Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You were an incompetent government and an incompetent group of economic managers. You were a failure in every key economic indicator. All John Howard was about and all Peter Costello was about was the pork barrel at budget time. You frittered away the opportunities for Australia. You frittered away the future of many young Australians. You were incompetent. You failed to bring investment to this country. You failed to bring innovation to this country. You failed to increase productivity. You failed to develop this economy. You were a failure in economic management and you now have the hide to look at a government that is taking steps to build for the future and criticise this government.

To the Western Australian senators I have to say, ‘Don’t bow at the knees of the mining industry as much as you are doing.’ You should stand up for the rest of this country and the other workers in Western Australia who are not employed in the mining industry. If you look at this tax, it is a tax of fairness. This is the tax that is about bringing fairness into this country. In 2005-06 the mining industry had a profit of $30 billion and they paid $8 billion in taxes. In 2008-09 their profits were over $90 billion and what did they pay in taxes? They paid $11 billion. The coalition has got the gall to stand up there and say that ordinary Australian families should not share in the profits that the mining industry creates out of our resources—our resources! The resources do not belong to Clive Palmer and his ilk. The resources belong to the Australian people and those resources should be building for the future of this country.

I say clearly that any company that is not paying its fair share in taxes has to pay its fair share. You know that the mining companies are running a scare campaign aided and abetted by the coalition—a scare campaign to try to make sure that the big end of town and the mining industry can still have their mansions on the Swan River while ordinary workers are doing it tough trying to keep their heads above water. We want to make sure that ordinary workers get a fair share of the wealth of this country. The tax that we are implementing will build this country for the future. It will build a good society, something that you know nothing about. All your society means is that workers are subjected to Work Choices. What was the first stop for Senator Abetz? Down to the HR Nicholls Society to bend at the knees of the HR Nicholls Society and tell them what he was going to do. The HR Nicholls Society for Senator Abetz—first stop. Work Choices is there. Work Choices is in your back pocket. You know it is there. That is where you are going to come from.

It is about time the billionaires in the mining industry understand that a fair share is required for the rest of this country. We want decent health, education, infrastructure—something you lot never delivered over a decade of incompetence. (Time expired)