Matt Canavan calls for resources taskforce

Senator Matt Canavan will today give an address to the National Press Club in which he will announce the formation of a new ‘resources 2030 taskforce’.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Senator Matt Canavan. Picture: Kym Smith

Resources Minister Matt Canavan has commissioned a “national resources statement” to be delivered in six months to help address the challenges facing the sector including the need to make new mineral and energy discoveries.

Senator Canavan will today give an address to the National Press Club in Canberra in which he will announce the formation of a new “resources 2030 taskforce” to investigate the challenges facing the sector.

He will also deliver a moral defence of the coal industry, noting that there are more than 750 million people in poverty and more than a billion people without access to electricity.

In a swipe at Labor’s weakening support for the Adani coal mine, Senator Canavan will cite data from the Internal Energy Agency showing the world will be required to produce “as much coal for the first 40 years of the 21st century as we have in the whole of history before”.

“It is disappointing that the Labor Party, the party that purports to represent coal

miners, is talking down a great and beautiful Australian industry,” a draft version of Senator Canavan’s speech says.
“Mr Shorten questions the economics of new coal mines. His energy shadow minister, Mark

Butler, says the coal market is in structural decline. They are acting against Australia’s interests by failing to support our second biggest export”.

Senator Canavan will identify several challenges to the Australian resources sector in his speech, including how to respond to growing international competition in Asian energy markets and America’s looming re-emergence as a net energy exporter for the first time since the Korean War.

The “resources 2030” taskforce will examine this challenge along with others including how to bolster community support for the mining sector and ensure that its economic benefits are returned to regional Australia.

Senator Canavan will also ensure the taskforce addresses whether the timeliness of major project approvals can be improved, warning that current laws are being “abused by well-funded groups with a wider agenda than the protection of the environment”.

“The high profile Adani Carmichael mine has been subject to 13 separate court cases. 12 of them have been resolved with 1 matter left outstanding,” he will say.

Senator Canavan will push for a renewed focus on new mineral and energy discoveries, saying they will most likely require “new techniques to uncover the surface like seismic and aeromagnetic testing”.

The 2030 taskforce will be chaired by Andrew Cripps, the former Queensland Minister for Natural Resources, but will also include a range of senior figures including Mike Henry, President Operations, Minerals Australia of BHP; Paul Flynn, the chief executive and Managing Director of Whitehaven Coal; Chris Pigram, the former chief executive of Geoscience Australia; Joyce McCulloch, the Mayor of Mount Isa and Will Robinson, the president of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies.

Other members will include indigenous leader and Melbourne University academic, Marcia Langton and Erica Smyth, the chair of the Federal Government’s offshore oil and gas environmental and safety regulator, NOPSEMA.