Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am not quite sure what Senator Sterle is talking about. The coal seam gas industry will be a major contributor to Queensland's economy and has been a steady contributor to Queensland's economy for 50 years, Senator Sterle. Certainly there needs to be a balance, and thank goodness from next Saturday there will be an economically responsible government in Queensland under the premiership of Campbell Newman that will actually get the balance right between the development of coal seam gas and the protection of farm and food production areas. That may well be beyond the wit of Senator Sterle and his colleagues, but it is not beyond the wit of the LNP government that will be installed in Queensland next Saturday.

It is hard to think of a worse way to have gone about developing this legislation than the way this government has. We had the old super resource tax under former Prime Minister Rudd. A bizarre 287 pages of new tax law is what we have got out of this. As I said earlier, the introduction of the market valuation scheme to calculate applicable deductions gives the big three companies a significant tax shield that is not available to small- and mid-tier mining companies. There are small- and mid-tier mining companies. Every industry is relative. Certainly, if we are talking about milk bars, there are small milk bars and large milk bars, Senator Sterle, in the same way there are small mining companies and large mining companies. You would think that this government would be pleased that every one of those small mining companies is working assiduously to try to turn into a large mining company. That is what Australia's prosperity and the availability of jobs is based on. It is based on individuals who have worked furiously to go from being sole traders in many cases through to being national and multinational companies and there is nothing wrong with doing that. I must admit I was somewhat appalled by Senator Sterle's suggestion that apparently Ms Rinehart cannot have friends. The fact that both Senator Joyce and Mr Schultz have written to her children is on the public record.

Senator Sterle interjecting—

It would have been better, you are dead right Senator Sterle, if all those family problems had stayed out of the spotlight and I think your contribution to keeping them out of the spotlight was hypocritical to say the very least. But what is the suggestion? Is it that Ms Rinehart cannot have friends? What is the suggestion? Is it that Mr Forrest and Mr Palmer cannot make the same attempts to—

Senator Sterle interjecting—