Mr IRONS (Swan) (15:49): I rise to speak on this matter of public importance put forward by the member for Brand. In his MPI he spoke of 'the urgent need for the Abbott Government to release the National Commission of Audit report before the Western Australian Senate election.' As a Western Australian and along with other members from Western Australia, it should read: 'the urgent need for the Abbott government to repeal the carbon tax and the mining tax before the Western Australian Senate election.' That is what the opposition should be doing. It should be going to the people in the Senate and saying, 'If you want to help Western Australia, repeal the carbon tax and repeal the mining tax.' We heard the member for Brand talking about the fact that the people are already voting. I would say that most of the people in Western Australia have already made their minds up about how they are going to vote and they are just going to repeat the success that the Liberal Party had at the last Senate election. Ms Burke: How demeaning to the voters! Mr IRONS: It surprises me that we even know that the member for Brand does not support the mining tax and does not support the carbon tax. Not once in the six years he has been here has he stood up before on an MPI in this place. But two weeks before an election, he decides to stand up for Western Australia. He stood up in the MPI the other week and made it quite plain what these MPIs are about. He said that Western Australians should know what it is before them when they cast that most important vote in the biggest-ever by-election in Western Australia in Australia's constitutional history and he said he was taking the opportunity before our parliament to ask that. So all he is doing is pleading for votes for the Labor Party Mr Hawke: It is not going to work! Mr IRONS: That is his whole intent in being involved in moving this MPI. Ms Burke interjecting— Mr IRONS: Is that the member for Perth I hear interjecting? Ms Burke: No, it is the member for Chisholm. Mr IRONS: That is not a bad spot, I hear. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): Out of her place in the chamber too! Mr IRONS: Yes. But we heard the member for Blaxland talking about memory and making statements before elections, and that is what we heard from the former member for Lalor when she made the statement, 'There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.' In 2007—Western Australians heard it loud and clear, and we heard the member for Pearce talk about it in the MPI the other week—Kevin Rudd stood in Western Australia and made a commitment to give the Western Australian people $100 million per year for an infrastructure fund, which we never saw. So, if Western Australians want to know where their voting direction should be, they should keep their memories wide open and say, 'This is the history of the Labor Party and how they treat Western Australians.' Everyone knows in Western Australia—you can see it in the result of the last election—what Labor think of Western Australians and how Labor treat them. I will just remind them of that. According to the Clean Energy Regulator, Labor's carbon tax cost the Western Australian economy $626 million in 2012-13. Ms MacTiernan: We doubled the expenditure on roads—$700 million a year. Mr IRONS: Now I do hear the member for Perth interjecting, and I would like to quote something she said back in November 2006 in an extract from Hansard in the Western Australian parliament. Alannah MacTiernan, who last week introduced an MPI that there should be more funding for infrastructure in Western Australia, was at that time the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure in Western Australia. She responded to a question from the member for South Perth, John McGrath, on the Manning Road on-ramp. She said: I understand that the on-ramp would be very desirable for the residents of his electorate. Technically, of course, it can be done. It can actually be done. From an engineering point of view it is not a challenging project and it certainly could be done. Indeed, the planning for this project was undertaken in the 1980s— can you believe?— and the metropolitan region scheme was amended to make provision for it.' These are all terrific words, but she went on to say: This is not a project that the government believes would reach the top of the priority list over the next five years. In fact, the government is keen to find the reserves to provide for the member’s electorate a train station at South Perth— which no-one in South Perth wants; everyone wants the on-ramp— which would be a far more useful exercise for the member's constituents. So there we have an opportunity. We have seen the member for Perth is not prepared to provide any infrastructure, and that is another example of how Labor treats Western Australia. That is another example of how Labor treats Western Australia. Labor also saddled Western Australians with a mining tax that raised a fraction of what was promised. Ms MacTiernan interjecting— Mr IRONS: Yes, okay. I am waiting for the 'sweetheart' comment to come back now. Yet the mining tax burdened business with millions of dollars of red tape, as well as costing jobs and driving away investment. So, if we need to say anything to the voters in Western Australia, we need to say to them: 'Be reminded about how federal Labor, over the last six years, treated Western Australians. They imposed a mining tax and a carbon tax, and they will continue to do so.' So what Western Australians need to do is give their support to the Liberals and tell Labor to go to the Senate and repeal those taxes. (Time expired)