Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Minister for Resources and Energy that 'the resources boom is over'?

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

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The Minister for Resources and Energy today has been talking about the prices we have been seeing for commodities. He has indicated that prices have come off a bit—or, if you like, that the commodity price boom has passed its peak—but that there is huge investment phase which still has some way to run and that the export boom in resources still has a very long way to run. The point that the resources minister made—and indeed I am making it myself now—has been made repeatedly and it is actually in the government's budget papers as well.

The fact is that Australia's terms of trade peaked about a year ago after reaching 150-year highs, but they still remain at historically high levels. What that means is that we will continue to see this nation earn a great deal of prosperity and wealth from exporting resources. We will continue to see billions of dollars invested in our resources sector. We will continue to see the opening of new projects and we will continue to see investment decisions made for those new projects. So, the mining boom—the amount we are earning from exporting minerals—will be with us for a long time to come.

But we need to prepare for our long-term future. I have certainly said consistently in this parliament, and as recently as yesterday, that the government is managing the economy to keep it strong and running it in the interests of working people. But we understand that nothing is guaranteed about the future; you always have to build it, and part of building it is making sure that we are continuously upgrading the skills and capacities of the Australian people. That is why we have made record investments in education and we are continuing that journey of change.

You always have to be prepared to invest in infrastructure and bring in the new technologies of the future. That is why we have invested more than $30 billion in infrastructure projects and why we are delivering the National Broadband Network. We have to be ready for a future in which we tackle climate change and seize the benefits of clean energy sources, and that is why we have priced carbon. These are the preparations the government is making today, including some very hard decisions, so that we have long-term prosperity.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a supplementary question to the Prime Minister. If, as the Minister for Resources says, the resources boom is over, just seven weeks after the introduction of the mining tax, then where is the Prime Minister going to find the $15 billion of mining tax spending that appears in the budget over the next four years?

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

We can see from the Leader of the Opposition's question that he understands absolutely nothing about our resources sector. And why on earth should we be surprised? This is a man who is so dangerously negative that last night he went on national TV, about a big employment project like Olympic Dam, without even having bothered to read these two pages before—on national TV—making false claims about Olympic Dam and BHP. It is apparently beyond him. I just said it was these couple of pages, but what I really should have said is that he could have stopped at the first, because the other section is about—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, on a point of order: the Prime Minister was asked a very simple question. It was: where is the money coming from?

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will refer to the question before the chair.

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

On this side of the parliament we go to great trouble and care to understand the resources sector and understand the drivers of prosperity in our country. So we can say that we factored in the minerals resource rent tax on those resources projects that would be in production now. We are continuing to work with companies to see investments in the future, and we will see further investments. We have a strong investment pipeline. And we will continue to manage the Australian economy so that it is strong for the future, is ready for the future and offers working people the benefits of jobs. To do that, you have to do a lot of hard work and some reading. Unfortunately, that is beyond the Leader of the Opposition. (Time expired)