The Queensland Resources Council has welcomed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s promise to “no deals”, ruling out a power-sharing alliance with the Greens to stay in office after the 31 October State election.
QRC Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane said while the QRC will continue to warn Queenslanders about the risk to jobs of voting for or preferencing the Greens right up until 6pm on election night, the Premier’s promise – ruling out a Labor-Greens alliance in government – was very welcome news for the resources sector and for Queensland.
“The Greens have made it clear they are against new mining projects and want to put an end to the existing mining and gas industry, terminate existing mining leases in the Galilee Basin and increase royalty taxes on resources, which will stop future jobs being created,” Mr Macfarlane said.
“Queensland needs the resources sector and the 372,000 jobs it supports more than ever during its recovery from COVID-19.
“The Greens want to stop jobs in our sector and others,” he said.
“We cannot afford to surrender jobs when tens of thousands of Queensland men and women are out of work and unemployment is forecast to keep rising to 9 per cent later this year.”
Queensland’s resources industry contributed $63 billion in export dollars to the state economy last year and $5.3 billion in royalty taxes to help fund government services such as nurses, doctors, teachers, roads, schools and hospital and health facilities throughout the state.
