Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the protection, Mr Acting Deputy President. This bill puts confidence back in Australia, both locally and internationally. It will help put doing business back on a level playing field. It represents a government that can and will balance its books to balance the needs of all industry. Australian mining tax rates are at a higher level than most other resource-rich countries.

I want to take you to my particular South Australian experience. BHP Billiton's $28 billion Olympic Dam expansion was shelved in August 2012, blamed in part on crippling development costs. Poorly considered government policy makes Australia a high-cost place to do business compared to other resource-rich countries. The decision was a huge loss for the South Australian economy and for the general confidence of the people of South Australia, as the Olympic Dam expansion had been expected to create 8,000 construction jobs, 4,000 permanent jobs and, like all of these things, another 13,000 associated jobs servicing that industry. Olympic Dam is still the biggest mine in South Australia, paying $90 million a year in royalties and spending $664 million on goods and services in the state in 2012-13.

While Olympic Dam was a highly visible loss in South Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released earlier this year reveal mining exploration expenditure in South Australia decreased by 53.7 per cent in 2013 from 2012—the worst result in the nation. In the six months to December 2013, mining expenditure in South Australia decreased by 28.7 per cent—the worst result in the nation also. In trend terms, mining expenditure in South Australia has decreased for seven consecutive years. I guess that will be the job of the new Premier of South Australia: to arrest something that has been clearly obvious to those that can read the economic indicators. It will be up to him now, over the next four years, to try and arrest this roller-coaster of economic mismanagement that has beset the South Australian parliament.

There are a string of problems in South Australia in the mining industry as a result of state and federal Labor reckless mismanagement. It includes the closure of the Angas zinc mine near Strathalbyn, the reduction of output and loss of jobs at Honeymoon uranium mine, Centrex Metals' backwards step on the WISCO Fusion iron ore joint venture, the scrapping of the $1 billion Arafura rare earths processing plant and the loss of 61 jobs at OZ Minerals' Prominent Hill site. Labor, at a state and federal level, have mismanaged the economy, hindered exploration and prevented investment in this important mining industry. In a state where 25,000 full-time jobs have been lost since the June 2013 budget and with an unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent—the highest of all mainland states—the importance of supporting what is a job-generating, wealth-creating, globally competitive industry cannot be overstated.

It is time to get Australia back on track and repeal this mining tax. That would be a first step in getting this industry, and confidence in it, back into the focus that is required from all the world's boardrooms and all the world's miners. Repealing the mining tax is something we here can do to help revive investment and exploration confidence in Australia—importantly, in South Australia, Western Australia and those areas that are resource rich. In light of the appetite from around the world for all our rare earths, it is something that we should be embracing, not trying to tax inconsistently. (Time expired)