Mr FITZGIBBON (11:26 AM) —I thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources for that information. I can assure him that Labor's decision to refer to a Senate committee the government's position on the implementation of statutory caps on depreciation should not be read as opposition to that part of that bill but rather as an exercise in securing more information about the impact of that proposition on the Commonwealth budget. Even more particularly, we are seeking a sectoral breakdown of the impact of that initiative on the budget—for example, how much of that money by way of depreciation would go to the aviation sector and how much would go to the oil and gas sectors.

I am intrigued that the parliamentary secretary has shared with us the view that the venture partners in Sunrise feel that nothing more is required other than the establishment of a sound domestic market. I understand that this is a chicken and egg situation. You have people on one side saying, `We would come if the gas were there,' and people on the gas side saying, `We would come if we knew the industry was going to be there.'

Given that the government has costed its initiative on statutory depreciation effective life caps at something like $400 million over five years and $1.9 billion over 10 years, the government must have some view as to what would be the likely rate of additional investment—which would, of course, drive those costs—and whether the government had factored into those costs the possibility that the Sunrise field gas might come onshore.