QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Dr CHALMERS (Rankin—Treasurer) (14:59): I'll try to touch on all of at least the really important issues in the question from the member for Kennedy. First of all, on bananas, I want to assure him that the government will not compromise on biosecurity when it comes to banana imports. On 16 September the department advised that it is undertaking a science and evidence based assessment of a request from the Philippines.

There's no predetermined outcome of that process. It's important to note that this notification doesn't signal that trade will commence or is imminent. As the Prime Minister, the minister for agriculture and other senior members of the government have said, we won't compromise on biosecurity and our enviable biosecurity status is not up for negotiation.

The second one was about our investment as a government in regional infrastructure, particularly in the member's part of the world in Queensland. We're very proud of that investment. Thank you for acknowledging it.

Thirdly, when it comes to the gas market, I know that the resources minister and the energy minister are working very closely with the cabinet on various processes we have underway when it comes to the future of gas policy in our country. I was also asked about the very concerning developments in North Queensland and north-west Queensland when it comes to the smelters.

I want to acknowledge from the outset that the workers, their families, the broader community and the local economy of that part of our country are front of mind. It is about 600 jobs at Mount Isa and Townsville. It is about 500 more at Dyno Nobel's Phosphate Hill that would go if the smelter closes.

But it's bigger than that. It's about the broader industrial capabilities of our country and that really important region, as the Prime Minister said when he was asked about this recently. That's why Minister Ayres has been doing a heap of work with the Queensland government and Glencore to try to find a solution here.

I thank particularly Minister Ayres for the way he's gone about this, working closely with the Queensland government. Good progress has been made. More will be said about that before long by Minister Ayres, and I don't intend to pre-empt that.

The government's approach is to do what we responsibly can to ensure that Australia will be an export powerhouse for decades to come. The Mount Isa copper smelter is a nationally significant asset and a significant facility for regional Queensland's industrial capability, and that has driven our efforts throughout this process. It's also what drives our Future Made in Australia agenda, making sure that our workers, businesses and regions are beneficiaries of all this churn and change that we're seeing in the world.

That's why we're doing whatever we responsibly can to get a good outcome for the workers, families, communities and businesses the member for Kennedy represents, and we hope to have more to say about that soon.