Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

and medium-sized miners who make up—as Senator Cormann quite rightly interjects—make up 99 per cent of the mining companies in this country. They are completely and utterly discarded and considered irrelevant, because this government does deals with big business and big unions and they love big government. We on the coalition side do not subscribe to that. We think a better outcome would have been to get a consensus with the other 99 per cent, not with the one per cent and trumpeting that as a triumph. But, no; for Ms Gillard and Labor the spin always has to be with the big companies; do a quick deal and the rights of small business can simply be trampled on and forgotten. It is not so on this side. We will continue to fight against that tax, which will impact on every Australian. Make no mistake: mining is a world activity these days. People will decide where to invest, and Australia has now slid ‘something chronic’ as a place for investment in the resources sector. The sovereign risk is now so great that many South American companies outdo us, courtesy of the economic genius of Mr Rudd and now Ms Gillard.

There are many other matters that I could canvass in relation to this speech. One thing I am pleased about is that on our side of politics disabilities is now looked after by a genuine shadow minister. It has been elevated in our thinking. It is the appropriate thing to do. The Labor Party talks about an inclusive society but disabilities remains with a parliamentary secretary. If Labor genuinely wants to call itself an inclusive government, let it follow our example in that regard. There are many things wrong with this government. I move the following amendment to the Governor-General’s address-in-reply:

The Senate regrets that the Gillard Government has already broken its promises to the Australian people by, among other things:

(1)

announcing a carbon tax, contrary to the Prime Minister’s express assurances both during the election campaign and immediately afterward that there would be no carbon tax;

(2)

instead of seeking a consensus on measures to deal with climate change, instituting a committee, the conclusions of which are predetermined;

(3)

failing to announce any measures to deal with the influx of asylum-seekers arriving by sea;

(4)

failing to provide for a dedicated Minister for Education;

(5)

failing to provide for a dedicated Minister for Disability Services;

(6)

failing to clarify its position on the private health insurance rebate; and

(7)

failing to announce economically responsible measures to deal with housing affordability; and

(8)

announcing to the Australian people that the Government would not be bound by the promises it made to voters during the election campaign.

And further notes that the Government has outlined no credible plan to:

• bring the budget into surplus
• to cut waste
• pay off the debt
• to stop the boats
• or to stop new taxes, such as the mining tax.