Sky News First Edition

SUBJECTS:  Mining Tax; Temporary protection visas; flexibility in the workplace

E&OE................................

Kieran Gilbert:  …  amend the tax. Crossbenchers will move amendments to try and close some of the loopholes today but the Government’s adamant that the shortfall relates to the fall in commodity prices for coal and iron ore.  With me to discuss this and the other issues of the day the Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne.  Mr Pyne, thanks for your time.

Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Morning Kieran.

Gilbert:  As I said, the Government is adamant the shortfall relates to the fall in commodity prices doesn’t this show a profits tax working as it should?  You tax the profits when they’re there and you don’t when they’re not.

Pyne: Well the flaw in the Prime Minister and the Treasurer’s argument Kieran is of course that iron ore prices have gone up by $30 since MYEFO.  So in MYEFO last year the estimate was $2 billion of mining tax revenue.  Since that time, the spot price for iron ore has increased by $30 so the idea that it’s because of commodity price falls is a complete misnomer.  It’s false.  The truth is that the Treasurer is incompetent.  Any reasonable person would hand in their resignation, if they were Wayne Swan, based on this error alone.  The Government has booked $14 billion of expenditure against the mining tax.  All sorts of things, tax cuts for small business, the low income superannuation offset etc; and yet they’re collecting $126 million.  They have a massive Budget blackhole because of the mining tax and the only thing they can do is scrap the Mining Tax, scrap the benefits that are associated with it except the one that we’re supporting which is the increase of 9 – 12% of superannuation contribution and recognise they are an incompetent bunch and Wayne Swan doesn’t deserve to be the Treasurer of Australia.

Gilbert:  The Government argues though that these resource rent taxes are volatile it’s the same with the petrol petroleum resource rent tax which has been in place for some decades now and it’s just the nature of these things.  When you make profits, big profits, that’s when the tax kicks in. 

Pyne: Well, Kieran, Wayne always has an excuse.  You know, the dog ate my homework, the tram got a flat tyre, the latest is that this is a volatile tax, the truth is they booked $14 billion of expenditure.  We now know that they’re going to have a $14 billion blackhole or you know thereabouts because of the shortfall in the revenue that they have created out of the mining tax.  I mean that is a complete catastrophe from a financial point of view.  We already know that they can’t manage the books and now they’ve introduced a mining tax which collects no revenue but they’ve booked spending against it which is now all borrowed money.

Gilbert:  I want to get through a few other issues.  The confusion amongst sporting clubs, particularly in the NRL at the moment, they don’t know who’s been implicated in this drugs scandal.   There is secrecy around the Australian Crime Commission in the way it operates, but what do you make of the way this has been handled, this issue.

Pyne: Well I think the Opposition is very prepared to be, to give as much support as possible to the Government to solve drugs in sport as an issue but I’m concerned about how badly the Government has handled this issue.  I mean why did the Australian Crime Commission Report get released last Thursday if wasn’t to distract people from what the Government knew was happening the next day on the mining tax and the Government’s very bad week last week on superannuation and the surplus because what’s happened now of course is that the Australian Crime Commission they do a secret report, a secret investigation they make significant findings about match fixing about drugs in sport about organised crime , the Government decides to let everyone know about it.  So now everyone knows about it and all those people who are involved are either high tailing it out of it out of the Country or going to ground.  That is no way to run an investigation into organised crime.  You don’t go out and let everyone know that you know about it so that they disappear. 

Gilbert:  The argument was that they wanted to encourage those who were involved or knew about these practices to approach the authorities.  That was part of the argument concerning releasing it when they did.

Pyne: Well the Australian Crime commission has very far ranging powers.  It operates in secret.  Its report is an investigative report designed to be able to bring about further investigations and potential criminal convictions.  The Government decided to let the whole world know about it on Thursday.  They obviously have no plan for implementing any action in the future.  To me, it was just another aspect of this constant ongoing adventure that we have with this Government.

Gilbert:  Two quick issues to finish on.  Workplace; the Prime Minister wants to give families more flexibility.  The Chamber of Commerce says its more red tape, what do you think?

Pyne: Well let’s have a look at it.  I mean we don’t know what the Government’s actually proposing.  Yet again, another distraction in Julia and Bill’s excellent adventure.  This is the latest soap opera.  What is the actual changes that they’re proposing?  We might support them and we’re not against more flexibility in the work place but if all they’re trying to do is have a fight about industrial relations well then we know that again, the Government’s not putting good public policy at the forefront of our Government, they’re putting economic and political survival at the forefront of our, this Government.

Gilbert:  And finally temporary protection visas.  The coalition will introduce its Bill today on that?

Pyne: Yes. We’ll be introducing a Private Members Bill today to reintroduce temporary protection visas to take the business model for the people smugglers off the table.  What the people smugglers can offer is permanent residence. 

If you take away permanent residence in Australia, if you have temporary protection visas, the people smugglers lose their advantage economically and they don’t have a client base anymore.

Gilbert:  Mr Pyne thanks for your time.

Pyne: Pleasure.

ENDS.