Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dawson for his question.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

The member for Dawson, unlike the member for Isaacs, has a very good understanding of what the carbon tax and the mining tax are doing to the coal industry, not only in Queensland but across this nation. We have seen across the coal industry, as the member mentioned, some 8,000 jobs lost in Queensland in the last 18 months. I noticed the member for Isaacs was good enough to say, hopefully loud enough so it was heard, that the coal industry is going well. Can I assure you, Member for Isaacs, that it is doing nothing of the sort—and thank you for admitting that your carbon tax and your mining tax, which you were an integral part of introducing, are part of that problem. You said the coal industry was doing well, and it is not. The reasons for that are the carbon tax and the mining tax, amongst other issues.

If you want to restore confidence to an industry you do not tax it. If you want to restore confidence to an industry you get rid of the taxes. You get rid of the mining tax. You get rid of the carbon tax. You remove the cost impediments, but not only to the industry—because only the Labor Party could introduce a tax that actually costs money. They introduced a tax that locked in $16.7 billion worth of spending on a tax that raised a mere $400 million.

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