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

We have said we will credit royalties in terms of the MRRT—that is what we have said we will do. But that is not what the debate is about. The debate, as it has been framed by those opposite, is somehow that the Western Australian government consulted with us about their plans to increase the fines royalty. Of course, they in no way consulted with us whatsoever. This has been the subject of an incredible degree of misrepresentation from those opposite so I do not know whether I can take that statement on its face value. I would not even know whether it had been put forward correctly, because there were so many statements in this House which were misrepresented yesterday. What I said last week was that the Western Australian government did not communicate with us about their decision to increase the royalty on fines in this budget. I went on to say that we did not give it the tick, they did not discuss it with us and they were playing a political game.

What we are seeing, with that statement from the Western Australian parliament and its use by the shadow Treasurer today, is that the political game continues to be played. And the political game is very simply this: they are acutely embarrassed that the Western Australian Premier has increased royalties given they were in this House last year claiming any increase in mining taxation would stifle jobs and investment. They are acutely embarrassed by that record; they are absolutely embarrassed by that record. But they are also embarrassed by the fact that the Western Premier, on no fewer than eight occasions between September last year and now, had ruled out increasing the royalties on fines. So on eight occasions he ruled them out. But what they are really embarrassed about is this—

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