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

I thank the member for Mayo for his question. Part of his question dealt with the competitiveness of the Australian mining industry. I draw the member for Mayo’s attention again to what is happening around the world. Since 2 May, Australian resources have fallen by just under one per cent on the stock exchange here. Canadian resources are down two per cent, Brazilian resources are down 10 per cent and United States resources are down eight per cent. I therefore suggest to the member for Mayo that, when he suggests a particular connection between tax reform proposals here and the confidence of markets in the Australian resources sector, the facts stand in the way of the fear campaign which those opposite are seeking to perpetrate.

Furthermore, I say in response to the honourable member’s question that this government is committed to tax reform and to doing it through a process of consultation and negotiation with the industry. Since the announcement of the tax, the Treasury panel has engaged some 80 companies across the country. On top of that, ministers, including the resources minister, the Treasurer and I, have met representatives of the mining industry on numerous occasions for consultations and negotiations.

The government, as we have said repeatedly, is working to reach a balanced outcome with the industry. A balanced outcome necessarily involves a proper consideration of the national interest. The government is committed to the framework that it has put forward. The framework is a profits based tax, a 40 per cent tax, a tax that also applies to existing projects and a tax capable of delivering the revenue to meet the government’s policy priorities and to broaden the base of our economy.

I have no doubt that many of the big mining companies will not embrace any outcome that would see them paying more tax. No doubt they would be joined by those opposite, including the Leader of the Opposition, who thinks that these companies are paying too much tax already. At the end of the day, the government is interested in a sensible and balanced outcome that supports the future of the industry, that delivers tax reform and that—critically—improves the overall competitiveness of the Australian economy by improving the company rate and the small business rate and by boosting the superannuation earnings of 7½ million Australian workers.

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