Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 [No. 2], and to draw attention to Labor's embarrassing economic credentials and its history of overpromising and underdelivering. When it was first proposed, the minerals resource rent tax was expected to generate some $49.5 billion in revenue, encouraging the Labor government to lock in some $16 billion in expenditure over the current forward estimates. Instead, it has generated just $340 million in net terms. But, more than that, it has created an economic and regulatory environment which spurns investment.

But I want to take you, Mr Acting Deputy President, to my home state of South Australia. The Labor government has based its entire state budget on what went on to be the abandoned expansion of the Olympic Dam mine, which was supposed to deliver huge employment numbers and growth for a languishing South Australian economy. That was not only a blow to the economy but, significantly, a blow to the confidence of all South Australians. Like its federal counterpart, the state Labor government spent its money before it earnt it, and it is of great concern to me that that same Labor government is still in office today.

The minerals resource rent tax was another poorly constructed, poorly executed Labor tax that constrains businesses and shuns investments. Without the investments private enterprise makes, we will not have jobs in Australia and we will not have much of a future. As such, I support this bill that will repeal this useless tax.