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

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 59 standing in my name relating to key assumptions underpinning mining taxation, because a gremlin made a little mistake in the way it was published in the Notice Paper.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the Government has refused to provide information requested by the Senate about key assumptions it has used to estimate revenue from its original as well as its revised mining tax proposals,

(ii)

specifically, the Government has refused to provide information about changes to commodity price, production volume and exchange rate assumptions and any other variables relevant to its mining tax revenue estimates,

(iii)

in its response to the relevant order of the Senate, the Government justified its refusal to provide the information on the basis that, ‘commodity price forecasts underpinning the terms of trade forecasts are based in part on information provided by companies that is commercial in confidence. Disclosure of these individual commodity price forecast may therefore prejudice negotiations between private companies’,

(iv)

the information sought by the Senate is published by the Western Australian State Government in its budget papers as a matter of course, and

(v)

information published by the Western Australian Government includes its commodity price assumptions developed after relevant information about commodity price expectations is obtained from relevant mining companies, which includes at least some of the companies involved in the mining tax negotiations with the Federal Government;

(b)

based on the Government’s response does not accept that there are any legitimate public interest grounds for the Government to refuse to provide the requested information;

(c)

orders that there be laid on the table by noon on Thursday, 28 October 2010:

(i)

all the Government assumptions used to estimate the revenue from the Resource Super Profits Tax as contained in the 2010-11 budget, including, but not limited to, the assumptions on commodity prices, production volumes and exchange rates, and

(ii)

all the Government assumptions used to estimate the revenue from and overall fiscal impact of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax/expanded Petroleum Resource Rent Tax arrangement announced on 2 July 2010, including all changes to assumptions used for the 2010-11 budget;

(d)

notes the agreements between the Government and other parties and independents to refer disputes about public interest disclosures to the Information Commissioner, who will arbitrate on the release of documents; and

(e)

orders that, if the Government does not produce the information required by this order within the specified timeframe, there be laid on the table by 15 November 2010, a report on the matter by the Information Commissioner, including a review of the adequacy of the grounds specified by the Government for its refusal to produce the information and, if applicable, his arbitration on the release of the information.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the Government has refused to provide any of the information requested by the Senate about its negotiations with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata on the revised mining tax proposal,

(ii)

in relation to some of the information only, the Government justified its refusal in its response to the relevant Senate order on the basis that, ‘Data and other material provided to the Treasury as part of negotiations around the MRRT are considered to be commercial in confidence’,

(iii)

no justification was provided by the Government as to why release of any of the other information was not in the public interest, and

(iv)

specifically, no reason was provided by the Government as to why the release of the signed heads-of-agreement between the Government and BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata would not be in the public interest;

(b)

considers release of all the information requested on the negotiations between the Government and BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata about the revised mining tax proposal to be in the public interest;

(c)

orders that there be laid on the table by noon on Thursday, 28 October 2010:

(i)

any information held by the Government related to the negotiations and agreement about the new mining tax proposal announced on 2 July 2010, including, but not limited to, briefing notes, emails, data provided to the Government by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata and any other information generated in the context of the negotiations about the new mining tax proposal, and

(ii)

a copy of the signed heads-of-agreement on the new mining tax proposal between the Government and BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata;

(d)

notes the agreements between the Government and other parties and independents to refer disputes about public interest disclosures to the Information Commissioner, who will arbitrate on the release of documents; and

(e)

orders that, if the Government does not produce the information required by this order within the specified timeframe, there be laid on the table by 15 November 2010, a report on the matter by the Information Commissioner, including a review of the adequacy of the grounds specified by the Government for its refusal to produce the information and, if applicable, his arbitration on the release of the information.

Question put.