Nationals – Real action on mining and resources

Real action on mining and resources
14-August-2010
The Coalition will commit $418.3 million to ensuring the viability and competitiveness of Australia’s resources and energy sector to grow investment, jobs and exports.
removing the threat of Labor’s mining tax.
Labor’s mining tax is a $10.5 billion hit on one of the most important sectors of the Australian economy. Labor’s mining tax is a dagger aimed at the heart of our prosperity. It has undermined confidence in Australia as an investment destination and as a secure supplier of resources.
In addition to the mining tax, Labor will introduce a carbon tax – a great big new tax on everything. The impact of Labor’s Carbon Tax will fall particularly heavily on the mining industry, putting jobs, investment and growth at risk.
The Coalition successfully forced Labor to abandon its original plan for a great big new tax on everything in the form of an emissions trading scheme. However, Labor remains committed to the introduction of a carbon tax. The Coalition will stop Labor’s carbon tax.
The future prosperity of the mining sector and the Australian economy is dependent on our ability to make new mineral discoveries. The Coalition will get the exploration industry back on its feet following the devastating loss of confidence for investment in mineral exploration in Australia caused by the Government’s introduction and gross mishandling of the RSPT and MRRT.
To restore investor confidence and help ensure that the resources sector continues to explore for mineral wealth into the future, the Coalition will implement a $150 million Exploration Development Programme, commencing in 2011-12.
This will be delivered through tax credits to Australian resident shareholders for eligible ‘greenfields’ exploration expenditure incurred in Australia. A ‘no taxable income’ test will ensure that the Programme is only available to junior minerals explorers. Final implementation details will be determined in consultation with peak industry representative bodies, including the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC), Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), and the Minerals Council of Australia.
The Coalition will redirect $158.3 million from the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships programme towards clean coal technologies, including carbon geo-sequestration projects associated with coal-fired electricity generation.
No viable solution in Australia for clean energy sources can work without the clean coal component. Rather than ignore our enormous natural advantage in coal, the Coalition will ensure it is an integral part of the future clean energy mix.
The Coalition will redirect $45 million from the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships program to the development and implementation of soil carbon technologies, particularly biochar, that aim to capture and sequester carbon in soils.
The single largest opportunity for CO2 emissions reduction in Australia is through bio-sequestration, especially the replenishment of our soil carbons. It is also the lowest cost CO2 emissions reduction available in Australia on a large scale. It also has the added benefit of improving soil quality, farm productivity and water efficiency.
The Coalition will also redirect $45 million from the Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships program to accelerate the development of carbon capture through biological sequestration technologies, such as algae.
The Coalition will also implement measures to support the development of renewable fuels, including;
Supporting a pilot biofuel lignocellulose plant ($8 million)
Testing the suitability of competitive biodiesel blend ($4 million)
Supporting development of logistics systems for LNG as a transport fuel ($8 million)
Encouraging international co-operation to develop hydrogen as a vehicle fuel
The Coalition will work constructively with industry to monitor and upgrade an appropriate maritime surveillance regime to protect our offshore oil and gas platforms.
Co-operation between government and industry is at the core of national energy security. The Coalition is committed to working closely with industry to ensure that governments and private sector to develop our energy resources in a constructive, collegiate and cost-effective manner to benefit consumers and ensure the reliability, security and adequacy of supply
The Coalition will re-establish the agreement to sell uranium to India for peaceful, energy generation purposes. It simply does not make sense for the Rudd-Gillard Government to deny Australian exporters from accessing the same opportunities as other uranium producers.
The Coalition will commit $418.3 million towards these measures to support the Australian resources and energy sector. $398.3 million of this funding will come from the redirection of Carbon Capture and Storage Flagships funding. In addition, $20 million will be provided from the nearly $30 billion of recurrent savings previously identified by the Coalition.