House debates Questions without Notice

Budget

Monday, 24 May 2010 House of Representatives

Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition

2:00 pm

Following last week’s announcement by Fortescue Metals that it has placed two projects on hold worth $17½ billion in investment and up to 30,000 jobs, I refer the Prime Minister to today’s announcement by the head of Rio Tinto, Mr Tom Albanese, that all Rio Tinto’s Australian expansion plans have been put on hold, that capital would shift to other nations like Canada and that the Rudd government’s proposed great big new tax on mining was Rio Tinto’s top sovereign risk issue on a global basis. I ask the Prime Minister: how much damage will the Australian economy suffer before the Prime Minister backs down on his great big new tax on mining?

Comments

No comments