Christine Milne: Stop faux GST argument and fix mining tax

“Why are Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott having a faux argument about GST when they should be talking about fixing the mining tax?” said Australian Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne.

“There appears to be an agreement between Tony Abbott, Labor and the big end of town to bury any discussion about raising money from the big multi-national mining companies.

“Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott care more about pleasing the big end of town than people living in poverty, like those on Newstart, students on Youth Allowance and single parents.

“They show no duty of care or compassion to refugees who seek our help. They would rather insulate themselves from a negative mining industry advertising campaign.

“While the old parties are engaged in a distracting going no-where debate on the GST, the Greens are putting forward proposals to fill the gaps from the revenue write-downs exposed by the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) statement.

“In 2012 Rio Tinto made $9 billion profit from Australia’s iron ore and is not paying any Minerals Resource Rent Tax.

“The Greens’ plan to fix the tax will raise around $20 billion over the next four years. We will submit our mining tax policy, along with all our other election commitments, to the Parliamentary Budget Office for costing in light of PEFO so Australians can see there is a real achievable alternative to raising revenue instead of cutting services.

“The question for Tony Abbott is: will he do the same responsible thing with his election commitments?

“Is he hiding his real agenda? Can Australians trust him not to slash and burn after the election?

“We need revenue to build a more caring society. Labor and Tony Abbott are only promising budget cuts to single parents, universities and public servant jobs,” said Senator Milne.
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne