Australia has lost the opportunity to secure national support for a regional New South Wales site with massive critical mineral potential, leaving the US to seize the day with a $566 million investment.
Shadow Minister for Resources Senator Susan McDonald and Shadow Assistant Minister for Resources and Federal Member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey MP, today said the Labor Government had been asleep at the wheel, forcing Australian miners to seek international investment.

Shadow Resources and Northern Australia Minister Susan McDonald said regional communities will stand to lose as Labor commands Queensland companies to export gas to failing southern states – and miss out on royalty payments as a result.

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.

The Albanese Government’s plan to impose a retrospective tax on foreign investment dating back nearly two decades is a reckless cash grab that threatens millions of Australian jobs and damages the nation’s global reputation as a safe place to invest.

Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, has warned Australia is heading towards a preventable winter gas squeeze, following the latest ACCC gas inquiry which confirms tightening supply across the east coast.

Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, has called on the Federal Government to urgently deploy all available levers to fast-track the Perdaman urea plant and prevent a catastrophic failure of Australia’s food production sector.

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.