Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition opposes the govern­ment's minerals resource rent tax, not least of all because the tax is divisive, it is complex and it is actually fiscally irresponsible. It is clearly not in the interests of this nation. Indeed, it is just another example of this government pushing its own misguided ideological views onto the whole country.

Just look at the Treasurer, Mr Swan, and his attack on a few wealthy Australians. The politics of envy within the Labor Party are alive and well. His bitter words against those who have actually made a success of their lives and helped to create success for this country, who have generated jobs for tens of thousands of Australians and billions of dollars worth of wealth for this country, are just appalling. It is the mark of a small man, with a small mind, leading a small party.

When those in government are addressing their remarks about this bill they will tell you that this mining tax will lower the company tax rate. Well, good on them for saying that, but it means little when at the same time as lowering the company tax rate Labor will be burdening business after business with tax after tax after tax. A tax cut based on an even larger tax increase is not a cut at all, it is simply a con. And the Labor Party have been conning the Australian people through their smoke-and-mirrors acts, their three-card monte and their cheap hypnotist tricks—as their newest member likes to talk about—for far too long.

The only genuine tax cut is a tax cut that is funded through expenditure restraint—words that this government will never heed.