Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to endorse the comments of the member for Lyons. I was also there last night. Tanya Dupayne is a constituent of mine, a wonderful young lady and a very deserving winner. It was a fantastic night. All the finalists are wonderful role models for our industry.

I rise today to protest the actions of the Western Australian Labor government, which has just announced its intention to increase the royalty on gold production. This was the government's first budget, which was delivered a week ago today. There are many measures that break pre-election commitments, but none more so than the increase to the gold royalty.

My electorate covers the Western Australian Goldfields, which is the heart of the gold industry. This tax hike will rip $120 million per year out of our local economy. This region, which is home to around 40,000 people, was built on the success of the gold industry. Its economy rises and falls with the strength of that industry, and it does give me some pleasure to say that last year was very positive. But mining is cyclical. When the gold price began to dip in 2013, the effects were felt hardest in the city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the smaller neighbouring towns of Laverton, Leonora, Norseman and Coolgardie.

About 13 per cent of the people living in the goldfields are employed in the mining sector. That might not sound significant, but you also need to consider the people employed by the companies servicing the mining industry—the contractors and others. When the industry is doing it tough, so are the communities of the goldfields. From 2007 to 2013, at the height of the resources boom, the goldfields population grew at roughly two per cent per year, but the last census tells us that, in 2013-14, the population fell by two per cent. It dropped by another 1.3 per cent the following year. You only had to walk down the main street of Kalgoorlie, one of Western Australia's most historic and beautiful towns, to see the impact.

Now, at a time when things are starting to turn around, Mark McGowan and the Labor government have decided to increase the gold royalty from 2.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent, and they're not stopping there. They're also going to scrap the exemption for the first 2,500 ounces produced, which will have a massive impact on those smaller prospectors. All this comes after the WA Premier promised he would not increase gold royalties.

Let me read you a quote from the Kalgoorlie Miner from 29 October 2015, when Mr McGowan was then the Western Australian Leader of the Opposition. He said:

It's basically a waste of time to put up the royalty because it impacts the employment and jobs and the health of the industry for—

very—

limited benefit.

The WA Premier has made an astonishing backflip since then, but that might sound familiar. It sounds just like the federal Labor leader here—the Leader of the Opposition. He has done a backflip on the plebiscite, he has done a backflip on company tax cuts and he has done a backflip on NDIS funding. The list goes on.

The Western Australian Labor Party promised no new tax rises, but, in reality, they're increasing taxes to fund the millions of dollars they made in election commitments. If there are rules for governing responsibly, this royalty hike breaks them all. There was no consultation and there was a promise not to do it. The WA Premier is on record as saying that it will impact jobs, but he's doing it anyway. I call on the WA Labor Party to reverse their decision before it has a massive impact on jobs and investment across the goldfields. (Time expired)