Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) to questions without notice asked by Senators Cormann and Edwards today relating to the minerals resource rent tax.

Minister Wong did not answer in any way, shape or form Senator Cormann's question as to whether the MRRT had raised any revenue in the first quarter of the financial year. This came as a surprise to me for a couple of reasons. The first is that Minister Wong is actually one of the more able senators opposite, not that that is something recognised by the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party—Senator Farrell is in a category all of his own. So I was surprised, given Senator Wong's manifest capacity, that she did not answer the question. The other reason I found it surprising is that Senator Cormann actually wrote to Senator Wong about this this morning. Senator Cormann enjoys a very courteous and cordial relationship with Senator Wong and that was in evidence again today when he extended the courtesy of providing Senator Wong with notice as to what he would be asking. That is the kind of guy that Senator Cormann is and it represents their special relationship.

Given Senator Wong is extremely capable, given Senator Wong had notice of the question in relation to the collected revenues for the first quarter of the financial year, the only reason there can be for her failure to answer the question is that she chose not to. She chose not to share what she knows with this chamber. The whole basis of our system of question time and accountability is that the Senate asks questions and ministers answers them. She chose not to answer the question. We can only surmise as to why she took that decision. The only reason I can come up with is sheer, unadulterated embarrassment. She would have been embarrassed, and quite rightly, with the answer. We have a fair idea of the answer to that question: was any revenue collected by the MRRT in the first quarter of the financial year? The answer is no. That would be a great embarrassment and that is why Senator Wong could not answer that question, with a face that was straight or otherwise.

It is important to cast our minds back to the genesis of this fiasco we have been witnessing. The genesis was of course the Henry tax review. The entire body of work by Dr Henry was ignored except for a bastardised version of what Dr Henry proposed in relation to the minerals resource rent tax. The first incarnation of that tax was the RSPT, which cost Mr Rudd his job. Mr Swan, who was the architect of the RSPT, got a good deal out of that—he got promoted to Deputy Prime Minister.

Ms Gillard cited the resurrection and the rescuing of the mining tax as one of her three key performance indicators when she assumed the role of Prime Minister. She did not succeed and Treasurer Swan, newly promoted Deputy Prime Minister Swan, not only made a hash of the RSPT; he also outdid himself with the MRRT. It was a unique achievement and I think it is important for the Senate to acknowledge that. He spent the proceeds of a tax that collected no revenue and, at the same time, imposed additional costs and uncertainty on the mining industry. He spent the imagined proceeds of a tax that raised no revenue but which hit industry through compliance costs and the undermining of uncertainty. That is a unique achievement which I think deserves to be acknowledged. This breathtaking incompetence is bad enough—and that breathtaking incompetence in and of itself requires that Mr Swan resign; if he had any decency and if he paid any attention to the most basic tenants of the Westminster parliamentary accountability, he would resign—but, even worse, are the endeavours to hide the true situation through the MYEFO. That is a story for another day and I am sure some of my colleagues will touch on that. (Time expired)