The federal government has seized on a comment by a senior Labor MP who has suggested a decline in the coal market is a "good thing".
Labor frontbencher Richard Marles told Sky News on Wednesday the world market for thermal coal had collapsed.
"At one level that's a good thing because what that implies is the world is acting in relation to climate change," Mr Marles said.
He reiterated Labor's position that no money should be spent on the proposed Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.
Queensland-based federal minister Steve Ciobo said thermal coal produced $23 billion in export income for Australia and thousands of jobs.
"The Australian Labor Party thinks it is a wonderful thing that they get to junk-pile 55,000 jobs in the resources sector," he told parliament.
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