Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Evans. Why does the government still refuse to publicly release the key assumptions it has used to estimate the revenue from its massive new tax on mining?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer and the Prime Minister have answered this question a number of times, and Senator Cormann is well aware of that response. As he knows, the negotiations with three large miners over the mining tax and the agreement struck following those negotiations involve those companies providing very sensitive commercial-in-confidence material to the government, and the calculations therein were based on that information. The government has released Treasury forecasts of revenue and in all the normal ways made information available, but it is perfectly appropriate when dealing with commercial interests to ensure that those interests are protected when having a frank negotiation with them.

I am not sure whether Senator Cormann has consulted those mining companies as to whether they would be comfortable with their commercial-in-confidence information being released, but it seems to me that it is an unreasonable expectation that Senator Cormann seeks to pursue, one that he knows the previous coalition government—the Howard government—would not have responded to, because it does involve commercial-in-confidence matters and frank exchanges of information that could possibly prejudice people’s commercial interests. But the normal government calculation of revenue and the normal forecasting has been made publicly available, and all that information is available to Senator Cormann and to the Australian public.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the minister aware that the state government in Western Australia surveys individual mining companies about their commodity price and production volume expectations to develop its commodity price and production volume assumptions? Why is it that the state government in Western Australia is then able to publish those assumptions as a matter of course in their budget papers when the Gillard government continues to hide behind spurious claims of commercial-in-confidence?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, if you listened as carefully to the senator’s question as I did, he answered the question himself. He refers to a state government surveys—not an exchange of details of financial and commercial information but a survey. I was not aware that the state government did a survey such—

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you saying that your commodity price assumptions are the BHP information?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator, do you want me to answer the question or are you going to keep talking as always? I am happy, Senator, to try to answer the question. Mr President, the senator makes the point that it is very different information being contemplated. But it was perhaps the information which Mr Barnett, the Liberal Premier of Western Australia, used when he sought to increase royalties paid by those mining companies. In the middle of the mining tax debate, the Liberal Premier moved to gouge extra royalties out of those mining companies, which is seemingly inconsistent with the proposition that the federal Liberal party was advancing at the time. But it does not suit Senator Cormann to admit to that in this current climate.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. How can anyone have any confidence in the government’s mining tax revenue estimates when the government is clearly too scared to be open and transparent about very basic information like this? What do you have to hide, Minister?

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Making the same old tired accusations day after day after day like Senator Cormann does is not a replacement for intelligent questioning of a minister in question time. This is a political campaign by Senator Cormann—and that is fine if he wants to pursue that—but it is not about the proper responsibilities of the government in dealing with commercial-in-confidence information.

We have tried to deal with those companies openly and frankly and protect the commercial-in-confidence information they have provided to us. The Australian community can have complete confidence that all the relevant government forecasting is released, that the government budget will be underpinned by that forecasting, and that Australians will be very clear as to the amount of revenue that is expected to be garnered by the passing of the tax. (Time expired)

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.