Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The question was about the profitability of firms. I also draw the member for North Sydney’s attention to the following performance of a few mining stocks since before the government introduced its plan for a new superprofits tax on the resources sector. Mount Gibson Iron, for example, on 30 April was $1.71. It is now up to $1.74 a share. Pan Australian Resources Ltd was at 52c and is now trading at 55c. Fortescue, I have to admit, was trading at $4.58 before the introduction of the package. It is now $4.57. We are down 1c, so sorry about that. Rio Tinto was $72.10. It is now up to $72.34. Here is another one: Centennial Coal was trading at $4.30; it is now up to $4.78. It is not going too badly at all. Newcrest Mining was trading at $33.09. It is now trading at $35.74—not too bad at all. We also have Lihir Gold, which was trading at $3.81 and is now trading at $4.40. We have Paladin Energy Ltd. It was trading at $4. It is now at $4.04—and so the list goes on.

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