QUEENSLAND Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has used a trip to Hay Point Coal Terminal in Queensland to highlight the economic benefits of the resources sector.
She also called for the federal government to act on the controversial Carmichael Mine that Indian company Adani wants to develop.
Her trip to Hay Point occurred just days after her federal Labor counterparts were brutalised at Queensland polling booths, due, according to some, to its support for renewable energy over coal.
“Between them, the Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay terminals played host to 1176 bulk carriers in the last financial year,” the Premier said.
“That’s an average of over three ships every day for the entire year, and between them they carried over 120m tonnes of coal – 10 million tonnes every month.
“Coal exports – largely metallurgical coal used in steelmaking – are the largest single component of Queensland’s exports which in the 12 months to March 2019 reached another record of $84.3bn, still larger than the total of New South Wales and Victoria combined.”
Ms Palaszczuk said last year marked 50 years since Queensland sent its first shipment of metallurgical coal to Mitsubishi in Japan.
“For as long as the world needs steel, our major trading partners will want Queensland coal to produce it,” she said.
“That means there will be tens of thousands of coal mining jobs in Queensland far off into the future.”
According to the Premier’s office, in the year to March 2019 Queensland exports of:
• LNG exports rose by $4.8bn
• Metallurgical coal rose by $3.9bn • Other minerals rose by $1.3bn.
