MEDIA STATEMENT
Gold the Golden Goose for Government
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Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used a constituency question in parliament to ask the Minister for Resources what she is doing to ensure that the regional gold mining industry is not crushed under the weight of the State Government’s new gold royalty.
In last Monday’s budget, the Labor Government introduced a 2.75% gold royalty. Gold mining is a significant industry in the electorate of Western Victoria Region. The General Manager of Castlemaine Goldfields in Ballarat, which employs 160 people and contracts 70-80, said that the tax is “a very real and present threat to our viability.”
Bev McArthur said “this government has demonstrated once again its neglect for the prosperity and livelihood of regional communities by introducing a tax that punishes enterprise and aspiration. “
Bev McArthur said “businesses and their employees will suffer significantly under this tax, especially when they have just begun to make progress in the very tough and expensive area of exploration and extraction.”
Mrs McArthur concluded with her question to the Minister asking “what is she doing to ensure her government does not crush this regional industry that she (The Minister) should naturally be supporting as a regional MP, with a tax that punishes those who live outside the tram tracks of Melbourne?”
5 June 2019