George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

She knifed the member for Griffith and took over his job on the basis of doing a deal with the mining companies that has seen this tax be completely flawed and a failure.

I can remember the full-page ad that the former local Labor member put in the Mackay newspaper. It had Julia Gillard smiling and it said: 'The deal is done! We have done the deal with the mining companies.' The Minister for Resources and Energy today said how great it was that this was a tax that was supported by the mining industry. Of course the big three miners would support a tax that they were never, ever going to have to pay. Hell, if you came to me with an income tax deal like that, I would sign up right away! The fact is that we have got more than $15 billion worth of commitments and promises from this government that are linked to this mining tax.

I have got to tell you that, out of that $15 billion, $5.6 billion is tied up in the Regional Infrastructure Fund. That actually makes up more than 95 per cent of that Regional Infrastructure Fund. Out of that is a project on the doorstep of my electorate, which is the upgrade of the Peak Downs Highway. The government said that they were going to contribute $120 million to that. The question now is: where is the money going to come from? For the member for Flynn, who is sitting behind me, the Gladstone Port Access Road was one of the promises that this mining tax was going to deliver. I am not exactly sure how much that was; but, again, where is the money going to come from?

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