Delivering conditions for continued strength

The latest report from ABARES released at the end of May shows that Australia's minerals and energy sector has set a new record for planned capital investment - $173.5 billion over 94 advanced projects. This is an increase of $40.5 billion in the six months since October.

It is further evidence of the continued strength of Australia's resource and energy sectors and the attractiveness of Australia as an investment destination. The Government welcomes this investment and is taking important steps to support the growth of industry and to help spread the benefits across the wider economy.

In this year's Budget the Government delivered a major skills and training package - a $3 billion investment in a modern skilled workforce for Australia. This is the backbone of a strong Australian economy and a highly skilled workforce will help maintain an investment pipeline in significant projects well into the future.

It is an important step toward meeting the longer term labour demands of our resource and energy sectors and ensuring more Australians benefit from the extraordinary growth in the mining sector.

The Government is also temporarily increasing the intake of skilled migrants and commencing a trial of new Enterprise Migration Agreements for major resource projects. The Government understands that ready access to an adequate and appropriate workforce is the key to delivering projects on time and that's why we are doing our part to help make this happen.

We also want to make sure that the benefits of these record investments are felt by all Australians. This is what our Minerals Resource Rent Tax and extended Petroleum Resource Rent Tax will do by allowing the Government to reduce the rate of company taxation, provide much needed tax breaks to small business, increase superannuation savings and invest in the infrastructure that is so central to productivity gains.

Extending the benefits of the resources boom is also the main driver behind the new $34.4 million Buy Australian at Home and Abroad initiative the Government delivered in this year's budget to help connect Australian suppliers and manufacturers with opportunities and improve the competitiveness of their bids.

“Extending the benefits of the resources boom is also the main driver behind the new $34.4 million Buy Australian at Home and Abroad initiative”

In my view, it is critical to remember that the value of our exports extends beyond the raw minerals and petroleum resources. Our expertise, our mining technology services and equipment is also sought after, enjoying a world-leading reputation and worth around $9 billion a year.

The Government's priority reform for this year is putting in place a mechanism for pricing carbon. This is a complex and challenging reform and the Government is consulting widely in developing the detail of this policy. Maintaining the competitiveness of our resource and energy sectors is an important consideration as we go about this work to make certain that the final package ensures the continued strength of an industry that we recognise is a major employer of Australians and a significant contributor to our national prosperity.