Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to report that the coalition have had a consistent position. From the very beginning, we saw the damage that that mining tax was going to do to one of the sectors on which we are building Australia's future. We made it clear at the time: we would not support the mining tax or the spending of the former government that was promised off the back of that tax. We thought it was irresponsible to first slug a major industry in that way and then promise all this spending on the back of that. What a cruel hoax on the schoolkids of Australia, low-income Australians and small business, to promise all this spending off the back of this ever-receding tax. The now Prime Minister, in his budget reply speech in May, outlined that the coalition would not continue with the measures that were going to be funded by the mining tax, because the mining tax was not raising revenue. You were telling the schoolkids of Australia: 'It's okay to borrow to pay yourself a bonus.' We could not afford it. We were not going to go ahead with it. And that is our stance after the election.