Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do appreciate the howls on the part of those opposite. It was this government which took a decision with the Liberal government of Western Australia in a cooperative national interest frame to provide the indemnification necessary concerning the sequestration of the CO2 off the back of the Gorgon project—a necessary precondition for the project proceeding. It was a decision of this government, not of that opposition; a decision of this government in partnership with the Liberal government of Western Australia.

That project is of particular interest to the parliament not only because of the job implications—6,000 Australian workers at the peak of construction and $33 billion worth of goods and services being purchased over 30 years—but also because of the $40 billion, prospectively, in government revenue which will be delivered from the project over time. Of course that is important for the funding of the rest of our much-needed economic and social infrastructure across the country, because the more that we have by way of revenue streams from the resources sector, the less pressure that places over time over the rest of the taxation system.

I notice that tax has been a subject of some debate here in this chamber today. I notice that the questions asked by those opposite about the Henry review could well have been asked at any time from May last year. That is when we set up the Henry review, that is when we laid out its terms of reference and that is when we said what exemptions would exist in relation to it on the GST. Since then, that process has been underway: a rational process in public policy development. What has changed today—

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