Abbot Point Coal Terminal

_{11 June, 2009}

Ms JARRATT: My question without notice is to the Premier. Given the announcement made this
morning, can the Premier outline the future of the Abbot Point coal terminal?
Ms BLIGH: I thank the member for Whitsunday for her question. I take the opportunity, while I am
on my feet, to recognise what a hardworking member she is for the people of her electorate. She is living proof that hard work at the grassroots pays off and earns respect. At every election she has secured people’s respect because of her hard work and commitment.
The Abbot Point coal terminal, as the member for Whitsunday knows, is a very important part of
the coal export supply chain. Under the program that I have outlined this morning, the Abbot Point coal terminal will not only continue to operate but will expand and grow. If people speak to any of our major coal companies what they will be told is that while they are enduring a drop in demand from world markets their medium- to long-term forecasts for volume have not changed. That is, they expect that the medium- to long-term demand for growth in coal to remain as strong as ever.
What that means is that Abbot Point’s long-term expansion plan to go from a coal port that was
exporting 25 million tonnes a year—and it is currently being redeveloped so that it can go to 50 million tonnes a year, at a cost to the public purse, I stress, of $800 million—to one that will export between 80 and 100 million tonnes a year can only be achieved with a significant new investment of funds. Those funds, in my view, are best sourced from the private sector. The private sector is in a good position to invest in the infrastructure needed to export coal. That is the business the private sector should be in. The public sector should be in the business of investing in schools, hospitals, roads and the services that people need.
Rail capacity is also needed in that supply chain. The northern missing link is a critical part of
growing our export capacity. Again, it will be a huge public investment if we do it through the public sector but one which the private sector, in our view, is much better placed to do.
One option is that we could put this to market as an integrated asset so that we have a supply
chain that goes across both rail and port thereby avoiding some of the delays and bottlenecks that have been caused in the past because rail capacity has not matched port capacity or port capacity has not matched rail capacity. If that happens, then what we will see happen out of Abbot Point is the supply chain system grow to be one of the most effective, efficient and strongest coal export chains in Australia and arguably the world. That is a good thing for Queensland. It will grow local jobs. More importantly, it will grow prosperity for the whole region and indeed the whole country.

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