Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is amazing the hypocrisy we see from Senator Carr now that he is on the other side of the chamber. On 22 May 2008 the then chief executive of the CSIRO, Geoff Garrett, warned about the organisation's research effort suffering—as it shuts laboratories and loses 100 staff as a result of a reduction in its budget funding of $63 million a year—in a Labor government over which Senator Carr had responsibility for science. The funding cuts were $23 million to meet the Rudd government's one-off efficiency dividend, plus an extra $40 million to extend the efficiency dividend to a research component of the CSIRO's appropriation. It is a bit stiff to come in here and listen to this sort of argument from Senator Carr. The Canberra Times, on 5 December 2008, said:

The Rudd Government's one-off 2pc efficiency dividend for this financial year imposed an "arbitrary and unfair" burden on the CSIRO, a new government report says.

This was the Labor government's own report, talking about the imposition of $24 million in cuts in addition to the federal budget cut of $40 million, forcing the CSIRO to merge divisions and shed jobs in a bid to find annual savings.

It was interesting that Senator Carr referred to aspects associated with the oil and gas industry R&D, because Senator Smith, who will contribute to this debate, and I, from Western Australia, are only too aware of the sovereign risk being imposed on the multinationals, the oil and gas industries and the mining industry as a result of the actions of the previous Labor government—supported by the Greens, as it became apparent—with regard to the carbon and mining taxes.

As happened in Tasmania last Saturday, so in September last year did the people of Australia give a mandate to the government, led by the Hon. Tony Abbott, to repeal the mining and carbon dioxide taxes. The actions of the Labor Party and the Greens, in this chamber, to frustrate the democratic statement of the people of Australia is reprehensible. I earnestly hope this will be shown in the rerun of the Senate election on 5 April.

Our state of Western Australia is the one most hurt by the mining and carbon taxes. It is essential the taxes be repealed. Mr Shorten knows that. He keeps changing his position. He wants to engage with the mining industry. Well, I can save him the cost of a flight to Western Australia—the cost increased as a result of the carbon tax. As we know, Qantas quoted more than $100 million of added costs due to the carbon tax.

Senator Lines interjecting—

Mr Shorten, as Senator Lines knows, does not have to go to WA to ask the citizens of that state, or ask industry, what they want to happen to the mining tax. I give you this one statistic, as evidence of the cost of mining and carbon taxes and of the sovereign risk to Western Australia as a result of the last Labor government's activities. It goes to ASX listed mining exploration companies and their mining exploration activities in Western Australia. In 2012, 65 per cent of mining exploration's time, effort and money was spent in Western Australia. By 2013 that figure had reduced from 65 per cent spent in Australia to 35 per cent. That was the impact of the threat of the carbon tax, the mining tax and the other risks imposed by the then Labor government.

And where was the two-thirds being expended? Of ASX listed companies it was in Africa, in Canada, in markets that are welcoming Western Australian and Australian investment. It is essential that on 5 April the Labor Party and the Greens Party accept the mandate of the Australian people to return senators who will come into this place and do what the will of the Australian people in September last year indicated—and that was to remove them. Senator Carr spoke about R&D incentives. All that happened under his watch was that small R&D based companies shifted offshore and the Labor government saved money in unexpended— (Time expired)