Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the Government continues to hide key assumptions it has used to estimate revenue from its original as well as its revised mining tax proposals,

(ii)

since the last sitting of the Senate, the Select Committee on Fuel and Energy repeatedly sought information from the Government about changes it made to those assumptions between the 2010-11 Budget and the announcement of the new proposed mining tax arrangements on 2 July 2010,

(iii)

the committee specifically sought information about changes to commodity price, production volume, exchange rate assumptions and any other variables relevant to its mining tax revenue estimates,

(iv)

the information sought by the committee is published by the Western Australian State Government in its budget papers as a matter of course,

(v)

the Government did not allow the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury (Dr Henry) to provide that information even when he appeared before the committee for a second time on 13 July 2010,

(vi)

the Prime Minister (Ms Gillard) to this day has not responded to Senator Cormann’s letter, dated 12 July 2010, asking for this information to be released,

(vii)

the Treasurer (Mr Swan) has since conceded that:

(a)

under the revised assumptions, the original Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT) proposal would have raised approximately $24 billion over the forward estimates rather than the $12 billion revenue estimate contained in the Budget,

(b)

a massive $6 billion out of the $10.5 billion revised mining tax revenue estimate was based on changes to government assumptions, and

(c)

under the original assumptions, the Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) or expanded Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) would only have raised $4 billion over the forward estimates, and

(viii)

the release of all relevant government assumptions is necessary to enable proper scrutiny of the Government’s mining tax proposal and that, as such, release of that information is in the public interest;

(b)

calls on the Government to honour its stated commitment to openness and transparency and release all the information it holds about mining tax revenue estimates forthwith; and

(c)

orders that there be laid on the table by 5 pm on Thursday, 30 September 2010 all the Government’s assumptions used to estimate:

(i)

the revenue from the RSPT as contained in the 2010-11 Budget, including but not limited to, the assumptions on commodity prices, production volumes and exchange rates, and

(ii)

the revenue from and overall fiscal impact of the MRRT/expanded PRRT arrangement announced on 2 July 2010, including all changes to assumptions used for the 2010-11 Budget.

Notice of motion altered on 29 September 2010 pursuant to standing order 77.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the Government conducted negotiations about its revised mining tax with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata in secret before entering into an agreement about this new mining tax proposal with those three companies only,

(ii)

approximately 99 per cent of the mining industry was excluded from those secret mining tax negotiations, and

(iii)

in its haste to reach a new deal quickly, the Government gave those three companies an unfair competitive advantage, including by:

(a)

allowing them to directly influence the ultimate design of the new tax while excluding their competitors,

(b)

using data provided by those three companies on commodity prices, production volumes and other key assumptions, and

(c)

giving them preferential access to inside information about Government assumptions and thought processes around the new tax;

(b)

considers that:

(i)

information made available by the Government to those three companies should be made available to everyone,

(ii)

any data provided by those three companies for use in any Treasury modelling of the revised mining tax proposals should be publicly released, and

(iii)

all parts of any agreement between the Government and those three companies about the revised mining tax arrangements, including any schedules and other attachments, should be publicly available; and

(c)

orders that there be laid on the table by 5 pm on Thursday, 30 September 2010:

(i)

any information held by the Government related to the negotiations and agreement about the new mining tax proposal announced on 2 July 2010, including but not limited to, briefing notes, e-mails, data provided to the Government by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata and any other information generated in the context of the negotiations about the new mining tax proposal, and

(ii)

a copy of the signed heads-of-agreement on the new mining tax proposal between the Government and BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata.

Notice of motion altered on 29 September 2010 pursuant to standing order 77.