Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

What we see, again, is a desperate attempt by the opposition to try to distract and deflect attention from a position of opposition to a reasonable share of profits going to the Australian people. This is a position that Liberal members have described as insane. There are people in your party room who think your opposition to the mining tax is, I quote, 'insane'. That is not from me; that is from a member of the Liberal opposition.

What we are seeing today is yet more confected outrage, more allegations of conspiracies and more time wasting from an opposition that do not want to say to the Australian people, 'We stand for the vested interest', because that is the opposition's position. In fact, they so much stand for the vested interest that they are defending the vested interest even more than mining companies are. This is the insanity, to quote the Liberal MP who was reported in the newspaper, of the opposition's position. The opposition stands for higher taxes for small business, for lower superannuation payments for Australians, particularly low-income Australians, and for higher profits for mining companies.