JEREMY JONES: Well, the new Assistant Minister for Resources says there's no going back after Same Job, Same Pay laws passed recently. BHP said the laws could cost the company up to 1.3 billion annually if applied across all its Australian coal operations. But Labor Senator for Queensland Anthony Chisholm, who this week is touring mines in CQ, says despite the ruling, the industry can be an economic powerhouse. Freya Jetson caught up with the Minister.

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: This is the first opportunity I've had to get out to visit mines in the Queensland region since the election. So, the mayor, Kelly Vea Vea, invited me out to do a tour with her. So, we visited the Broadmeadow underground mine. So, it was good to see an underground mine and then get the experience of this Greenfields development and particularly the work they're doing here on conservation, which is really exciting as well.

FREYA JETSON: And what are you hoping to achieve in this role as Assistant Minister?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Well, as a Queensland Senator, I've always understood how important the resources industry is for the Queensland and national economy. And the Moranbah region is the real engine room of that. So, for me as Assistant Minister for Resources, it'll be about ensuring that we're talking to people on the ground, and that includes the workers and the management. And there's obviously some big issues that we're confronting across the country at the moment around productivity and environmental law reform. We want to make sure that we get those settings right so that these mines can continue to be profitable and they continue to employ people and pay tax and royalties that power the economy. But also we want to ensure that we get those environmental regulations right at the same time.

FREYA JETSON: And what were people saying on the ground when you were there?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Obviously the prices are down at the moment, so that's having an impact on the industry. But we see a lot of determination, a lot of innovation. Particularly where we've been with Pembroke, they've got some automation about some of their vehicles and the way they operate. So, seeing things like that, but understanding they still employ hundreds of people, so they're still good, viable long-term jobs. But they're looking at what they can do to be innovative and support the training and education system to ensure that we've got that workforce of the future. And I know that's something that the Mayor is particularly interested in as well.

FREYA JETSON: And mine safety obviously is very important for both workers and their families. What do you think of current safety levels? Where do you think the current safety levels are at?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: We know that this is a dangerous industry. The mayor, and I'm with Linus Power, the Shadow Minister for Resources at the state level. We stopped by the miners memorial last night. So, it's a reminder to us about the history and the dangers that are associated with that. So, we certainly expect vigilance from companies, and we know that workers are passionate about their safety as well. And no matter what industry you're in, every worker needs to come home safely.

FREYA JETSON: And we've heard a lot about the Same Job, Same Pay laws. Was there any discussions around that on your visit?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: Not specifically that was brought up with me. But we understand that from time to time there's a role for labour hire in these projects. But what we don't want to see is people working side by side effectively on the same job and being paid less than their counterpart. That for us isn't a fair system. So, our laws were about bringing fairness in. I understand that BHP have got an appeal to aspects of the court case decision that was handed down. We'll let that process go through. But we absolutely stand by our laws and think they're really important for resource communities because of the impact that it was having when you had people working side by side by earning less. That's not something that we support.

FREYA JETSON: And is there anything from your trip that you will then implement now that you've - something new that you've picked up?

ANTHONY CHISHOLM: It'll enable me to engage more meaningfully with my colleagues. So, we've obviously got the Productivity Roundtable coming up. There's obviously the work that Minister Watt is doing on environmental law reform. So, all these things will be these opportunities we've had over the last couple of days will provide important information for me to feed back in through government processes. And we want to ensure that we get those settings right so that these communities out here in Moranbah can continue to thrive and become and continue to power the nation as well.

JEREMY JONES: That's Labor Queensland Senator Anthony Chisholm there chatting to the ABC's Freya Jetson.