After two days of hearings into the Senate Select Committee on the Taxation of Gas Resources, one thing is abundantly clear: this inquiry is not about getting a fair return for Australians, it is about shutting down the gas industry altogether.

Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Susan McDonald, says hearings this week into the Senate Select Committee on the Taxation of Gas Resources have revealed a coordinated campaign by the Greens and Independents, supported by Labor, to shut down Australia’s gas industry.

Mining doesn’t just support the Australian economy, it is the economy. 
But numerous forces are arrayed against this important industry. Forces who receive foreign donations from sources they refuse to reveal.

Whilst there remain many challenges facing Australia and our energy mix, there is still hope on the horizon. As I have said, I have faith in the Australian spirit. 
We have the best resources in the world. We have the ingenuity, the drive, and the knowledge to maximise them. 
We should not be energy-reliant, but energy-independent. We should not be in the position that we are in – today – ever again. We should be pulling every lever available to us: coal, gas, uranium, oil – and we can do that by drilling and digging what we have in abundance here.

In its groundbreaking new report All at Sea: Fuel, War, and Australia’s Achilles’ Heel, the Page Research Centre has outlined a pathway to restoring Australia’s self-sustainability, including incentivising domestic oil drilling, expanding fuel reserves as supply bridges, establishing a dedicated fuel security budget and approving coal-to-liquid pilot plants.

Today’s latest Gas Statement of Opportunity Outlook from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) paints a sobering picture about the urgent need to invest in gas in the country, while the Middle East conflict continues to put pressure on global energy supply.

Mining pays the bills for Australia. These words remain as true today as when I made the same statement two years ago, when we last gathered for Minerals Week, and as true as 100 years ago.
The copper fields of Cloncurry to the development of coal in Queensland transformed my state from an agrarian economy – and cheap electricity (as well as the removal of death duties) turbo-charged the state into a powerhouse of small businesses, manufacturing, tourism and the arts.