Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to Mr Paul Kelly, who runs drilling rigs in north-west Queensland. As a result of the great big new tax on mining, two of his three drilling rigs are now idle, current contracts have been halved, two new projects worth up to $250,000 have disappeared and four workers are about to be laid off. My question to the Prime Minister is: why won’t he visit Cloncurry to explain to Mr Kelly that there is no problem really, that he does not have anything to worry about and that, in fact, the great big new tax on mining will be good for jobs and investment—or does he think that Mr Kelly is just part of a scare campaign conspiracy too?

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