Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party continues to turn their backs on hardworking men and women in the mining industry and resource sector in our regional communities. Last week we saw the leader of the Labor Party in Queensland, Steven Miles, spruiking how successful Queensland's coal royalty scheme is and how it should be adopted by other states. This is despite Queensland losing more than $2 billion of its share of GST, and right now regional businesses, families and communities are feeling the impact of the world's highest coal royalties, fewer contracts, more than a thousand job losses in Central Queensland, and less investment in our rural towns.

There are a number of questions the federal Labor government needs to answer. Does the government support slogging mining companies with world-topping taxes, which have already contributed to the loss of more than a thousand crucial jobs in Central Queensland? Does it believe that the mining royalty tax, like the former Labor government in Queensland implemented, should be applied to all commodities mined in Australia? What impact would this have on GST payments in mining states?

Labor continues to attack the industries and regional communities that pay the nation's bills by treating them as cash cows. Federal Labor needs to stand up and provide certainty to rule out further tax increases and ensure GST payments to the states.

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