To make our economy more profitable and prosperous in the future, we need to rethink what it means to be a resources powerhouse – finding new sources of growth in the shift to cleaner, cheaper energy.
This is our big chance to take our current fundamental strengths and use them to create new ones in the defining decade ahead.
By doing so, we will guarantee the future of a sector that has always been a critical contributor to our national prosperity.
There’s a good reason why 3000 leading resources sector executives are gathering in Brisbane for the 26th World Mining Congress this week – and an even better reason why I’m speaking at this event today.
In strengthening our budget, building our buffers and laying foundations for future growth, the resources sector has been a force for good and I want to acknowledge and convey appreciation for that.
We know that the mining industry’s success is indivisible from our own success, as a nation and as a state.
A strong and successful mining industry is an important part of a strong and successful Australian economy.
That’s been the case in Australia and particularly in Queensland for the best part of the last century – and it will remain the case in the century to come.
Our resources sector employs around 300,000 people, including 70,000 here in Queensland. It accounts for two-thirds of our exports – bringing in around $460 billion a year – and has been a critical source of productivity growth in our economy – pioneering innovations like self-driving trucks, and the smart, effective use of data.
It’s also a vital contributor to the country’s finances. While the main reason for Australia’s recovery in revenues in recent times has been the strength of the labour market, our resources industry has also played a big role.
And although we’ve seen strong commodity prices before, not all governments have used them responsibly.
The 87 per cent of revenue improvements that we banked to the bottom line over the last two Budgets is the historical exception, not the norm, which has hovered around 40 per cent for much of the last decade and was just 30 per cent during the Howard years.
This discipline, restraint and responsibility means that we’re on track to deliver the first budget surplus in 15 years – and it’ll be even bigger than what we forecast in May.
All this means that Australian mining’s current contribution to our nation is critical – and it will play an even more important role in the future, as we look to make the most of the generational opportunity that is the energy transformation. We can’t generate renewable energy without the copper and cobalt that go in solar panels and wind turbines, and we can’t store it without the lithium, nickel and graphite needed for batteries.
On some estimates, meeting the world’s climate goals by 2050 will require a 450 per cent increase in the production of these minerals. This is a big challenge but it’s also a big opportunity for Queensland and the country.
We have what the world needs when the world needs it.
In our North-West and our North-East, in Mount Isa and Cloncurry, Charters Towers and Townsville, dozens of projects are underway to map, explore and eventually extract the critical minerals at our disposal, supporting and growing the sector’s footprint in a region where it already accounts for thousands of jobs.
This natural wealth is a competitive advantage that we can build on.
We’re looking to go one better than extracting and exporting.
By backing in refining, processing and advanced manufacturing, critical minerals will also underpin our journey towards becoming a renewable energy superpower and the future growth and productivity improvements we’ll create as a result.
That’s why, in our first year in government, we’ve spent so much time putting together a policy agenda to get the enabling factors right. We’re making big investments in skills and training to help businesses get the workers that they need and working to put in place migration settings that will complement and enhance the productivity of our domestic workforce.
All this, plus the $40 billion we’ve delivered to create more opportunities at the intersection of energy and industry – including through a new Powering Australia Industry Growth Centre that will help to ensure that our renewables manufacturers can make the most of the unique resources that we’ve got at our disposal.
We don’t need to choose between resources and renewable energy – or between mining and manufacturing. Our task is to recognise how these sectors can best work together so that we can make the most of the opportunities ahead.
By diversifying our approach to resources, we can deepen and broaden the industrial capacity of our economy and the well-spring of opportunity this will create – leading to a new age of prosperity for our country, and our state.