Closure of Bowen Coke Works facility

Glencore’s decision to close its Coke Works facility in Bowen is devastating news and it further highlights the dire need for other projects to get off the ground to provide desperately needed jobs.I have been informed by Glencore today that the Bowen Coke Works will transition to closure over the next few months.Glencore have said that the Coke Works, which have historically provided feedstock for Mount Isa Mines’ lead smelter, is no longer able to operate competitively.18 people are employed at the facility and many have worked there for many years.

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Labor needs to stand with North Queensland workers

JOBS and a vital boost to this region's economy are still under threat from frivolous extreme green legal challenges and the only way to end them once and for all is through legislation in the federal parliament.The Adani Carmichael Coal Project is by no means certain while the extreme green legal challenges remain in the courts despite yesterday's mining lease approval.I'm calling on my Labor opponent to join me in the fight for local jobs by backing legislative action to end those green legal challenges.

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Job protection guaranteed in CHAFTA deal

NO foreigner will be allowed to fill a job in Australia that an Australian can do under new regulations to be introduced by the Liberal National Government.These regulations apply to the China Australia Free Trade Agreement (CHAFTA), the 457 visa regime, and all other such arrangements, and these regulations have won the support of the Labor Party.It always was the case that Australian workers would get the first go and a fair go at filling Australian jobs and the new regulations will make that doubly so.

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Legal counter-offensive needed to save jobs

THE predictable extreme green tactic of mounting legal challenges to derail coal projects and stop the flow of jobs needs to be eliminated with a legal counter-offensive.I question the authority of those mounting court actions which currently hold seven Queensland projects to ransom, costing an estimated $1million a day in lost production.Who gives these self-styled guardians of the environment the authority to mount these court challenges which have been going on for more than two years?

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State needs to act on Adani projects

A MEDIA report that the Indian mining giant Adani has suspended all engineering work on its multi-billion dollar mine, rail and port project in the Galilee Basin highlights the need for the State Labor Government to get all environmental processes finalised as soon as possible.A spokesperson for Adani has confirmed to me that they were not pulling out of the massive project.However they also stated they have lost appetite for any other substantial delays to their project.

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Extreme greens are robbers & job destroyers

ANOTHER massive boost for the region, GVK Hancock’s Alpha Coal Project, is under threat in Brisbane because of the actions of the extreme green anti-coal protesters.The inconvenient truth for them is that the global demand for thermal coal will continue for decades to come.And if we don’t mine it some other country will.They are not going to kill the demand for coal; they’re just going to rob Australia of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars.

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Amending the Fair Work Act to stop Forced FIFO

Together with my LNP colleague, Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry, I am putting forward a bill banning forced FIFO.The continuing stalemate over 100 per cent Fly-In Fly-Out (FIFO) arrangements at some Bowen Basin mines has gone on for far too long and it’s time to take some drastic action.We’re taking the call for action straight to the country’s ultimate regulator – Parliament House, by presenting a bill seeking to amend the Fair Work Act (2009).The amendment will essentially stop discrimination against workers based on where they live.

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