To be fair, Rudd was not hit with too many direct questions on the tax. Many, and some were seasoned journalists, seemed to want to take an opportunity to make a statement rather than ask questions.

Take Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest’s two to three-minute spray. To his credit, Rudd managed to find several questions within that and still seemed to come up with a direct answer.

One of the few direct questions was whether Rudd expected anyone to lose their jobs as a result of the tax.

In response he could only say that things would get better over time.

To those expecting straight answers on how the tax would be implemented, there was no joy.

To those who expected some signs that the government would move on the 40% tax rate or the 6% implementation rate, again, no joy.

Rudd kept on saying, however, that he wanted to consult with mining companies and to know how the tax would affect each one.

The question keeps popping up as to why this sort of consultation was not entered into before the tax came in.

For a while there it seemed the government might give on the tax rate. That hope died. Then there was a thought that it might raise the rate at which a profit would turn “super”. Again, no dice.

From this address, transitional arrangements have become the new hope. This is why Rudd said he wanted to hear how the tax would hit each miner, so the transitional arrangements could be tailored to suit.

It appeared, from Rudd’s statements to the Press Club, that the bulk of the industry consultation seemed to revolve around the Minerals Council of Australia’s submission to the Henry Review.

Rudd took great pleasure in aligning his efforts with those of Western Australia’s first premier, Sir John Forrest.

Maybe this was a ploy to alleviate some of the impact from any questions from his great-nephew Andrew, who had arrived at the lunch in mine PPE, fresh from a protest in the adjacent Langley Park? If so, it did not seem to work.

Rudd did, however, raise probably the most telling point of the whole debate so far.

He pointed out, quite correctly, that there was a need for billions of dollars of infrastructure spending, particularly in the key mining states of WA and Queensland. But where was the money going to come from?

That will likely become the rallying cry that this tax is sold on.