Statement by Steve Knott AM, Chief Executive Officer Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association:

The Albanese Government’s scrapping of stage 3 tax cuts is an attack on thousands of resources and energy sector employees who power the nation’s finances.

Plenty of workers in the resources sector earn well over $150,000 a year and will be left worse off by the government’s broken promise on tax relief.

These salt-of-the-earth employees often work remotely, sometimes offshore or underground and on 12-hour continuous shift cycles.

They are not shielded from international competitive pressures or fluctuations in commodity prices – as evidenced by recent nickel mine closures – and work to continually innovate and improve their own and their employer’s circumstances.

Rather than get involved in class war political campaigns, many are sophisticated investors planning for their family’s future.

As such, legislated stage 3 tax cuts – committed to and supported by both major political parties – were baked into their financial planning.

The government’s budget surplus was delivered on the back of a strong resources and energy industry, without which Australians would not receive the level of services they need such as Medicare, the NDIS, hospitals, schools, aged care and infrastructure.

Its broken tax promise is a slap in the face for the hard-working, aspirational Australians who underpin this success.