Coronavirus: energy, resources fuel for recovery

The Morrison government is keen to make the exploitation of our cheap energy supplies a ‘mantra’ post-COVID-19.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt says John Howard had ‘it right’ on the future of resources.

The Morrison government is keen to make expanding exports and processing of Australia’s resources and the exploitation of our cheap energy supplies, such as coal, a “mantra” for economic policy in the post-COVID-19 period.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt wants more made of Australia’s “abundant natural resources”, not less, in the years following the coronavirus pandemic.

Backing former prime minister John Howard’s call not to reject the best parts of the “Australian model”, Mr Pitt told The Australian the period after the pandemic shutdown was “an opportunity for the Australian people”.

On Saturday, Mr Howard told The Australian it was important to talk about reforms after the pandemic crisis and take advantage of the co-operation out of the crisis but it was also important not to dump things that worked in the national interest.

Mr Howard said he thought it was important “as we throw to the future and inevitably we talk about reforms and change” that “you hang on to the things that work”.

He nominated the retention of the private health insurance and hospital system, co-operative federation, “which isn’t broken”, not reducing resources and energy production including coal, not increasing taxation and not retreating on privatisation or allowing government intervention in corporate failures.

On mining and energy, Mr Howard said the coronavirus impact on the global economy and energy supplies was “a brutal reminder to us of just how important our energy resources are and they will be fundamental to our economic recovery”. “How anyone could possibly argue that somehow we have to reduce our reliance on our great export industries as a deliberate government policy has to be out of their mind. It is one of the great assets providence has given us,” he said.

Mr Pitt told The Australian on Sunday that Mr Howard had “it right” on the future of resources.

“It’s no surprise to me, and I’m sure it’s no surprise to the Australian people, that former prime minister John Howard has got it right regarding his comments on Australia’s resources industry,” Mr Pitt told The Australian.

“Our abundant natural resources are a great strength of our country and we must make more of them not less,” he said.

Mr Pitt said there was an opportunity for Australia to do even more with its resources as iron ore, coal and gas all continue to defy global downturns and increase exports with a potential for even more when China lifts out of its economic lockdown.

The minister said Australia could do more processing of the raw materials to maximise returns.

“More downstream processing, more manufacturing, lower electricity costs, more jobs. This must be our mantra post-corona, because it creates more opportunity for the Australian people,” he said.

Last week Environment Minister Sussan Ley revealed a $25m injection into the environment department had sped up environmental approval for major projects by 87 per cent as an Institute of Public Affairs study showed restrictive regulations for mining projects had grown by 445 per cent since the Act started in 2000.

The IPA has found green activists’ use of “lawfare” has delayed more than $65bn in major projects, including coalmining, since 2000 by tying projects into protracted legal disputes.

Former resources minister Matt Canavan said court delays were a “cost we do not have the luxury to afford in a post-virus world”. “It is time to get the Roundup out and kill off a bunch of this regulatory overgrowth for good. Australia’s environmental law is now more linguistically complex than a Shakespeare play,” he said.