STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr KATTER (Kennedy) (13:36): Australia is a land of vast natural wealth, yet we have become a giant quarry for the rest of the world. Could be a good thing, but is it? Many countries provide heavy subsidies and reserve much of the resources to make industry cheaper and provide jobs.

For example, in Iran and Algeria—consistently the cheapest industrial natural gas price in the world—industrial natural gas costs 40c. Where in Queensland we are paying between $14 and $17 a unit, they are paying $4. Western Australia at least is fighting back, introducing a reserve resource policy on gas.

This has halved the gas price from around $6 a unit to less than half of that price. We urgently need a Western Australian-type domestic gas reservation policy applied on the east coast. It must include a price ceiling.

We applaud the government for introducing a reserve resource policy, but they have not attached a price to it. It's no use reserving it if we're still going to be paying world market prices. So we urge the government—we congratulate them on doing the first step, but we need them badly to do the second step.

If that is not done, Mount Isa, the fourth biggest industrial centre in Australia, will be closed down. (Time expired)