Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am going to work my way through it. The quote was:

The State has no intention of increasing royalties, but we will certainly reserve the right to do so.

That was October. You came into the House before and quoted from an executive minute. The executive minute that you quoted from only says Western Australia were considering an increase; it does not say they were doing an increase, and they did not do an increase in the budget before last. We were informed at the last minute that they had taken that decision. We were not consulted about this decision and we were not given any time to consider it. We were not given any time to respond. We were informed after the budget papers went to bed. That is the situation. Why are those on the other side of the House so antsy about all of this? I can tell you why: it is because they are so embarrassed about their position on mining taxation. When a Labor government takes the decision they think that the mining companies pay too much tax, but when a Liberal government takes a decision to increase a royalty that is terrific. That just shows the rank hypocrisy of those opposite.

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