Labor commits to flow-through share scheme to encourage increased mining exploration AND JOBS
Joel Fitzgibbon - Shadow Minister for Mining, Energy and Forestry and Kevin Richards
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Media Statement - 9 June 2004
I am pleased to join Kevin Richards in Kalgoorlie today to announce that a Latham
Labor Government will implement a flow-through share scheme to address the alarming
decline in minerals exploration and investment.
The impact of a 50% reduction in exploration expenditure in the past decade should
be a concern not only for the resources sector, but for all Australians.
Finding new deposits is crucial to the sustainability of the mining sector and
a failure to do so will lead to massive job losses in regional communities.
Despite the fact the overwhelming majority of submissions to the House of Representatives
inquiry recommended a flow-through share scheme as an effective means of addressing
the fall-off in exploration expenditure, the Government failed to fund such a
scheme in its May Budget. Importantly, ABARE also supports the introduction of
a flow-through share scheme.
Labor is committed to the implementation of a flow-through share scheme and will
ensure that it is appropriately targeted at small and independent exploration
companies and importantly that the scheme is not open to abuse. We will work
with the industry and other stakeholders to develop a workable scheme, consistent
with these fundamental principles.
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