Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

If you want to go out and have a look at some numbers, I will give you some numbers which show that mining investment—

Dr Emerson interjecting—

I am talking about mining investment; if the trade minister cannot tell the difference between mining investment profiles and overall investment ratings, again, I guess it just proves my point.

I will use some stats: mining investment in Australia has fallen six per cent to just under 15 per cent of the world's share of investment in mining since 2008 as billions of dollars of extra capital are invested in Russia, India, China and Africa. This is only one of the many things they have done to destroy the foreign investment profile of Australia's resource industry.

Dr Emerson interjecting—

If the Minister for Trade wants to show me the forward numbers on investment I will be very happy see them, because I have seen them. I have seen the thousands and thousands of jobs that are getting lost in the mining industry, as we speak, as a result of the incompetence of this government.

We have seen a government that has not only introduced a half-baked tax that does not raise any money but, of course, they have introduced a carbon tax which has had a major impact on the mining industry—particularly the coal industry, which has its own issues. This is a tax which they promised. They, the Treasurer and the Prime Minister: the same negotiating geniuses who went in and negotiated a tax with the mining companies that does not raise any money. Those two people, the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, said categorically before the last election there would not be a carbon tax. And of course there is.

There are those over there who think that it is just me saying this about the mining tax. Let me quote to you someone who actually does know a fair bit more about this than me. Paul Young of Deutsche Bank said:

There are so many moving parts in this tax, and so many assumptions about company profits, carrying values and prices, it is near impossible to predict what instalments will be and what the future MRRT will be on an industry wide basis.

He did not have to wait until now to say that. He did not have to wait until February 2013. Paul Young said that in October last year. How right he was. When the Opposition was saying, 'It is reckless and it is irresponsible to be spending the money from the mining tax before you even get it,' we were right; Paul Young from Deutsche Bank confirmed that.

It is not just the damage that has been done to Australia's mining reputation by this tax; it is the damage that has been done to our economy. The government put these figures in its budget. The shadow Treasurer gave the numbers, but it was hundreds of times. Both the Treasurer and the Prime Minister went out there and said we would have a surplus, but of course we have not. Of course we haven't! We know this government can never live within its means. We know this government spends every waking moment working out how it is going to raise more money from taxes so it can make up for its reckless spending.

There is only one solution, and that is a change of government. There is only one solution that is going to restore the confidence of the international resource sector in investing in mining in Australia, and that is a change of government. A coalition government led by Tony Abbott, the member for Warringah, will not only remove the mining tax but will remove the carbon tax. But more importantly we will give investors certainty that every second day we are not suggesting a change to a tax or a new tax. Right now the resource industry is coming and talking to me, not just about the mining tax and what might change there and not just about the carbon tax and what might happen there but they are worried about what taxes may be in the May budget. Will there be a change to the diesel fuel excise rebate? Will there be a change to the thin capital rules? Will there be a change to the depreciation rates on investment assets in resource projects? No-one knows, because whatever the Treasurer says has been shown not to be the case. Whatever the Prime Minister says has been shown not to be the case. Australia and our reputation has been left in tatters by a government that cannot manage money, that cannot even understand how its own taxes work.

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