Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Energy and Resources, Senator Carr. I refer the minister to the verification by PriceWaterhouseCoopers that Rio Tinto has invested $38.4 billion in Australia through capital expenditure and acquisitions over the last decade. This stands beyond the company’s after-tax profits of $37.4 billion over the same period, not to mention the thousands of people employed on over 30 sites and in communities across Australia. How can the government proceed with its resource super profits tax when companies such as Rio Tinto put so much back into the community?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Troeth for her sterling defence of Rio Tinto. They are the defenders of Indigenous people, the defenders of workers and the defenders of Australia’s sovereign rights and, of course, we have seen it for 20 years from Rio. We have seen it from Rio, but what we do not see is any assessment of the facts. We do not see any recognition from the opposition that the mining industry is very important to Australia and that it has to pay its fair share to ensure that the benefits of the people’s assets are shared amongst the people of this country. You would have thought Senator Troeth, coming from what used to be the moderate section of the Liberal Party—she is very lonely these days—would have rejected a question like this because she knows how dishonest it is for the Liberal Party to claim—

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: with due respect, nothing that Senator Carr has said in his answer so far has been remotely relevant, let alone directly relevant to the question that he was asked.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. Order! Senator Carr, there are 56 seconds remaining to answer the question; I draw your attention to the question.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was indicating that Senator Troeth should have sent this question back, because she knows better. She knows the commitment to a society that actually ensures that the benefits of non-renewable resources, the people’s resources, should be spread throughout the community. It should be done in an efficient way so that we ensure that we can make real progress in terms of the future economic development of this country. That is why the government undertook detailed modelling to ensure that in replacing the inefficient royalty scheme we are making sure that we are able to cut company taxation, making sure that we can provide support for superannuation and making sure we can provide support— (Time expired)

Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I have much pride in telling Senator Carr: I actually wrote this question myself. I would like to ask him, as a believer in private enterprise and employment, what measures will the government commit to to protect Australian households from the energy price rises that will occur as a direct result of Mr Rudd’s great big new tax on mining?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think Senator Troeth knows that these more efficient changes will actually lead to economic growth, will provide for more security of jobs, will provide for better superannuation and will provide for older Australians in terms of the benefits so that we are able to see a fairer return on the people’s resources. Senator Troeth knows that this measure has nothing to do with any claims about increasing electricity prices. We will see that 770,000 companies will benefit from a cut in company tax as a result of these measures. We will see 720,000 small businesses get a head start as a result of the changes in company tax. We will see that 2.4 million small businesses will benefit from the— (Time expired)

Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question: how can Australia maintain its international reputation as a strong and secure place to invest if this tax goes ahead?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What the government is seeking to do is to replace an outdated royalty system with a resource super profits tax which recognises both investment and operating costs and only taxes superprofits. This is a better way to charge for non-renewable resources. This is best international practice, and we are now seeing a number of companies seeking to argue the toss about who should benefit from the resources boom and who should take the profits from the resources boom in such a manner as to deprive the Australian people of what is their proper entitlement.