Joe Hockey North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer
2:24 pm
My question is to the Treasurer. Was the Treasurer or his office given notice last week by the Western Australian government that Western Australia would be publicly announcing the iron ore fines royalty increase in the Western Australian budget?
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer
What I have been given notice of are the words of Premier Barnett today. This is what he had to say:
We know if we get more mining royalty income under the current arrangement, our GST falls, we do know that
That is what the Western Australian Premier has said today.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Order! The Treasurer will come back to the question.
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer
He has maintained the fiction for the past five days that that was not the case. For the past five days he has gone around pretending that he knew nothing about the consequences of his decision to increase royalties.
Christopher Pyne Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training
Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Treasurer was asked whether he or his office were given notice by the Western Australian Premier last week of the intention to raise the royalties on iron ore fines. That was the question, and the Treasurer is not even attempting to answer it. I ask you to draw him back to the question.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
The Treasurer is required by the standing orders to directly relate his response to the question. This is not the same as the standing order in the last parliament. The Treasurer has the call and he will directly relate his response to the question.
Mrs Mirabella interjecting—
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House
Mr Speaker, the member for Indi has made quite unparliamentary comments and I ask that you request her to withdraw.
Sophie Mirabella Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science
I withdraw.
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer
For five days the Western Australian Premier has maintained that he had no knowledge that this would occur if he increased royalties and that he would lose the money. Today he has admitted that they knew they would get less funding by raising their royalties—game, set and match.
Joe Hockey North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer
2:27 pm
Mr Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. How does the Treasurer reconcile his answer with the fact that his own chief of staff was given notice of the iron ore fines increase by the Western Australian Premier's chief of staff last Wednesday, two days before he said on ABC radio he had not been warned of the royalty increases?
Wayne Swan Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer
The only advice that my office received was that they would be in the budget.