Bob Katter gets one of the independent questions this time. He is not greeted with the usual level of enthusiasm from the chamber or the prime minister:

Q:

Prime Minister you’d be aware that three Appropriation Bills the House require a00 billion in funding, appropriation 10 years ago required only $50 billion. Another $50 billion is required to House the 400,000 people coming from overseas each year particularly 92 per cent of them that go to Sydney and Melbourne. When the urgent demand of 80 per cent Australians to stop migration save $50 billion this year plus a reserve policy on gas would provide another $32 billion a year. And green lighting the Galilee coal and its rail line providing yet another $17 billion. Shouldn’t the government be about carrying out the will of the people and creating economic development?

Anthony Albanese:

I’d just make two points to the member for Kennedy before I ask the Minister for Resources to comment on the issues in which he raises regarding resource policy. First regarding the will of the people. That’s called elections. We have a proud democracy in this country. And I defend it. People in this country voted for a government that would under that modern Australia was, as the minister has just reflected, a different nation than it was under the White Australia policy some time ago.

And they voted for a government that would understand that our diversity is a strength in modern Australia as well, and provides us as well with incredible economic opportunity due to the diaspora here and their connections with every country on the planet.

With regard to the figures [he mentioned] I don’t accept some of the figures that’s raised. I’m not sure what the basis of them are.

But I can refer to the latest net overseas migration which was down 37 per cent on an annual figure in the last figures that were raised in 2024.

Madeleine King adds to the answer:

The member for Kennedy referred to a resources reserve and reservation policy. Happy to discuss that briefly. There is a mini pause across many parts of the community for reservations of gas in particular. This is something brought on by industrial users and manufacturers, indeed even those opposite have announced a reservation policy of their own which is a great change from when they failed to support the Western Australian reservation policy which proved enormously successful for the price of gas and access of gas if Western Australia.

At the moment the government has a review into gas market regulations, there was a consultation paper that is out. There have been many submissions to that.

One of the concepts we put forward as a government was around a framework to ensure that domestic supply is secured for the east coast.

Another part of our reservation resources policy goes around the critical minerals strategic reserve which is about building up a national asset to make sure we have a supply of critical minerals but also that we’re a reliable supplier of critical minerals and rare earths to our partners around the world.

It allow us to work with our partners together against disruptions from a position of real strength.

I look forward to the member for Kennedy’s support nor that reserve. Those opposite were quick to oppose it, they support a gas reserve but not critical minerals. They and that might go to confusion between gas and critical minerals. They’ve named gas as a critical mineral in the past. I hope they won’t do it again.