Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

See, this is your argument. This is what you have failed to understand all the way through. What we are taxing is the high-profit end of companies once they start to make profits, rather than taxing what they actually take out of the ground. It is a much more efficient and much more market based way of addressing this industries tax. This is what the mining industry asked us to do. That is what they asked the Henry tax review to consider, and that is what it did.

What the mining companies are actually complaining about is the amount of tax. Let us be very clear about this: the campaign being run by the mining industry is one of pure self-interest. They are actually getting half of what they want—that is, the way the tax is going to be applied on profits not on volume, not on what they take out of the ground. That is what they asked for and that is what they wanted. What they are really complaining about is how much tax they are going to have to pay. Their attitude is pure self-interest. That is why they are fighting. That is why they are spending up to $100 million blitzing the country with their constant advertising. They are only self-interested. Quite frankly, they think the assets in the ground belong to them. They do not; they belong to the Australian people. The Australian people require their fair share.