Senator McGAURAN (6:53 PM) —I move:

I want to address the matter of the mining tax, which we have debated here in the Senate for the last month.

Senator Sherry interjecting—

Senator McGAURAN —It is on taxation.

Senator Sherry —Double taxation.

Senator McGAURAN —You can take a point of order if you like. Talk about frustrating the Senate. You would frustrate anyone who wants to talk on this issue. This is the point I am trying to make about these sorts of interjections and hurdles you put up with regard to the error you have made with the super tax on mining profits.

Senator Sherry —Madam Acting Deputy President, on a point of order: I read the title ‘The management and use of double taxation agreement information collected through automatic exchange’. I am sure that if Senator McGauran consulted with Senator Fifield he would know that it is not about the resource super profits tax. It is not even vaguely about the resource super profits tax; it is about double taxation agreement, so my point of order is on relevance.

Senator Parry —Madam Acting Deputy President, on the point of order: the senator had only just commenced his contribution. Double taxation is exceptionally relevant, and I think he is going to link it with the RSPT. I think he is going to link the two and I think we should give Senator McGauran ample opportunity to at least flesh out this argument. I think it is very relevant and I think it is quite pertinent.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Cash)—On the point of order: senators will be aware that it is the practice of the Senate to allow wide-ranging debate in relation to the question before the chair. Senator McGauran, you have nine minutes and 20 seconds.

Senator McGAURAN —I thank you for your indulgence, Madam Acting Deputy President. What I wanted to say was with regard to the mining tax, which I consider a double taxation—on top of company tax. It is a super tax on profits—risk-free profits, I should add, on anything above six per cent. But, rather than milk up my time, the point I wanted to make is that throughout the last month, or however long we have been debating this issue—certainly this week when we moved our motion on a matter of public importance—the core of the Labor Party argument now is that this is just a tax on the big boys. You have reverted to kind by pushing the argument of politics of envy and class war. Every speaker who got up raised that issue first up. This is what it is all about now. This is the argument that you are pushing—that this is a class war on the big bosses of BHP and Rio. It is the old politics of envy that you do so well. When you are in a corner this is what you revert to. The truth of the matter is that this tax will cut a swathe through the small and medium mining operations. We moved a motion on a matter of public importance in the middle of this week, and you spoke and addressed the concerns of your state about this matter but not one speaker on the other side addressed it. There is probably no state that epitomises more the medium to small mining operations that will be affected by this tax than my state of Victoria. Just remember that Victoria was the home of the Eureka Stockade, which was a rebellion against attacks. It was not some Labor Party union rebellion against the big bosses. It was the independent workers, the small miners, if you like, rebelling against a government tax, and this is not much different.

Senator Sherry —Madam Acting Deputy President, on a point of order: can I request that Senator McGauran make even the vaguest attempt to be relevant to double taxation agreements by at least mentioning it once or twice in the course of his discourse. We are on to the Eureka Stockade. I do not know of any double taxation agreement that, in any way, shape or form, gets us to the Eureka Stockade. He has been here for a long time and I like the guy, but, please try to be at least relevant.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —I draw your attention to the motion that is before the chair. You have seven minutes and nine seconds.

Senator McGAURAN —For the purposes of Senator Sherry, who has just come into this place to frustrate me, I am sure, I have mentioned the matter of double taxation and that I believe the mining tax is a double tax on the miners. I have mentioned taxation, and now let me mention what double taxation deals with. It deals with overseas relationships. You would have been in the chamber this week when we raised the question of the salivation of the governments and the mining operations in Canada and Chile—

Senator Sherry —Are you really chair of the tax committee?

Senator McGAURAN —The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. We deal with double taxation all the time. So there—I have mentioned all three aspects of double taxation. But the real point I want to raise is about my state of Victoria, which epitomises small mining and medium mining operations. I will quote from a very well put together article in the Age newspaper, no less, which highlighted just how Victoria is going to be affected by this taxation. The article said:

If you damage these operations, you damage the integrated economies of regional Victoria—no less, of course, those industries in the Latrobe Valley where there are open-cut mines and 80 to 90 per cent of that coal is directed into the power stations that feed the households of Victoria. Up go the household electricity costs. Did you ever consider that? I do not think you did. You just saw this as a class war against Rio and BHP. This is going to affect every household in Victoria through their electricity costs. It was not bad enough that we had to force the ETS to be dropped. You had to drop one supertax, so you found another supertax to whack onto the Victorian people. The article continues:

of course—Ballarat and Bendigo are famous for it. And mineral sands and gypsum. Around Bendigo alone there are 42 small and medium sized gravel and sand quarries.

These will now become marginal to say the least. I know that in Stawell and in Ballarat, at the Castlemaine mining company, they are reviewing all their exploration and expansion efforts. They are telling me off the record that any further expansions are highly unlikely. They have to see the detail of this tax, but you have no detail.

The mining tax would also affect all the downstream industries. There is Gekko in Ballarat which supplies mining equipment. They have already laid off six workers and have directly attributed that to the mining tax. The article also makes the point:

These will all be affected by the cascading effect of this tax. Of course Victoria’s agricultural sector will be affected by fertiliser mining’s increased costs if this tax goes on. My point is: drop your class war. Look at the true effect of this tax on small and medium businesses in my state of Victoria and drop the tax.

Question agreed to.