Senate debates

Monday, 24 March 2014

Questions without Notice

Mining

2:17 pm

Photo of Alan EgglestonAlan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Cormann, the Minister representing the Treasurer. Can the minister inform the Senate how Labor's mining tax has impacted on confidence in my home state of Western Australia?

2:18 pm

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank Senator Eggleston for that question. Labor's mining tax has undermined confidence in Western Australia. Labor's mining tax was deliberately designed to target Western Australia to make it harder for Western Australia to be successful. It is a tax which is complex, which is distorting, which is inefficient, which targets the most important industry in Western Australia and which has not raised any meaningful revenue but which has tied up an important industry in massive and costly red tape. It is costly to administer for the Commonwealth, it is costly to comply with for the mining industry and it is specifically designed to raise nearly all of its revenue in the one, single state of Western Australia. It is an anti-Western Australian tax. What we know, given the comments of the Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia in recent times, is that Labor has not learned a thing from the result at the last election. Labor still persists with its anti-Western Australian, eastern states-centric attitude when it comes to the mining tax.

Senator Brandis interjecting

It would seem, Senator Brandis, that, yes, the Labor Party hate Western Australia. They would seem to hate Western Australia being able to be successful, even though a successful Western Australia is in the national interest. A strong mining industry in Western Australia—

Honourable senators interjecting

Photo of John HoggJohn Hogg (President) Share this | | Hansard source

Senator Cormann, I will halt you there for the moment because the interjections from my left are disorderly. Senator Cormann is entitled to be heard in silence.

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

A successful Western Australia is in the national interest. A successful mining industry is in the national interest. In Western Australia, in particular, there are a lot of jobs that directly depend on the success of the mining industry, and Labor's completely outrageous attack on the mining industry in Western Australia, which continues to this day, is having a very bad impact on jobs and on confidence in Western Australia, Senator Eggleston.

2:20 pm

Photo of Alan EgglestonAlan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate whether there are any particular causes of uncertainty around the future of the mining tax; and how does this add to uncertainty for business in Western Australia?

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

The biggest cause of uncertainty in Western Australia is the confused statements made by Mr Shorten. Mr Shorten went to Western Australia and said, 'Well, we don't really like the mining tax. We want to sit down with the resources sector in Western Australia. We understand that we've erred and we want to do better in the future.' He then comes to Canberra and votes to keep it. He goes into Western Australia and says, 'We think the mining tax is bad,' and then comes to Canberra and votes to keep it. The mining tax is a dog's breakfast of a tax. You have got to be a particular genius to come up with a tax which ties up an important industry in massive red tape, does not raise any meaningful revenue and is costly to administer, when the government has already spent all the money they thought it would raise and more! How many tax packages do you think you can get rid of which actually leave the budget better off? That is the situation that we find ourselves in with this ridiculous and job-destroying tax from the Labor Party.

2:22 pm

Photo of Alan EgglestonAlan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a further supplementary question. Can the minister inform the Senate what impact the mining tax is having on business performance, and therefore employment, in Western Australia?

Photo of Mathias CormannMathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | | Hansard source

It is having a bad impact on employment and a bad impact on business performance because it has pushed up the cost of doing business in Western Australia. It has undermined the confidence in a particularly important industry for Western Australia.

The point I would make, again, in relation to employment in Western Australia is that when Labor was elected to government in December 2007 the unemployment rate in Western Australia was 3.3 per cent. Now, after six years of Labor, and the mining tax and the carbon tax impost on Western Australia, unemployment in WA is 5.9 per cent. That is a direct result of Labor putting more and more burdens on the Western Australian economy, arguably at the worst possible time. Instead of helping businesses across Australia—in particular, Western Australia—to be more successful, to be more competitive internationally, Labor just kept putting more and more burdens onto business shoulders, slowing business down, and the results are there for all to see, raising unemployment. (Time expired)