Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week we saw the extraordinary event of Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest flying from Perth to Canberra using a private jet registered to Fortescue Metals Group, somehow avoiding the chaos caused by Chile's volcanic ash cloud, which has stranded thousands of Australians across the country. Not only was this an extraordinary arrival by private jet, but Mr Forrest came here to lobby the federal government and our resources minister about the minerals resource rent tax. He claimed he was standing up for the 'little Aussie battler'. Presumably they all have private jets. It was much more like a Wall Street executive complaining about their obscene bonus being reduced to a merely outrageous bonus.

Twiggy came to Canberra to speak of the suffering the government will place on his company. I am greatly indebted to Laura Tingle for her article in the Australian Financial Review on 17 June 2011 titled 'Taxpayer Twiggy goes out on a limb'. The draft legislation that was released two weeks ago was the modified tax that Twiggy had insisted Australia should have. On 29 June last year Twiggy outlined the issues that had been negotiated with the government about the tax. Concerns were raised about the 'retrospective nature of the tax by doubling the value of spent capital', 'an immediate write-off for new capital' and 'full transferability of super mining tax liability across projects'. All of these concerns were addressed by the government and are now in the draft legislation. So Twiggy comes here on his private jet to modify a tax that met his concerns. As the Treasurer and the Minister for Resources and Energy, the very capable member for Batman, made clear last week, this is beyond the pale. What is worse is that Twiggy has, according to Laura Tingle, never signed a corporate income tax cheque for any of the listed companies he has run. On Lateline last year he said:

... I can assure all of Australia this: under this new tax regime Fortescue will pay much less tax.

As Laura Tingle points out, according to this he will be paying less than nothing. So he comes to Canberra to rally against a tax he helped modify to meet his concerns and a tax under which he will be paying less than nothing. Is this confusing?

What is even more confusing is that Twiggy, with the support of those opposite, has remained silent about the decision of the Western Australian government and Liberal Premier Colin Barnett to lift royalties on iron ore fines that will hit his company. Twiggy and the coalition say the money raised from Premier Barnett's iron royalties will fund hospitals and nurses. The stench of partisan politics is all over Mr Twiggy Forrest. What does he think the money raised by this federal government through the minerals resource tax will do?

The hypocrisy of the member for Warringah, the Liberal Party and Mr Forrest is extraordinary. Those opposite do not have a leg to stand on. If they accept that the people of Western Australia have a right to iron ore royalties then how can they deny that the Australian people have a right to those royalties too? Those opposite claim this is to be part of another 'big new tax' but if they can accept that the Liberal Premier of Western Australia can place a big new tax on mining companies, how can they deny the government's scheme? Liberal tax: good. Labor tax: bad. What hypocrisy!

Today we see that Twiggy and Tony Abbott are out on their own rallying against the tax. Aquila Resources chief executive Tony Poli declared today that the mining industry can afford to pay the mining tax. He said:

For mining companies, when they're in production and when commodity prices are high like today, there are very good returns on investments. So it's not unreasonable for mining companies to pay a bit more tax.

This country has a lot to thank the mining industry for: millions of jobs, a strong economy, wonderful people in that sector working all over the country. But as the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, has said, the mining tax was not designed to suit Twiggy and the multinational miners; it was designed to suit the needs of the Australian community and the nation.

I cannot understand how someone can be involved in modifying a tax then coming over here in his private jet and complaining about it, particularly when his company is in the position of not having paid any tax at all. I am sure that Mr Forrest is an honourable person and pays his personal income tax, but none of his companies have ever paid company tax to the Australian people. Yet he comes over here and complains that this is going to be inflicted upon him, a poor Aussie battler.

The people of Australia are one. It is not that one tax in Western Australia is good and a tax here in Canberra is bad. It is the same standard for all—they are either all good or all bad, all justified or not justified. I really think that the responsible comments of Mr Poli are much more reasonable than those of Mr Forrest. (Time expired)

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