QLD Mining and Energy Bulletin
Issue link: http://ebook.aprs.com.au/i/50246
T Martin Ferguson was first elected to the Federal Parliament in March 1996. Since being elected, Martin has served as a member of Labor's front bench. Initially he was Shadow Minister for Employment and Training. Following the Australian Labor Party's win in 2007, Martin has been appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism. Martin has served on a number of Parliamentary Committees, including the House of Representatives Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Committee, the Employment and Training Committee, the Industry and Resources Committee and the Procedures and Privileges Committee. Prior to entering Parliament, Martin was the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (1990-96) and vice-president (1985-90). Martin joined the ACTU after 15 years' service with the then Miscellaneous Workers' Union. During this period, he worked as a Research Offi cer, was elected Assistant General Secretary in 1981 and fi nally as General Secretary in 1984. From 1990-96, Martin was a member of the governing body of the International Labor Organisation. He received an Order of Australia in June 1996 for his contribution to working people. Martin has an Honours Degree in Economics from Sydney University. He is married and has two adult children. Martin and his family live in Melbourne. 4 QLD Mining and Energy Bulletin Summer 2011/12 he current mining boom continues to exceed expectations. The Australian Government understands the immense importance of our resources and energy sector and is committed to a policy framework that enables industry to expand to meet world demand. Australia is an attractive investment destination for major resources and energy projects due to our resource base, stable government, low sovereign risk, transparent legislative regime, exploration and development incentives and our close proximity to the major markets. The value of Australia's resource and energy exports in 2010-11 increased by 27 per cent from a year earlier to a record $175 billion. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics estimates the value of our mineral and energy commodity exports will increase by a further 21 per cent to $215 billion in 2011-12 as a result of growth in the production of iron ore, liquefi ed natural gas, copper, crude oil, metallurgical coal and thermal coal. Since the Government announced details of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax and its plans to put a price on carbon, resource companies have approved billions of dollars of new spending on coal, iron ore, petroleum and other resource projects. New capital expenditure on minerals and energy projects in 2010-11 was the highest on record and nearly four times the average annual expenditure of the past 30 years, with Queensland having a major share. There is over $430 billion worth of planned or committed investment in the pipeline. This year national exploration expenditure for minerals and energy is estimated to increase to $6.3 billion, from $5.7 billion in the previous year, with the latest quarterly exploration results showing Queensland as having the greatest increase. Queensland is leading the world in the development of a Coal Seam Gas based LNG export industry with Gladstone set to become an LNG export hub of global signifi cance. With BG Group's QCLNG project, the Santos-led GLNG project and the Origin Energy led APLNG project all having taken fi nal investment decisions, there is now over $45 billion in committed capital and more than 20 million tonnes of LNG export capacity under construction. This is equal to Australia's current total LNG export capacity, which in 2010-11 generated a record $10.5 billion in exports. These projects are underpinned by some of the world's largest gas sales agreements with companies such as China's Sinopec and CNOOC and Petronas of Malaysia along with customers in Japan and Korea. The investment in these projects builds on Australia's reputation as a reliable supplier of energy to the engine room of world economic growth in our Asian Region. The projects will also create thousands of jobs – 18,000 in the three CSG to LNG projects alone – many in the regional and rural areas of Queensland that have in recent times battled drought, fl ood and downturns in rural industries, thereby helping to rejuvenate these communities. At the same time we are also seeing huge growth in coal, including the opening up of an entirely new coal province in the Galilee Basin. The Commonwealth Government is supporting this growth with investments in training, skills and infrastructure while at the same time seeking to spread the benefi ts of the mining boom across the economy to all Australians with our resource taxation reforms. While Australia is not immune from the global economic volatility currently being experienced, we are shielded from it to a far greater extent than most in no small part because of our resources sector and the strong trade relationships we have with the major emerging economies in our region. I recently visited many of these key trading partners including China, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. They all had one message for Australia – we want more of your mineral and energy commodities. It is therefore my very fi rm view that the mining boom is set to continue for some time to come, with Queensland to be one of the major benefi ciaries. Martin Ferguson AM MP Minister for Resources and Energy FOREWORD