Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian mining sector has called for a stable government following a leadership spill in the Liberal Party, which will see Treasurer Scott Morrison take over as Prime Minister from Malcolm Turnbull.
Turnbull himself disposed of previous Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a similar manner in 2015.
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) on Friday called for a stable government, and a focus on the economic reforms needed to deliver growth and prosperity for Australian businesses and households.
“Our industry is keen on working with the government for decisive action to ensure a strong economy,” MCA CEO Tania Constable said.
“This includes a competitive investment environment and less red tape.
“Our industry, our employees and the regional communities in which we operate need lower business input costs such as electricity and close and determined cooperation between states, the commonwealth and industry to build the workforce of the future and ensure a flexible workplace relations system.”
Constable said that Australia’s world-class mining and mining equipment, technology and services sectors needed more engineers, tradespeople and geologists to meet pressing skills shortages.
“We will also need many highly-skilled young people to fill the jobs of tomorrow including drone pilots, data specialists, environmental and social scientists because our mining industry is rapidly adopting new technologies, demanding a different skills mix for a future workforce.”
The Queensland Resources Council welcomed the appointment of Morrison, with CEO Ian Macfarlane saying that the new Prime Minister understood the importance of Australia’s most valuable industries.
“In recent times we’ve seen him make several visits to some of our resources heartlands in Central and North Queensland. And we know he’s a fan of the coal industry, which he proved on the floor of Parliament,” Macfarlane said.
“As Treasurer he’s seen the revenue roll in from our resources exports. His new Deputy, Josh Frydenberg, is a former Resources Minister, and will have seen first-hand how many Queenslanders rely on the resources sector for their jobs, and the contribution these tens of thousands of people make to our economy.”
“We look forward to the new leadership team turning their attention to implementing a policy to provide affordable and reliable energy for households and industry,” Macfarlane said.