Mr O'DOWD (Flynn) (16:28): I rise to talk about the adverse effects of the mining tax on the Australian economy and the budget. On royalties, for a start the Queensland government brought royalties in—they were quite within their rights to bring royalties in—and they moved them from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent. This put the coal mining companies in a situation where they knew exactly where they stood. They did not have to employ a team of accountants to calculate how much tax they would have to pay or not pay under the MRRT. Mr Perrett: What did the LNP object to? When Fraser did that they objected to it. Mr O'DOWD: To the peanuts on the other side who do not understand the economics, if you can explain to me why your budget— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): The member for Flynn will resume his seat. The Minister for Trade and Competitiveness on a point of order. Dr Emerson: Ordinarily I would not be talking about this sort of language, given that I serve up a little bit myself, but I think that was out of order and he should withdraw. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Flynn would assist the House if he withdrew the reference to members on the government benches. Mr O'DOWD: It is very disappointing that they cannot explain their budget— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I would ask the member to withdraw. Mr O'DOWD: I withdraw. They cannot explain why before Christmas they had a surplus budget but after Christmas a deficit budget. They cannot explain why they have never had a surplus budget since 1989. So—shock, horror—they had to introduce a mining tax. They did not calculate that the miners have got better accountants than the Treasury or the Treasurer; they did not realise that. And they got skinned—in fact, our Treasurer became a stuffed duck burnt to cinders with plum sauce poured all over him. The Treasurer has nowhere to hide. What can he do next? He has pulled all his Houdini tricks out of the bag. Now he is going to have a deficit budget and his surplus is gone. And the mining tax that he relied on so heavily to bring about $15 billion worth of expenditure is no longer there. He based his calculations on the fact that he was going to make all this money out of the mining companies, and that did not happen. In fact, the mining companies do pay a lot of tax. They pay corporate tax. They pay superannuation to their employees— Mr Perrett: It's not a tax! Mr O'DOWD: Well, call it what you like, mate! It's money in the bank for workers. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr S Georganas ): Order! Remarks will be through the chair—and that goes to both sides. Mr O'DOWD: It is money in the worker's pocket at the start of his retirement. And there are other taxes mining companies pay. They pay payroll tax. They pay carbon taxes. They pay a renewable energy tax. And of course they pay the highest wages in the industry in the world, and not only coal wages but iron ore wages. And in the last six months, as to MYEFO, iron ore prices have actually gone up by 30 per cent—well over the $120 a tonne benchmark. Mr Perrett: Spot prices! Mr O'DOWD: Spot prices—call them what you like; the price has gone up 30 per cent. You cannot deny that. But, if you listened to Mr Swan, you would think that commodity prices had really tumbled through the floor. Look at the coal mining industry in my electorate: coal mines have closed down; coal mines have been put up for sale. BMA have only just put Gregory Crinum on the map to sell off. If this keeps going, all our mining personnel will end up working in places like Mongolia, Mozambique and Africa. Take Ken Talbot, who used to live in my electorate, and who was unfortunately killed in Africa in a plane crash—his whole team were over there investigating new mining ventures. So if we keep on killing the goose that lays the golden egg, we will have nothing left. Our manufacturing industry is on the ropes. Retail businesses are not doing well. And, apart from that, it is the foreign investment in Australia that we must continue to attract. Otherwise, we will end up in a situation where we are left as a Third World country, and no-one here would like to see that happen. But if we keep taxing the mining industry, as our Treasurer intends to do, that is what will happen, and you can see it happening at this very moment. Add a carbon tax to a mining tax, and you get businesses like Rio Tinto—who, in Gladstone, employ 6,000 people—starting to look at their balance sheets and asking, 'Do we need this business or do we divest?' of things like the Boyne smelter. That is what we are faced with as Australians. A lot of our good expertise in the mining industry has gone to places like Mongolia. When I was last speaking to the Ambassador for Mongolia he said: 'We love Australians; their expertise is helping us to expand our coal industry. You know', he said, 'we will soon be in a position to send our coal by rail into China and Russia; at the moment, we are doing it by truck.' So that tells you something about what is happening. Twenty years ago, Indonesia did not export one tonne of coal; now it is a bigger exporter than Australia. Indonesia exports over 30 per cent of the world's coal. We were over 30 per cent; we are now under 30 per cent. So you can make up your own mind. Even blind Freddy could see that. Wasteful Wayne has wasted the dollars and is trying to get them back through the industry, but— Mr Perrett: It's 'the Treasurer' or 'the Deputy Prime Minister'. Mr O'DOWD: Yes, that is right—he is the world's best treasurer; the record is there for everyone to see. He calculated, in last year's budget, a $13 billion deficit; it rose to a $22 billion deficit and ended up at $44 billion. So, yes, he certainly is living up to his reputation. Mr Perrett: I am just asking you to call him by his correct title. Mr O'DOWD: Yes, it is the Treasurer. He is a Queenslander, too, unfortunately. But he was a good kid at Nambour. He did not go on to great things at school, but he has certainly gone to great heights with the Labor Party. He will be remembered for a lot of things, but not really for his ability for accounting when it comes to the budget he produces. I think that is all I have to add.