George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I challenge the member for Melbourne to come to Mackay. I will walk him down Paget to see some of the business owners and workers who are sweating on whether the next job is going to turn up from BHP or Rio. They are sweating on whether they going to get the next contract because there is no investment at the moment. They are waiting for us to repeal these taxes. They are waiting for the people in the Labor Party to support our measures to repeal these taxes.

If it went down the track that the member from Melbourne wants, there would be no mining industry. They should be honest and tell the people that their ultimate agenda is to close down mining. It is not all the Labor Party's fault in this and the carbon tax, because these guys were niggling them from the sidelines of the last parliament making them do all this crazy stuff. They are very culpable for the outcomes. The outcomes for my community have been absolutely disastrous. The goose laying the golden eggs for the nation has been almost plucked to death through this mining tax. The dark ages of the previous government have well and truly finished. The adults are now back in charge of running the country and we are open for business. I have to say that we are going to axe the carbon tax and the mining tax one way or the other, with or without the opposition's support. After 1 July next year we will be given that chance if they do not support us now.

Mining will come back. It will rebound if it is given half a chance. There will be life in the mining industry and new jobs throughout North Queensland and Central Queensland. But we have to ask ourselves: was this carbon tax actually worth it? The industry told us it was not worth it.

An opposition member interjecting—

Well the mining tax wasn't worth it either. The subsequent loss of investments told us that it was not worth it. Families who lost their jobs told us it was not worth it. And, more importantly, the people of Australia told us on election day that it certainly was not worth it. These people should do the right thing and vote with us to get rid of this mining tax, and also vote with us to get rid of the carbon tax.

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