Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013. I want to make a few remarks in the limited time I have available. I represent the seat of Maranoa in the state of Queensland and, of course, Queensland is a powerhouse when it comes to natural resources. We have seen so many projects stalled as a result of the previous government's introduction of not only the carbon tax but also this minerals resource rent tax which has collected nothing by has driven so much investment offshore.

In my electorate I have the Tarong power station at Stanwell near Kingaroy. There is a new mine there, the Meandu mine, which was purchased to secure the long-term coal source for the Tarong power station. There is also the Kogan Creek power station, just west of Dalby, and of course the Wilkie Creek coal mine near Dalby, which has had to lay off staff recently. I know that they are significantly worried about their future. These are people who live in the town of Dalby or who come off farms. They are farm workers or members of families who own farms and have been able to get a job at the Wilkie Creek mine. This enables them, in these difficult farming times, to keep the family and the farm together. But I know, as I talk to the people of Peabody and the local workers and the management there, that they have real problems trying to keep the mine viable. Another driving factor behind that is this minerals resource rent tax, which puts a dark cloud over the investment.

In the Galilee Basin in my electorate, way back in 1981 the Queensland department of mines at the time estimated that there were resources there of some 800 million tonnes near Alpha. In 2008, Waratah Coal announced the discovery of 4,400 million tonnes of coal still sitting there in the ground. I am sure that the investment opportunities there would not be lost in this chamber, but I make the point that here is another project that has investors worried, because if a minerals resource rent tax applies to such an investment, and there is a potential for jobs that could be created from that investment, it is sitting on hold. Companies like GVK, Hancock Coal and Waratah Coal are all there, waiting, I am sure, to see this minerals resource rent tax abolished—which gives them greater confidence to proceed with the project. There are the Glencore Xstrata leases there at Wandoan. It was going to export something like 30 million tonnes of coal a year. And now they have done all the work and it is sitting there. They have proven up and they have gone into arrangements to purchase land. They were going to build a railway line—in a standard gauge, for heaven's sake—from Wandoan to Gladstone, which would have been a terrific step forward in rail in Queensland, I have got to say, to start to see some standard gauge rail built. But it sits there on hold, and I understand that Glencore—I am advised by the member for Flynn—are rather keen to sell their port facility or access at Gladstone, because they have very real doubt as to the viability of that mine whilst ever this minerals resource rent tax hangs over the Wandoan project.

It is not just the Wandoan project there. If that railway line were built, other mines would also develop with smaller operators in the area and this would create jobs—not only for workers who would come from near and far but also for the many farmers and their children in the near area who would get jobs, which would enable them to keep the farm because there would be another income coming into the family.

The other thing that is a great irony is that the Labor Party said that this minerals resource rent tax would generate some $26.5 billion over five years—and how much has it raised? Four hundred million dollars. But they went out and started to commit the money. One of those projects was a $7 million contribution to the levy bank at Roma to protect the town of Roma from future flooding. They announced it but they did not sign the contract. But they had it in the budget. When we came to government I had to go to the Deputy Prime Minister, who said, 'We will honour that project', notwithstanding that there had not been a contract signed. I was delighted to think that, on this side of the House, we will sign these contracts. We are a mature government and we will operate in a businesslike manner.

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