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

We should call a spade a spade. The fact is that there is a completely unjustified campaign, run by a number of organisations that describe themselves as 'smaller miners', that somehow this tax discriminates against small miners. This tax does not discriminate against small miners and it will be paid predominantly by very large miners. Mr Forrest is here today, and he was part of a press conference, and he claims to be a small miner. He has a $20 billion company! A $20 billion company is not a small miner.

We made a range of changes to the tax over a period of time in what has been probably the most open and transparent process that any piece of tax legislation has ever been put through. We went through the Ferguson-Argus review, and there were comprehensive submissions made right through that process. It has been through two rounds of consultation through the tax office. But let us get rid of this bunkum that the tax somehow discriminates against small miners. It does not. We have even put in a new threshold where it is not paid under $50 million and it phases out through to $100 million. This is complete rubbish. As far as Mr Forrest is concerned, when he put on the public record all of the changes he wanted, on 29 June last year, we implemented every single one of them.

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