Article by Olivia Thompson courtesy of Australian Mining.
The mining industry has contributed a record $455 billion in export revenue for Australia during the 2022–23 financial year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) said the record result highlights the importance of the mining industry to the country’s economy, government revenues and regional jobs.
The 2022–23 figures represent 66 per cent of all export revenue for Australia and is a 10.5 per cent increase from the 2021–22 figures, which was the previous record year.
The ABS figures also detailed the amount of export revenue specific mining commodities brought in, which included:
- thermal and metallurgical coal bringing in $128 billion
- iron ore delivering $125 billion
- gold producing $27.4 billion
- aluminium equalling to $14.9 billion
- copper delivering $12.5 billion.
“The industry’s significant contribution to the nation’s export earnings cannot be taken for granted,” MCA chief executive officer Tania Constable said.
“The country can’t afford to miss the opportunity to attract a share of the $US180 billion ($274 billion) per year in global mining investment over the next two decades needed to meet the world’s colossal energy transition.”
Previously, the MCA has raised concerns over the proposed ‘same job, same pay’ legislation, and have asked for the bill to exclude service contractors.
Constable expressed concern that the bill may impact the Australian mining industry’s global competitiveness to attract investment.
“Instead of making the industry more competitive and attractive for investment, the Federal Government’s proposed legislation would be a handbrake on mining wages, investment and jobs growth,” Constable said.
“Australia risks dealing itself out of trillion-dollar critical minerals markets unless it gets serious about addressing rising costs, declining productivity and increased policy risks.”