MRRT Wins House Approval, PM Gillard Upbeat on a Senate Victory
Following months of intense lobbying and backdoor concessions, Prime Minister Julia Gillard finally won the support of her House colleagues as the Parliament's lower chamber voted on Wednesday morning to approve the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011.
The victory, hailed by Ms Gillard as Australia's long-term insurance for reaping the benefits of a mining boom that she admits will soon come to an end, paves the way for a Senate debate next year.
Ms Gillard is confident that much of the battle had been won and while debates are still expected in the upper chamber once the session resumes, the Labor-led government is practically assured of realising a law that it touts will deliver at least $11 billion to the national coffers.
That huge amount of money, the federal government said, will practically shape the country's future, boosting future infrastructure projects and raising the possibility of more comfortable retirements for many Australians enrolled on superannuation programs.
"We know Australia's resources boom won't last forever ... and the minerals can be dug up and sold only once," the Prime Minister said in arguing for the passage of the bill that she tweaked in order to evade the defeat of an earlier version that led to the ouster of her immediate predecessor, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.
"That's why the government is committed to ensuring the Australian community receives a fair return from the mining boom and that we lock in the gains for generations to come," Ms Gillard was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) as saying on Wednesday.
"The vast majority of those who will be paying the MRRT understand the importance of this economic reform and support it," Australia's first female Prime Minister also stressed.
Once the Senate stamps its approval on the proposed tax, the government will start implanting its provisions by July 2012, en route to the collection of 30 percent tax from miners that rake in at least $75 million in profits each year.
MRRT's passage is not without glitches and even as the House of Representatives collectively affirmed the bill, members of the opposition have pledged to ditch the new tax in the event the Australian Labor Party is unseated come next election.
While recent polls showed that the Coalition enjoys considerable chance to drive Ms Gillard from The Lodge, surveys also indicated that vast majority of Australians favour the tax law that the government said is wholly geared for their welfare and that of their children.
Also, experts assert that losing power is Ms Gillard's least of concern at this time, considering the next election will not come until 2013 and between now and then, she may work up sufficient magic that could bolster her standing, they added, both politically and economically.
Where Rudd failed, Ms Gillard picked up by dangling concessions to allies and crossbenchers alike, enabling the mining tax to gain the backing of the Parliament and leaving behind whispered promises that are set to be collected (and broken) in the months and years ahead.