Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have cleared that up, but I just want to put on the record that the minister, Senator Ludwig, has never attracted that attention. I do not think anyone could argue with me on that.

I want to remind those outside the parliament who may be listening about the Howard government’s spending on advertising. On this side, we all know that the Howard government actually took some $420 million of taxpayers’ money to promote the GST. Remember the ‘Unchain my heart’ ads and whatnot? Let us not forget what was said in this chamber earlier: in 2007, the Howard government put their hands into taxpayers’ pockets and took out $254 million to use in their election campaign. I will mention Work Choices; I cannot help but mention Work Choices. Let us not forget that $121 million of taxpayers’ money was used to promote that failed policy that poisoned the Howard government’s last three years in office.

As a senator from Western Australia, a resource state, it is good to stand in here and talk about the advertising against the resource super profits tax. I do not disregard any senator from any other part of Australia, but I come from a state where the mining industry is a very, very important industry. Unlike others in this chamber, particularly those with the bigger mouths, I actually made my living off the back of the mining industry—not sitting in a courtroom with my hands in other people’s pockets. The mining industry is important and it was a fantastic way of making a living. It is still important. But what we have here is the mother of all scare campaigns. Let’s face it and tell it as it is: there is a massive scare campaign being driven by the Minerals Council of Australia and a certain few.

In the West Australian a couple of weeks ago, before the rally and all that stuff, it was reported that Western Australian Liberals were writing to all the mining companies saying, ‘Please fund our campaign and we will get rid of this tax.’ Let us not lose sight of the fact that this is political comfort for the Libs. They are thinking: ‘We’re broke. We need some money. Let’s get it off the mining companies. Let’s be part of this massive scare campaign.’ What is this scare campaign saying? It is not saying so in as many words but it is coming across as this: if a resource super profits tax was implemented in the great state of Western Australia, all of a sudden, overnight, every individual employed in mining or in servicing the mining industry would find their employment at risk; that the work of every small business that relies on the mining industry or supplies the mining industry would come to a sudden end the very day the tax was implemented.

This could not be further from the truth. It has suited those opposite to encourage a campaign of some mistruths. That is what it is all about. There is no argument about that. Look at a gathering of concerned people on the esplanade in Perth recently, where the front row was the Liberal members of parliament. They were shaking their jewellery in disgust. Ms Gina Rinehart’s pearls were glowing in front of the camera and she was saying, ‘It is so bad that the mining companies have to pay extra tax.’ Senator Ryan said that it is disgusting that existing mining projects should come under the umbrella of a resources tax. I want to know what Senator Ryan and others on that side think of the agreement obtained by the Western Australian Premier, Colin Barnett, for Rio Tinto and BHP mining in Western Australia to obtain $1 billion extra in royalties.

All the time in this chamber we hear the cliche thrown about that you cannot have it both ways, so why is it great for Mr Barnett, the Premier, to achieve that—and quite rightly so; it is fantastic, as long as it delivers to Western Australia along the lines of our Regional Infrastructure Fund, and I would like to know where that money is going—but bad for the federal government to want to get a bit of the profit being made by these supercompanies to deliver it back to Western Australians in the form of $2 billion in the Regional Infrastructure Fund? Why is it bad for the federal government to do something that would put important infrastructure projects into mining communities—communities affected by mining and communities that supply to the mining industry? For the life of me, I cannot understand how that could be any different.

I would also encourage senators over there who want to make contributions about the evil of a fair and equitable tax on the mining industry to take the time to visit some of these mining communities. I will talk about the mining communities in Western Australia. Two that come to mind are Port Hedland and Karratha. I remember Karratha in 1979. I took up a load of door jams for the brand new second suburb. There are now nine or 10 suburbs. If one wants to know the effects of the lack of infrastructure in these mining communities one should visit Karratha and Port Hedland—let alone Tom Price, Paraburdoo, Newman, Pannawonica, Wickham or wherever.

When I was on the road delivering furniture up there through the seventies and eighties, I went into these mining towns and it was clear the mining companies ran them. They built the infrastructure—they built the homes; they built the roads; they built the community facilities; they built the playgrounds; and they built and maintained the sporting venues, whether it was tennis, whether it was bowling or whether it was football, netball or soccer. Then, in the eighties, the mining companies decided that that was not their core business; they did not want to do that anymore. As I said, I made my living moving them in and out. It was a fantastic way to make a living, running through the great state of Western Australia. That is no longer there. It is mainly fly-in fly-out.

I encourage you, Mr Acting Deputy President, to pop into Port Hedland. Go and meet the mayor; go and meet the councillors. Ask them what their thoughts are on seeing some of the hard-earned dollars from their region actually coming back into their communities, because I have to tell you there is not a lot to be seen. It is quite irksome to have a major mining company tell you what a wonderful job they have done in Port Hedland because they put some sails over a playground. They said that to me, and I thought, ‘Well, that is wonderful, but where is the rest of the contribution back to that region, which they have successfully worked?’ They have employed a heck of a lot of people and they have paid some good wages. It is time to bring it back.