Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I refer the Leader of the Opposition to my statement in this parliament yesterday. I refer him to the fact that it is express and obvious on the face of the Hansard that I was talking about conclusions from the Policy Transition Group, the Argus work, and I then went on very transparently to talk about a process that has been being reported publicly for months now about discussions between the federal government and state treasurers about the treatment of royalties under the MRRT.

Just because the Leader of the Opposition has apparently first turned his mind to this question on reading the newspaper this morning does not in fact make it new today. Months and months of work has gone on since the original agreement for the MRRT was signed. The Policy Transition Group began its work, the legislation came to the parliament, the MRRT started and discussions between the federal government and states started. None of that work should be a mystery to the Leader of the Opposition if he does some basic research and pays some basic regard to policy matters. Clearly he has failed to do so.

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