Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith and congratulate him on his first question in this place. He is a senator from a state which is certainly enjoying a substantial investment boom, and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Goldfields region is no exception to that. I assume he would know this region very well and would know we have a very substantial amount of investment going into that region, into Western Australia more generally and into this country. If you look at the recent figures for investment in the resources sector, that pipeline has continued to increase notwithstanding the mining tax and carbon tax scare campaign. From memory—I could be wrong and I will correct this if I am—between 2010 and 2012 investment in the resources sector has increased 2½ times. One would have thought that sort of multiple would suggest that the scare campaign about there being an investment strike in the resources sector as a result of the mining tax and the carbon price is simply false.

I am asked about price increases, and as the senator might have heard previously the government has modelled price increases. The CPI impact will be substantially less than was the CPI impact for the GST—about 0.7 per cent—and the government is ensuring it provides substantial assistance through tax reform and increases to pensions. Senator Smith might like to know that from 1 July we will also see a tripling of the tax-free—