Mining tax hearing a sham: Robb

Prime Minister Julia Gillard may have got the government's mining tax debacle off
the front page of newspapers but few are happy with the resulting minerals tax,
particularly Liberal senators.
Treasury boss Ken Henry was hauled in front of a Senate committee again on Tuesday,
having failed to provide satisfactory answers to questions taken on notice at a
hearing last week.
But Liberal senators were none the wiser after a further two-hour grilling of the
Treasury boss, other than Dr Henry telling them that Treasurer Wayne Swan would be
releasing "imminently" the assumptions that back up the minerals resources rent tax
(MRRT).
A number of resources companies that appeared before the Senate Select Committee on
Fuel and Energy were equally in the dark over the tax.
They said they had yet to have meaningful talks with either the government or Treasury.
Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb called it an "extraordinary" couple of
hours, and a "sham" that has cast doubt over the entire budget.
"What we have seen is an example of policy on the run. This is an amateur-hour
performance by the government. It is very deceitful," Mr Robb told reporters in
Canberra.
He demanded that Mr Swan "come out of hiding" and explain how the MRRT will bring in
$10.5 billion in revenue.
Dr Henry told the hearing last week that assumptions - such as commodity price
forecasts - were upgraded between the May budget and the announcement of the MRRT on
July 2.
The Treasury secretary was, under the guidance of Mr Swan, still unable to provide
any detail eight days later - even after proceedings were suspended for five minutes
to allow Dr Henry to ask the treasurer again if he could release those new
assumptions.
"My understanding is that the treasurer will shortly be putting more information
into the public domain," was all that Dr Henry could offer.
The original 40 per cent resources super profits tax (RSPT) that affected 2500
companies was expected to generate $12 billion in revenue in its first two years.
The government's much lauded breakthrough of a 30 per cent MRRT and expanded
petroleum resources rent tax, negotiated with three big mining companies in Ms
Gillard's first week as prime minister, affects only 320 miners but is still
calculated to bring in $10.5 billion in revenue.
In his earlier appearance before the inquiry, Dr Henry took 13 questions on notice
and relied on a public interest immunity to withhold information from senators.
In telling the committee of Mr Swan's intention to publish this information
"imminently", Dr Henry said it was still in draft form and had not yet been
finalised.
The committee chair, Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann, said he was not blaming Dr
Henry for this obstruction to parliamentary process.
"I am really sorry for the position the government has put you in, quite frankly,"
he said.
However, it was "entirely unsatisfactory" that given the tax deal was negotiated in
private, the government had set out to "mask" the fiscal impact of its policy change
and changes in assumptions.
Representatives of the Western Australian government had earlier told the committee
that the MRRT was an "unwelcome intrusion" into the state's responsibility,
undermining its autonomy and flexibility.
Fortescue Metals, which had been outspoken against the original RSPT, said the MRRT
should not be implemented in its current form.
"It is complex, discriminatory and a $10.5 billion impost on the resources
industry," Fortescue's head of government relations Deidre Willmott told the
hearing.
Other smaller mining players also told the hearing that they had not had talks over
the MRRT and were unable to provide their shareholders with the same certainty over
the tax as the big three miners who had been in the negotiating room.