A senior leader of one of the world’s largest metallurgical coal producing houses says Queensland is in danger of sitting back on its position as the lucky state in the lucky country.

The state had among the largest reserves of the world’s best quality coal which is used in a 75 per cent ratio for every tonne of steel produced, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance asset president Adam Lancey told the Queensland Resources Media Club in a recent address.

The coal reserves are shallow in most cases reducing the cost of operations, there are established transport routes, reliable electricity, water reservoirs and sophisticated port facilities.

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Mr Lancey said that logarithm would not cut it in the new world order and referred to population growth, urbanisation and decarbonisation as megatrends that would drive the global economy.

We’ll be relying on a competitive resources sector to maintain a standard of living and he also said the state was not as attractive a place to invest as it used to be.

Why? Because of royalty increases that are considered unrestrained and arbitrary.

What the sector needed were policy and fiscal settings that gave Queensland a competitive edge, Mr Lancey said.

That included faster permitting and an industrial relations system that delivered productivity, flexibility and competitiveness to drive job creation and wage growth.

He said capital flowed to where the risk-returns ratio was most attractive. Conversely where governments acted unpredictably and unreasonably, they increased risk for investment.

Mr Lancey said that over the last two years more than $25 billion was paid in coal royalties in Queensland. 

After the royalty increases an additional $9.4 billion dollars had been collected from the coal industry.

The result of the lack of engagement was a flight of BMA capital away from Queensland to areas of less risk like Western and South Australia, he said.

Investment was a long-term decision and the conditions Queensland enjoyed today were a reflection of long-term thinking, Mr Lancey said.

The inference being that the legacy of decisions made today may not be as golden in three or four decades’ time.