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

Senator Ludwig says: haven't I got any new material? We know that the Labor Party is out of material. That is why they had to truck in a new foreign minister from a retirement home!

This is a disgrace. This government is completely bereft of any policy. The coalition has demonstrated this repeatedly. It was demonstrated at the last election, and it was demonstrated when we were in govern­ment, that we can deliver tax cuts based on modest and prudent expenditure cuts. The coalition will always manage taxpayers' funds much more wisely than the chirping classes on the other side. The politics of envy are alive and well. As long as they can stay in their cosy ministerial offices they will sell out the interests of the Australian people. They will sell out the interests of political principle in this country as long as they can cling to the reins of power.

We on the coalition benches oppose Labor's mining tax because it is bad economics. It is bad economics to single out a single sector with extra taxes as a penalty for being successful. Through company taxes and state government royalties, I might add, Australia's mining companies already pay double taxation. This tax will mean that successful Australian mining companies will face triple taxation because the mining tax does not replace any of these taxes.

I want to talk briefly about the taxation regime in respect of minerals. This government will say that this tax will give a fairer deal to all Australians. We know that that is poppycock. They say that the mineral resources belong to all Australians. That is nonsense, too. The mineral resource belongs to the states. And the states can charge whatever rate they like for the extraction of those minerals.