Minority nightmare looming for Coalition’s ‘best friend’ miners
Peter Dutton will warn that the economy and resources sector will be smashed if the teals or Greens help Labor cling to minority government, promising mining chiefs a Coalition government would be the ‘best friend’ they’ve had.
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Peter Dutton will warn that the economy and resources sector will be smashed if the teals or Greens help Labor cling to minority government, promising mining chiefs a Coalition government would be the “best friend” they’ve had, as senior mining figures privately declare a hung parliament would be an “unmitigated disaster”.
The Opposition Leader on Wednesday will launch his strongest attack on Anthony Albanese’s claim he is a pro-resources Prime Minister and accuse him of allowing activism to undermine mining because the ALP is worried about losing inner-city seats.
In his minerals week keynote address in Canberra, Mr Dutton will say the government has showed it is “hostile to mining and other critical primary industries” by imposing ideologically driven industrial relations, environment and energy policies.
The Liberal leader, who is hoping to win back seats in the mining powerhouse state of Western Australia at the election due next year, will declare: “The activist influence in the rank and file of the Labor Party is committed to waging environmental and social crusades – especially against certain industries.
“Labor is worried about losing votes to Greens candidates in inner-city seats. So the party is looking to shore up that constituency ahead of an election. And in return for years of financial support, Labor is implementing a workplace agenda at the behest of its union bosses. So let’s be under no misapprehension. The government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of the national interest.”
Mr Dutton’s intervention comes as senior industry sources on Tuesday said they would “prefer a Coalition or Labor majority government than any scenario involving the Greens and Teals”. A senior mining executive said a hung parliament would be an “unmitigated disaster”.
After Mr Albanese received a frosty reception from mining leaders on Monday night, Mr Dutton will promise to build “on our strengths in major commodities like iron ore, coal, gas, gold and copper”.
“Not since the days of imposing a carbon tax on your sector, or a mining tax on your sector, has a Prime Minister and a government been so out of touch with the need to keep our mining and resource sectors strong,” he will say. “But today I give you this commitment: a Dutton Coalition government will be the best friend that the mining and resources sector in Australia will ever have. I stand unashamedly with Australia’s resources sector because when your industry is strong, our nation is strong.”
With the Albanese government focused on a renewables revolution and phasing out coal-fired power, Kazuhiro Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to Australia, cautioned that the net-zero transition must be economically feasible “for all mankind to succeed”.
“The global reality is that gas and coal will still have vital roles and the key to our success will be the realisation of a global pursuit in carbon reduction and sustainable development simultaneously,” Mr Suzuki told mining chiefs.
With Japan’s energy security reliant on Australian fossil fuels, Mr Suzuki said the Asian powerhouse was the ideal destination where “coal and gas can be used with the least carbon emissions possible”.
Amid ongoing concerns in Tokyo over the Albanese government’s resources policies, Mr Suzuki encouraged greater “tax reductions and various forms of public funding” to support adoption of carbon capture and storage technologies.
As Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese vie for votes in the mining states of WA, Queensland and NSW, analysis by The Australian reveals the Coalition holds eight of the top 20 electorates with the highest percentage of mining workers. Before the 2022 election, the Liberals and Nationals held six additional seats in the top 20: Curtin, Hasluck, Swan, Pearce, Calare and Tangney. Seven of the nine Labor-held seats on the list are not considered marginal seats.
As relations between the government and mining companies further sour, The Australian can reveal efforts by Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt last week to ease concerns over the government’s industrial relations laws fell flat. Industry sources said representatives from companies including Roy Hill, Hancock Prospecting, Mineral Resources, South32, RioTinto, Atlas Iron and Kent Energy Solutions, left Senator Watt’s IR roundtable meeting in Perth without clear answers on the potential reunionisation of the Pilbara and threat of multi-employer bargaining.
In the closed-door meeting, Senator Watt was grilled on multi-employer bargaining laws, CFMEU administration and behaviour, Labor’s abolition of the Australian Building & Construction Commission and the complexities of IR changes.
Mr Dutton will use his speech to warn that the mining sector and the prosperity of all Australians are “at risk at the next election if Labor is returned to government”.
“Labor returned in majority government will just see it double-down on its current policy platform,” he will say. “But Labor returned in a minority government will see the teals party and/or the Greens party hold the balance of power.
“Almost all the Teals have demanded that there be no new gas projects. The Greens have proposed a $500bn so-called Robin Hood tax that not only targets miners but would de-industrialise our economy as we know it.”
Resources Minister Madeleine King will on Wednesday tell mining bosses that “no government in recent memory has put the resources industry at the centre of its policy making in the way that the Albanese government has”.
“We don’t always agree on some points of policy, but we all agree on the importance of the sector and we work in its best interests every single day,” Ms King will say.
After last month criticising BHP for “railing against” Labor policies and refusing to work with union leaders, Ms King will recognise BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery as a senior woman in the resources sector but not address her attack on Australia’s biggest taxpayer.
In parliament, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said she had approved more than 40 mining projects after coming under fire over her role in stalling the $1bn McPhillamys gold mine development in central NSW. Ms Plibersek will deliver a minerals week address on Wednesday amid ongoing negotiations in relation to Labor’s contentious Nature Positive legislation.
In his speech, Mr Dutton will reiterate the Coalition’s pledge to overturn Minister Plibersek’s decision on the Regis gold mine if elected. Coalition moves for a disallowance motion in the Senate were blocked by Labor and the Greens on Tuesday.
Additional reporting: David Tanner
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