Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The government does not have a mandate to implement this tax and we certainly want to ensure that this situation does not occur again. We now face the prospect of a minerals resource rent tax, a complex tax requiring multilayered calculations and valuations and limited to only certain resource products. As with the carbon tax, it will succeed in reducing the competitiveness of Australian and global resource companies as their cost base increases further.

The member for Robertson talked in her contribution to this debate about the long-term benefits to Australia. There are also long-term consequences which are not being discussed, such as what the negative effect will be on the share prices of and company growth prospects for those Australian companies and what the flow-on cost will be to the retirement savings of Australians through their superannuation funds. What will be the effect on future federal government budgets of increased age pension liabilities due to lower retirement savings of Australians caused by the unknown or unforeseen consequences of the carbon tax and the MRRT? In my opinion, these are important unanswered questions that go to the heart of the question about the future prosperity of this great nation.

The coalition will not oppose the passage of this legislation, but with a disclaimer duly attached. We want to ensure that the government provides suitable evidence that the administration of the spending of the funds can withstand public scrutiny. I do not believe that the Australian general public are prepared to just take the government's word anymore that it will spent the funds appropriately. The general public are still dealing with the cost of the government's previous frivolous, gimmicky, money-wasting projects.

Debate adjourned.

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