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

It is not that long ago in terms of the time horizons of the member for Flinders. Let us go to the application of state royalties across a range of state and territory boundaries. Time and time again we had resource companies approaching state and territory governments for holidays from payment of royalties or potentially time for them to pay off their royalties because times were tough. One example that springs to mind is a project that Andrew Forrest was once involved with, the Murrin Murrin project. They approached the Western Australian government for royalty relief. I have no doubt that a profit based system would have been beneficial to that project. The industry has acknowledged that it is time for reform. They want a profit based system. They have had enough of the royalty based system. And that is not just my view; it is also the view of the broader Australian community.

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