Tonight Australia is expecting its first budget surplus in 15 years, and it’s entirely due to the resources sector of this country. Unfortunately, the Labor Party does not want to recognise that and never says thanks to the hardworking men and women in that sector, but today I want to put on record my thanks to the thousands of Australians that spend time away from their family, digging stuff out of the ground and making the wealth for us so that we can fund schools, hospitals and other public services in this country. I thank you very, very much.
The figures show that this surplus is built on the backs of those workers that the Labor Party no longer recognises. Last year the Labor Party’s first budget predicted a $36 billion deficit for this financial year, while, in fact, resources exports have produced just over $110 billion more than expected last year. If 30 per cent of that extra revenue goes back to the taxpayer through corporate taxes, as it does, that’s $33 billion in extra taxes from the resources sector, and the deficit has almost entirely been wiped out thanks to our mining industry.
If you look at it in more detail, a lot of it’s due to our coal, gas and fossil fuel industries, which the Labor Party wants to shut down. They announced last week that they want a transition authority. They want everybody to transition in mining towns, away from one job to another, even though there’s record demand for the products they produce. There has been a $44 billion increase in coal, so that’s about another $15 billion in taxes. From that industry, there has been a $40 billion increase in gas exports. So that’s around $12 billion to $13 billion extra in taxes from them too.
Instead of saying thanks, this Labor Party is putting export controls on the industry, price caps on their product and massive amounts of new red tape—and there will be more to come soon with their environmental protection agency. When is the Labor Party actually going to show some love to the thousands of Australians that rely on a strong mining industry for their job, for their communities and to make sure that they have a future? I won’t be holding my breath.
