International survey shows Labor damages Australian investment
13/08/10
An international survey has found that Australia’s reputation as an investment location suffered a major blow as a result of the Government’s plans for a resource rent tax.
The Canadian Fraser Institute’s survey of more than 400 mining executives found that Australia’s reputation as an investment location had already suffered significant damage because of the Labor Government’s reckless tax grab – falling on average from 18th to 31st out of 51 jurisdictions.
This is further evidence that the Rudd/Gillard Labor Government’s reckless tax grab is damaging the Australian mining industry, risking Australian jobs and undercutting Australia’s future investment opportunities.
The results of this survey reflect the multiple warnings the Rudd/Gillard Government received from mining companies and a series of international investment houses – all of whom have repeatedly told the Labor Government that its sudden and aggressive tax grab on the Australian mining sector would compromise our international reputation for investment.
This is advice the Government did not heed and still dismisses out of hand, by pushing ahead with its new tax and refusing to listen to the concerns of Australia’s junior and mid-sized miners.
The survey’s co-ordinator, Fred McMahon, is quoted as saying ‘the results of the survey make one point abundantly clear: governments that change mining polices in mid-stream without consulting the industry risk driving away investment’. (The Australian Financial Review, 13-08-10)
While the survey was completed prior to the Government’s changes to the resources tax, Mr McMahon also said it is unclear what the reaction to the new tax will be because of the uncertainty that surrounds the structure of the new scheme.
One thing is clear: a re-elected Gillard Government is a guarantee of yet more uncertainty, given it refuses to release the full details of its deal with the big three mining companies, it has yet to fully explain its figures and it continues to freeze out Australia’s small and mid-sized miners.
Under Labor there will be a big new mining tax threatening our most successful export industry. Under the Coalition the mining tax will be scrapped.
A re-elected Gillard Labor Government is a guarantee of more uncertainty for the Australian mining sector and the economy.
The Coalition will stop the great big new tax on Australia’s mining industry.
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