Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Resources and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hunter for the question. His question goes to the heart of this debate. It is about how we as a nation put in place a modern resources tax system for a modern nation. The real debate, as I said yesterday, is about how much tax we collect, who collects it and under what system it is collected. The Australian community—unlike the opposition—understands that the time has come for this debate. The Minerals Council of Australia is also, as I have indicated to the House previously, up for this debate—unlike the opposition. It argued in its submission the Henry tax review that, ‘There is strong argument to reform the basis of determining royalty regimes to a profit based criteria from a revenue based system.’ I say that because it is well understood that the existing type of royalty scheme as applied currently in the mining sector creates a lose-lose situation for industry and for the Australian community. The royalties framework is bad for business and potentially worse for the Australian community.

During difficult times—and let us be frank—it has and could continue to send companies to the wall. In good times such as over recent years when prices were high, the community missed out on the benefits of the boom because royalties remained fixed and stuck in the past—just like the opposition led by Tony Abbott is stuck in the past and unable to front up to the hard and tough debate on tax reform.

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