Labor-Greens alliance no influence on mining tax, vows Gillard
Julia Gillard vowed not to allow an alliance with the Greens party to change her plans for a tax on miners' profits.
"Our election commitments are our election commitments," the Labor Party leader told a news conference. "In the days since the election I've been asked will you change the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, and the answer of course is no."
The Australian prime minister on Wednesday made an agreement with the Greens party to take her party closer to forming a government.
Labor's deal with the Greens party provided Gillard 73 seats in the 150-member lower house, bringing her level with the opposition conservative coalition although still three short of the majority needed to win.
The three Independents who hold the balance of power in the lower house are continuing their briefings on Wednesday, with a meeting with Treasury chief Ken Henry. A decision is hoped to be reached by the end of the week.
But even as Ms Gillard has promised that policy would not be affected, it is believed the influential Greens party could use its advantage to harden up her plans on both the mining levy and pricing carbon pollution.
"It does lead to some nervousness. With Greens' control of the Senate it sets in motion less friendly business policies starting from mining tax to climate change," according to Shane Oliver, head of Investment Strategy at AMP Capital.
The conservatives claimed that the Labor-Greens alliance would lead to early adoption of a carbon trade scheme Ms Gillard had vowed to postpone until at least 2013 and after public consultation.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who pledged to discard the resource profits tax and carbon-trading plans, as well as the national broadband network said the deal shows clinging on to power is all Ms Gillard believes in.
"Just 11 days after the election and Julia Gillard has already broken her first election commitment," he said.
"There will be a carbon tax, there will be a higher mining tax ... there will never be any offshore asylum seeker processing. Australia now has two coalitions. Only one of those coalitions will be good for regional Australia."
Source: Reuters