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

Most of that was in fact another recital of the coalition's lines on this issue, but in terms of the question time response I am very happy to try and assist the senator on the royalties issue. In the same way as most other mining costs are treated, royalties are carried forward with an uplift factor, which in this case, as he would be aware, is the long-term bond rate plus seven percentage points. It can be deducted in future years as a royalty allowance. This is the same treatment applied to most types of deductions under the MRRT but, unlike most other expenses, royalties cannot be transferred to separate projects. I would make the point that, without this sort of design feature, investors would be discouraged from undertaking investments that take time to recoup. So I assume that the coalition would in fact not be opposed to this.

I think I took these issues on notice yesterday, and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to provide the senator with further information now.