Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, it was not difficult to have one of his better speeches delivered. I am sure he is listening. He made the point that, irrespective of who has been in government, this parliament has not delivered any certainty in any fashion in the signals that consumers receive. In the recent budget, the government announced something like $600 million for a Renewable Energy Future Fund. The coalition is going to remove that fund.

On the surface of it, we might say that it is a great idea to have a Renewable Energy Future Fund to put in some money to encourage industries to start up et cetera, because there is concern about where we are going in relation to solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels and so on. But in the same budget there is a tax on biofuels, a renewable energy. I think it starts to ratchet up in 2012, although I may be corrected on that. So what is the message? Why are we starting up a Renewable Energy Future Fund to encourage renewable energy and then, a couple of pages further on in the document, actually imposing a fossil fuel tax on a renewable fuel? It is no wonder that people are getting confused.

It is becoming a bit like the superannuation debate, where originally it was a good idea for people to save for their retirement, then someone said, ‘There’s a lot of money in there; we could get some tax,’ and then the government said ‘Okay, let’s tax it.’ So we taxed it twice and then we taxed it three times. I think it is back to twice now. But the message the consumers took was: ‘Why are we saving for our retirement if we are only saving to have the money taken away before we retire?’ Anybody that has been looking at the various superannuation funds in recent years, particularly through the financial collapse, would have to ask the question: ‘What have we been doing? What is the policy message in all of this?’

Now we have the new resource rent tax. I do not disagree with a resource rent tax. I think it is a much fairer way of receiving a share of our resources than a royalty, which takes money before any profit is made. I have some issues with the entry point. I think the long-term bond rate is too low. The government should have a very close look at that, even if it means that the total revenue stream drops off. There are some very real issues with having an entry point at the long-term bond rate. I am encouraged that there are discussions taking place on that issue. I would encourage the various industries themselves, the miners, to take up the challenge that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have issued that they are serious about negotiations and consultations with various industries. I think dealing with the Minerals Council is dealing just with politics. I think we really need to get down to the nub of this—what it actually means for real businesses in different structural circumstances, in different company structures and at different levels of development. We need to see what this, in a sense, blanket tax actually means to those various companies. So I encourage the companies. There was an issue raised yesterday—I think it was from Queensland—concerning an aglime mine. Those people sent me an email as well. In reading their email—

See this speech in context