Leadership call in pre-budget submission
QUEENSLAND’S minerals and energy sector is maintaining its push for federal leadership in key areas essential to the long-term success of the resources sector and the national economy.
Releasing the Queensland Resources Council’s 2008 pre-Budget submission to Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan, QRC Chief Executive Michael Roche said that while the sector supported a cautious budget approach, there were a number of ‘nation-building’ investment opportunities on offer to underpin long-term prosperity.
“The government’s election commitments including a flow-through share scheme to support mineral exploration and the development of clean coal technologies are at the top of the Queensland Resources Council’s must-do list,” Roche said.
“We are also hoping to see a Federal Budget commitment to the infrastructure audits that the QRC campaigned for in its pre-selection agenda.”
Roche said an independent audit of the Goonyella coal supply chain commissioned by the QRC and the Queensland Government in 2007 had laid a platform for performance improvements by delivering comprehensive and verifiable information about the system’s capacity and outlook.
“The Rudd Government’s creation of Infrastructure Australia is an important first step in a national approach to maximising the economic contribution of the nation’s export industries,” he said.
“However, the proof of the pudding will be in the make-up of the organisation’s advisory council, which must work to ensure that a truly national interest focus is kept on the funding of key projects.
“We see a significant role for Queensland resource sector representation, particularly in view of the expanding potential for minerals and energy production developments across the state.
“From Mount Isa to Cape York through to Gladstone and the energy hubs of the Bowen and Surat Basins, potential needs to be matched with the ability to deliver the commodities our global customers require,” Roche said.