that the likelihood of blackouts and brownouts in our country will only increase with this policy announcement.
“That’s the reality of what the Prime Minister is offering today. It’s not something that we’re going to support and we’re going to make sure that we can get energy prices down.”
Senator McDonald said jobs in the resources sector were more tangible than those promised under the Future Made in Australia agenda. Setting the scene for a fear campaign aimed at resources workers, Senator McDonald said the coal, gas and iron ore sectors were under “severe threat”.
“Without our resources there is no manufacturing; and without both there is no so-called Future Made in Australia policy,” Senator McDonald said.
“Queensland and Western Australia have the lion’s share of threatened projects … and yet all we hear from this government is talk about their uncosted, unlegislated and undelivered production tax credits.
“If Labor cannot even secure the investment pipeline for our traditional resources, what hope do they have of supporting any new investments in critical minerals or other future resources.”
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