Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbot will complete his tour of the Pilbara mining region in Western Australia today with a visit to BHP Billiton’s Mount Whaleback deposit.
Last night he visited a workers camp at Fortescue Metals Group’s (FMG) Cloudbreak mine on his “fact finding mission” in the Pilbara to see how the region will be affected by the governments mining and carbon taxes.
He had beers with workers at the wet mess at Cloudbreak and urged them to increase pressure on unions to fight the proposed tax reform by the government, saying unless they reject the taxes, their job security is at risk.
Before Cloudbreak, Abbott also visited Rio Tinto’s port at Dampier where he has a meeting with Rio head Sam Walsh and the $5 billion Chinese-owned Citic Pacific mine near Karratha.
Walsh declined to comment on the meeting, but it is believed kaolin crusher he requested it to discuss the carbon and mining taxes with Abbott.
The Opposition leader says the government’s tax reform agenda poses a sovereign risk for Australia.
He said workers are beginning to convince union leaders they should campaign publicly against the tax, as they did with the Minerals Resources Rent Tax proposed last year by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Last week Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes called on Julia Gillard to ensure workers that the tax reform would not lead to any job losses.
"Plainly, the unions are starting to get pressure cement production equipment from the workforce," Abbott said.
"They wouldn't have changed their tune like they have in the last few days but for the pressure they are getting from their workforce.
"Workers are entitled to feel a bit insecure about their jobs and that insecurity is going to be worse."
Abbott disagreed with warnings from Climate Change dolomite crusher Minister Greg Combet that companies should not publicly raise concerns over the tax.
"The only language that this government understands is political pressure and that's why I think it's perfectly appropriate for anyone who doesn't like what the government is doing to speak their mind in public," he said.
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