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

I thank the member for Higgins for the question. I start by saying that thinking about a profits based tax is not new to this government. I remind the member for Higgins it is something the industry has desired for a long time. It is something that her previous employer, the then Treasurer and her predecessor the former member for Higgins, failed to front up to. I say that because tax reform has never come to Australia. Government’s capacity to deliver on tax reform requires strength of leadership. It is in that context I also remind the House that the findings and recommendations of the Henry tax review were not thought about in terms of the public debate.

The consultation process, including with individual companies and the Minerals Council of Australia, went on for almost two years. I am sure the member for Higgins, like me, also read the musings of the Secretary of Treasury in a number of speeches he made about the potential concepts that might be embraced and the development of a minerals tax proposal with respect to putting in place a profits based tax system in Australia, something that industry long campaigned for. I simply say that these issues were also raised with me on a number of occasions by industry in the lead-up to the Henry tax review. My problem was that given my knowledge—

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