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

Oh, so a state Liberal mining tax is fine, is it, Her Majesty, but a Commonwealth profits based tax that delivers to Australians? That's bad! This is an extraordinary proposition.

Anyway, I return to the question from Senator Milne. I have previously indicated to Senator Milne in relation to the minerals tax a number of points. The first is that it is a volatile tax. Obviously, as a profits based tax, movements in volumes and prices obviously affect the tax take. The government is of the view that we do need to seek to resolve these issue with the states, which is why the government has written, through the Treasurer—