QRC CEO Ian Macfarlane said big players and new entrants to the state’s coal industry have driven billions of dollars in investment. He said, “There is a very strong demand out there, which is underpinning our economic strength at the moment in Queensland.”

Macfarlane said based on early figures, demand and job numbers for this year were promising. He said, “It’ll depend on how that demand holds up, but even at this early stage, we’re seeing very strong demand, both for metallurgical coal and for thermal coal out of Queensland, we’re still seeing lots of job advertisements for people.”

He added, “We have a number of projects on the drawing boards in Central Queensland right across the Central Highlands and the Galilee Basin as well, so we are seeing very strong investment and very strong jobs growth that goes with it. We do have those extreme green activists who continually say coal is in decline, but these figures clearly show that that is a lie, and the reality is that coal is continuing to grow and continuing to play an important part in our economy.”