Senator PARER (Minister for Resources and Energy)(3.07 p.m.) —As indicated by Senator Kemp in his response, if Senator Cook had wanted a detailed answer to that question he should have asked it of me—not only in my capacity as representing the Minister for Small Business and Consumer Affairs (Mr Prosser) but also in my capacity as Minister for Resources and Energy and being part of the negotiating group that discussed this matter with the industry.

Senator Bob Collins —This doesn't end up in consolidated revenue, Warwick.

Senator PARER —Senator Collins, just listen and you will learn something for a change. Listen instead of just belching out words. After the election we were confronted with a big $10 billion deficit. The previous government had tried to address this issue. All those opposite have to do is talk to Senator Schacht to find out what happened. There was a series of Senate inquiries. He tried to sandbag the industry, which was the typical way that government operated: if you want to win, sandbag an industry. They got nowhere. No matter how sensible an item was that Senator Schacht might have had, every single one was opposed.

So we met with the industry and from across the table we said, `We have a problem, and the problem is that the diesel fuel rebate is growing at an exponential rate which is greater than the growth of the industry and the inflation rate. We need to sit down and address this because we're going to address the $10 billion deficit and everyone needs to share some of the pain.' Out of those discussions came a voluntary agreement between the industry and the government.

Senator Cook referred to the Senate committee report. I would like to mention that because that committee report referred to the original bill without the amendments. I agree that it would have been better if we had had those amendments before you at the committee. I agreed with that in the committee. However, one of the reasons for putting the bill on the table was so that industry and others could look at it to see whether there were unintended consequences which may have deviated from the agreement reached between the industry and the government. As a result, those amendments are now before the Senate.

Senator Cook stands up here and says that we have broken solemn promises, and quotes some sort of magazine article from Mr Robb. He also quotes George Savell, who, I might tell Senator Cook, is not from the Mining Industry Council but from AMEC, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, operating out of Perth. So it is not the Mining Industry Council at all.

However, let me remind the Senate yet again: there were no broken promises. What has ended up in this legislation with its amendments before the Senate—this legislation is on the Notice Paper; in fact, the second reading speech was supposed to occur at lunch time—is a voluntary agreement between the industry and the government which we have honoured and they have honoured.