Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition’s question went to the overall impact of this response to the Henry Review on the future of the mining industry and I responded specifically by pointing his attention to the conclusion of the Econtech modelling and the 5.5 per cent increase in mining activity, which results from that.

My second response to the Leader of the Opposition’s question went to the overall impact of what the government seeks to do through this reform. It is to ensure the Australian people also get a fair share from the resources—which, ultimately, they the Australian people own; a fairer share in terms of better superannuation for all working Australians; a fairer share in terms of bringing down the tax rate, including special tax breaks for our small businesses; and, furthermore, ensuring that we use those resources to invest in our country’s future infrastructure needs, in the road, the rail and the port which, everywhere across the country, we hear representations about.

I conclude my response to the Leader of the Opposition in these terms. I understand that yesterday the Leader of the Opposition suggested in question time that the Australian gas company Santos was not proceeding with a $15 billion LNG project in Gladstone because of the resources superprofits tax. I also draw the House’s attention to what the CEO of Santos, Mr Knox, has said. He said, ‘There are all sorts of factors. Obviously, the uncertainty of the supertax is something we are going to have to manage,’ that is true, ‘but I would not directly attribute it to that.’ For transparency and clarity in the debate, if the Leader of the Opposition is going to report the comments of various mining executives around the country, he should do so with accuracy. This is an important debate for the future.

I would also draw people’s attention to what happened in our national debate in the mid-eighties, when we brought in the petroleum resource rent tax. Everyone at that stage predicted doom and gloom and the collapse of the entire offshore mining industry. It did not happen. It has produced, instead, one of the most vibrant exploration and production platforms that we have seen in the Australian resources sector in the last quarter of a century, including our largest resources project, the Gorgon Project—also under a tax at 40 per cent, I would note.

I draw the attention of those opposite to the fact that, when it comes to superprofits from the resource industry, 60 per cent of those superprofits are retained by the companies concerned. I think it is important that we have some balance in this debate as the government seeks, responsibly, to negotiate the detail, the implementation and the transition of this proposed set of new arrangements with the mining industry. This is, however, part of a broader reform for the industry at large and for the general economy.

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