Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question and I thank him for his campaign to vote 1 for the Liberal Senate team at the election on 5 April. The coalition's foreign policy is designed in part to project and protect Australia's reputation as an open export-oriented market economy. At the heart of our foreign policy is economic diplomacy. Just as the aim of traditional diplomacy was peace, the aim of economic diplomacy is peace and prosperity.

The Australian government is working hard to find new markets for our exporters and is promoting Australia as an attractive place to do business and an attractive place to invest. That is why the Treasurer and the team on this side of the House are putting the government's finances back in order. That is why we are restoring our reputation as good financial managers. That is why we are cutting the unnecessary red tape and regulations imposed by Labor. That is why we are streamlining approvals for projects. That is why we are lifting the dead weight imposed by the carbon tax and the mining tax, which affects our international competitiveness. It is important for Western Australia, as the member knows, because the mining sector is vital to our overall economy—it is worth about $114 billion, it employs about 100,000 Western Australians directly and hundreds of thousands more Western Australians indirectly.

Policy consistency is also vital. From day one the coalition has opposed the mining tax as being bad for Western Australia, bad for the Australian economy and bad for jobs. The Labor Party, in government and in opposition, is all over the shop. The member for Perth, when she was a candidate in 2010, was saddened, apparently, by Labor's failure to promote the mining tax. She said:

I would have loved to have gone out and sold it. But the central command had the view that this was something you're not allowed to talk about and I just think that's crazy.

Well, member for Perth, here is your moment. The member for Perth, the shadow parliamentary secretary for Western Australia, can go out each and every day—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The shadow parliamentary secretary for Western Australia has her chance to sell this mining tax that she loves so much, the tax that, back in 2010, she wanted to sell to the Western Australian people. Now, as a member of parliament, she says the ALP should change its mining tax policy. 'Yesterday, Western Australian Labor MP,' according to the ABC news, 'said that the opposition should go back to the drawing board on the mining tax.' She is clearly sipping from the same cup of policy courage as the Leader of the Opposition: say one thing in Western Australia and another in Canberra.

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But leading the charge is the No. 1 ticket-holder for the Labor Party, Joe Bullock—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But leading the charge is Joe Bullock. When asked to say something negative about Tony Abbott, he could not. He has a list for the Leader of the Opposition, though— (Time expired)