Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Mining Subsidies Legislation Amendment (Raising Revenue) Bill 2014 seeks to remove a distortion in the tax system that favours some industries over others by abolishing fossil fuel subsidies (except those used for agricultural purposes) from 1 January 2015.

Supporting mining and fossil fuels puts them at a huge advantage compared to other sectors of the economy.

As a nation we should be investing in higher education, not cutting funding to universities and putting students under even greater pressure. We should be increasing Newstart, not condemning people to poverty, and we should be caring for single parents, not making their lives even more difficult.

We can do all these things and more, like bringing dental care into Medicare for everyone, by standing up to the big mining companies and big banks and demanding a fairer contribution to the whole community.

This Bill could counter Abbott's cruel budget by saving the cuts made to ABC, SBS, and CSIRO, by freeing up billions of dollars from ending fossil fuel subsidies.

The government is exacerbating global warming by making it cheaper for big mining corporations to extract more coal, oil and gas via special tax treatment for exploration, depreciation and fuel rebates. If mining companies didn't get so much government assistance, then renewable energy would be more competitive.

This Bill will abolish the following fossil fuel subsidies from 1 January 2015:

1. The diesel fuel rebate for the mining industry—since the carbon price repeal, mining companies no longer pay a cent in tax for their fuel, compared to ordinary Australians who pay 38 cents litre.

2. Accelerated asset depreciation for aircraft, the oil and gas industry and vehicles (excepting for those used for agricultural purposes)—instead of the usual practice of depreciating assets such as cars, planes and machinery over their useful life, the mining industry is allowed to claim depreciation over a shorter period.

3. Immediate deduction for exploration and prospecting expenses for the mining industry—expenditure on exploration and prospecting by the mining industry is immediately deductible for company tax rather than depreciated over time as is the usual practice for investments.

We know that the Abbott government's first budget has not attempted to raise extra revenue in any real way. In fact they have deliberately chosen to reject revenue streams from the big polluters and mining companies, and subsidies continue to be paid to fossil fuel industries.

Costings from the Parliamentary Budget Office, requested by the Greens, show that removing tax concessions for the big miners would raise close to $13 billion in revenue.

As the Abbott Government dismantles universal healthcare, defunds access to quality public education, strips money from indigenous programs, pushes young people into poverty, saddles students with ever increasing higher education debt, and abandons action on global warming, they are ripping up a safety net and social contract that has been central to safeguarding egalitarianism in this country.

Along with ensuring that the funding for the above essential services and programs is maintained through the revenue that is raised through this Bill, the savings measures from removing fossil fuel subsidies could also be redirected to prevent the following cuts to research and development, the arts, and the environment:

CSIRO—$111.4 million

ABC—$232.2 over four years

SBS—$8 million

Landcare—$100 million

Australia Council for the Arts—$28.4 million

Screen Australia—$25.1 million

Australian Research Council—$74.9 million

Bureau of Meteorology—$10 million over four years

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority—$2.8 million

Revenue from a well-constructed mining tax, ending tax breaks to the mining corporations, a millionaires' tax, a public levy on the big banks, and taxing trusts as companies are all responsible measures that would ensure the slash and burn approach adopted by the Abbott government is not needed.

The Greens believe in a safety net that will prevent people from crashing into poverty and homelessness when they are facing difficult circumstances.

Taxpayers shouldn't fork out billions of dollars each year just so the likes of Gina Rinehart can buy cheap diesel, while everyone else is told to tighten their belts.

I commend the Mining Subsidies Legislation Amendment (Raising Revenue) Bill 2014 to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.