HOGSBACK

Hogsback on Qld royalties

QUEENSLAND premier Annastacia Palaszczuk should remember which side her bread is buttered as she goes to the polls this weekend. Coal and tourism are both big contributors to the state’s balance sheet but they seem to have been forgotten by the premier.

 Hosting the AFL Grand Final in Brisbane won't pay for Queensland's extended lockdown.

Hosting the AFL Grand Final in Brisbane won't pay for Queensland's extended lockdown.

In her quest to make Queensland the most COVID-19 free state in the nation and block traffic from New South Wales and Victoria, Palaszczuk may have created an economic catastrophe that can only be averted with a healthy coal mining industry.

Queensland's tourism industry relies on holiday makers from the southern states spending their money in the tourist hotspots of the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns.

Hosting the AFL grand final in Brisbane was a great promotion for Queensland but it does not mean anything if the hard lockdown blocks traffic into the state.

There are a lot of tourism industry operators who are going to go broke or are will need to be bailed out by the government.

How is the government expected to pay for this assistance and the forgone tax revenue?

Coal mining royalties and tax collections of course.

With no tourism dollars coming in, education on the canvas because there are no high fee-paying foreign students anymore, and stamp duty revenue down because of a depressed property market, it once again falls on coal's broad shoulders to carry the state.

Palaszczuk knows she can rely on Queensland's world class metallurgical coal sector in the Bowen Basin to provide the state with copious amounts of money to fund the extended lockdowns.

However, she dare not admit to this publicly or give assurances that the royalties will not be raised in her next term.     

To do so would upset the swinging voters in marginal city electorate in inner city Brisbane.

So she prefers to keep mum on the issue and divert attention away from it by engaging in a cross border spat with NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Queensland's resources companies already pay Australia's highest royalty rates. They contributed $82.6 billion to the Queensland economy in the last financial year, an increase of $5 billion on the year before.

Queensland Labor previously committed to a three-year freeze for coal and metals but was not willing to extend this.

Coal mining companies need royalty stability to keep their operations competitive and attract investors to new projects.

The LNP understands this and has provided a guarantee for a 10-year hold at current levels on royalty rates.

Hogsback reckons the Queensland premier needs to look beyond sectarian politics in the state and ensure a healthy coal mining industry continues to develop in a climate of royalty rate stability.   

 

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2024 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of exploration trends and technologies, highlighting the best intercepts and discoveries and the latest initial resource estimates.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Automation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations using autonomous solutions in every region and sector, including analysis of the factors driving investment decisions