Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) | Hansard source

I can hear the leader and the former leaders of the National agrarian socialists over there having a crack. What have you ever done?

I want to remind everyone that it takes anywhere between 500 and 1,000 workers to keep a coalmine in the Hunter or an iron ore mine in the Pilbara operating. Among the many jobs on these mines, there are geologists, mining engineers and metallurgists, all of whom are getting a tax cut. And it's especially the younger workers in the sector. Younger workers are so important to the ongoing strength of this industry. A graduate geophysicist on an average income of $90,000 will get a tax cut of over $1,900. A graduate geologist on an average income of $95,000 will get a tax cut of over $2,000.

There are also cooks, kitchen hands and cleaners that keep the great wealth-creating industry of this country running. I know none of you opposite have ever run into any of them, but we do. On any given mine in this country, cooks on an average income of $89,000 will get a tax cut of over $1,900. Kitchen hands on an average income of $80,000 will get a tax cut of over $1,600. And cleaners, the cleaners that keep these mines going and keep workers happy, on an average income of $75,000, will get a tax cut of over $1,500. Under Labor, resources workers earn more and resources workers will keep more of what they earn.

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