Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

So I went back to the original version of the mining tax and found out that the original version next year was meant to raise $12½ billion in one year. Then of course in the 2010 election it was reduced down to $6½ billion. Then, in the old member for Lilley's second-last budget, he halved it to $3.2 billion and then he reduced it in his last budget to $1 billion. Then, just before the election, Labor said: 'Don't worry. It will raise somewhere between $300 million and $800 million.' But, all the time, this tax has $16 billion of expenditure against it.

And they are not very good with maths. They usually promote the people who are the worst at maths, so I think the member for Perth has a meteoric rise ahead of her, because she said, only on the weekend, when asked about how much the mining tax is raising, 'Well, I think we are getting, I think, sort of around $300,000, $500,000, $500 million a year. So it is not an extreme tax.' Who would have done this transcript? The office of the member for McMahon apparently typed up the transcript. But it gets better. She said, 'Look, the companies that paid the tax—BHP, Rio, FMG—they have all recorded record profits.' The only problem is: two of those three companies have said they are not paying any of the tax. Rio said in a report to this parliament that they put it to the exchange; they are not paying any mining tax. FMG said they are not paying any mining tax. The member for Perth is on a meteoric rise. You could be the Leader of the Opposition within 12 months.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

The best numeracy skills in the entire Labor Party rest in the member for Perth and her seat.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

See this speech in context