"Super" Mining Tax

[Leaping Lindner]

I'm worried for Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest they must be getting down to their last couple of billion.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/billi ... .html#poll

[Gozu]

"The Twiggy that broke Rudd's back":

Yesterday we got to see, in broad daylight, just who is behind the anti-RSPT campaign. Some Liberal MPs, naturally. A bunch of rich people shaking their pearls in anger at the government. Some office workers dragooned into attending a rally, who couldn’t even be bothered picking up the dozens of carefully prepared placards. Andrew Forrest, the only attendee to miss the “business casual” dress code, dolled up in mining gear to distract from the absence of actual miners. Some elderly people worried about their mining shares — presumably unaware they’d outperformed the market since the RSPT was announced. Some bozo claiming the tax was “robbing the elderly, the sick and the frail”.

These people represent immensely wealthy foreign mining interests and have powerful allies in the media, of course, but seriously — is that the best they could do?

If Kevin Rudd can lift his game, win re-election and get the RSPT in place, it could be the making of him as a reformist leader, ready to join Hawke, Keating, Howard and Costello. Having discovered that the best way to deal with rent-seekers is with a baseball bat rather than an open hand, it might embolden him to take on some more reforms that will arouse opposition.

If Kevin Rudd can’t win the debate against this mob, he won’t deserve to win the election, and we’ll be well rid of him. Pity for the national interest that the other side look even worse.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/06/10/if- ... -to-be-pm/

[The Apostle]

The Rudd government is fast becoming Whitlamesq in it's financial (mis)management.

Unfortunately the Federal Election this year is shaping up like the SA State Election ...the incumbent is crap but the thought of giving power to the opposition is just scary.

Lord help us.

And the third option (The Greens) is even scarier!

[Gozu]

"RSPT rumour file":

Here we go again — more rumours that the government is about to cave-in on the RSPT.

Terry McCrann was the chief spruiker for the rumours. “The Rudd government will announce major changes to its proposed resources super profits tax today or tomorrow,” he told readers this morning.

No, it won’t, Terry.

The rumours about a cave-in were wrong a fortnight ago and they’re wrong again. They say a lot more about a mining industry that had a shocker of a week, than about the government.

Government MPs were privately almost mystified at the lack of questions from the audience about the RSPT at this week’s community cabinet. They expected it to be a dominant issue in the minds of suburban Perth residents. It barely registered. All the colour and movement instead came from a near-comical rally at which Andrew Forrest played dress-ups. Forrest, along with Palmer, was caught out during the week in his claims about the tax. Xstrata, too, is under increasing pressure over its claims about its “closure” of the Wandoan coal project in Queensland. Sophie Morris, in a nice get, revealed today in the Fin that it was still buying up land for the project it had supposedly kyboshed. And it’s no longer clear whether any jobs will be affected by the “closure”, since Xstrata can’t seem to explain exactly which existing jobs will be affected.

With the industry campaign starting to fall apart under the weight of its own hysteria, it probably made sense to circulate some more rumours about an imminent government backdown — happily amplified by the industry’s media supporters.

So there is actually some value to these rumours after all. The more they circulate, the more it suggests the industry is worried the government is doing something no one ever thought it would — sticking to what it says.

And what it said was that it was happy to negotiate important issues such as transitional arrangements and implementation details over a period of months, but the basics of the RSPT were not going to be compromised.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/06/11/ano ... n-rumours/

[Gozu]

"Don't let the facts get in the way"

With The Australian steadily morphing onto a right-wing version of The Onion, offering ever more strident attacks on its growing array of enemies, accuracy about its opponents is in increasingly short supply, especially when it comes to the RSPT.

Even so, today’s effort from Matthew Stevens is particularly impressive. Stevens, married to BHP-Billiton corporate spinner Sam Evans, breathlessly told The Oz’s business readership under a headline “Steelmaker says it was excluded from tax talks”:

So … did OneSteel actually meet with the tax consultation panel or not? “In the end,” says Stevens, “it seems it may have taken direct, and understandably animated, intervention by South Australian Premier Mike Rann to get OneSteel into the Rudd government’s dubious consultation process.”

So, erm, the steelmaker wasn’t excluded from the talks at all?

In fact, OneSteel was never knocked back. The process is that companies meet with the the consultation panel secretariat first before meeting directly with the panel. But on May 18, before OneSteel had met with the secretariat, the panel asked to meet OneSteel, and met with Plummer and three of his senior executives, in Sydney. OneSteel was 10th cab off the rank in the consultation process, and if anything might have got privileged access. The panel met with Plummer again last Monday in Canberra. OneSteel executives also met with the secretariat on May 26. Treasury officials also met with a OneSteel representative in Adelaide last Thursday as part of talks with the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy.

That’s three meetings, plus another one at a broader consultation. As an integrated manufacturer, OneSteel has particular concerns about the taxation point of the RSPT and its impact on its downstream activities. That’s exactly why the panel was particularly keen to hear from them.

Some exclusion.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/06/15/don ... y-part-75/

[fish]

Cheers Gozu for keeping us up to date - sounds like the RSPT scare campaign has been more spin than substance!

[Gozu]

Thanks Fish. This is a good read too, "How profitable is mining?":

According to the ABS, very profitable.

At the end of last month (May 28), the ABS published their annual “Australian Industry” release which looked at a wide array of comparative industry performance measures for the Australian economy in the 2008/09 financial year. The results for mining are probably worth going over considering the hyperbole venting from some sections of that industry at the moment over the RSPT, particularly when it comes to issues of comparative industry profitability.

Mining makes up 1.3% of all jobs in the economy.

That last chart shows the minerals where Australia is not only a major global supplier, but where we have a significantly robust market position. We also need to remember that these resources are not only immobile, but finite – so keep that in your thought orbit for a bit.

Now lets talk about profit margins.

Mining comes in highest with a profit margin of 37.1% and, well, daylight is second. Worth mentioning is that the average profit margin for all industries in Australia is 11.2%.

In 2008/09, the Australian mining industry had a EBITDA/Revenue ratio of 43% while the worlds largest 40 mining companies had a comparable estimate of 30%

With industry profits in Australia so high compared to both other domestic industries and the largest 40 global miners, with Australia owning a substantial piece of the worlds immobile and finite accessible mineral resources, Big Dirt walking away from Australian investment will be their loss, not ours – because someone else will simply take their place.

Big Dirt – welcome to capitalism.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/20 ... is-mining/

[fish]

The scare campaign has fallen to new depths...

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/wi ... 5882167874

Wilson Tuckey says mining execs were looking for iron ore due to super profits tax

OUTSPOKEN Federal Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey has linked the Government's proposed super profits tax with the disappearance of six Australian mining executives in Africa.

A chartered aircraft carrying six Australians, two French, an American and two Britons, most of whom were from Western Australia-based international mining company Sundance Resources Limited, disappeared over dense jungle on Saturday.

Mr Tuckey claimed the executives were in Africa looking for iron ore because the Australian Government wants to tax their super-profits at a rate of 40 per cent.

But Sundance has stated the executives were there visiting its ongoing iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo and conducting high level meetings with various government representatives of both countries.

[Squawk]

I'm staggered that construction is apparently only yielding a profit margin of 10.6%. Case in point - building my own house, the builders contract all the work out to subbies and add a fat margin themselves on top of an already inflated price.

Governments of both persuasions have lined the pockets of construction workers for the last decade, beginning with the first home owners grant. More recently, the program who's official name I forget (Building the Education Revolution?) but known as the Julia Gillard Memorial School Hall project. Then there's the infrastructure spends going on by state and Cwlth governments. Surely its time some other industries repaid the support of governments and paid a moral dividend back? Banking is another one - the government guaranteed bank funds (deposits?) for a while there and banks have reaped great rewards from various stimulus packages. Why just claim more coin from one industry, when other industries have been so stimulated by the taxpayer over the last decade?

[shoe boy]

The scare campaign has fallen to new depths...

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/wi ... 5882167874

Wilson Tuckey says mining execs were looking for iron ore due to super profits tax

OUTSPOKEN Federal Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey has linked the Government's proposed super profits tax with the disappearance of six Australian mining executives in Africa.

A chartered aircraft carrying six Australians, two French, an American and two Britons, most of whom were from Western Australia-based international mining company Sundance Resources Limited, disappeared over dense jungle on Saturday.

Mr Tuckey claimed the executives were in Africa looking for iron ore because the Australian Government wants to tax their super-profits at a rate of 40 per cent.

But Sundance has stated the executives were there visiting its ongoing iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo and conducting high level meetings with various government representatives of both countries.

And Sundance had signed off on this site in 2006!!! Tuckey you fool

[Gozu]

Not only is Tuckey an imbecile but what a terrible thing to say too. Still you can't expect much from a guy that bashed an Aboriginal man with an iron bar (hence the nickname) while others held the guy down. His mere presence disgraces the parliament.

[redden whites]

The scare campaign has fallen to new depths...

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/wi ... 5882167874

Wilson Tuckey says mining execs were looking for iron ore due to super profits tax

OUTSPOKEN Federal Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey has linked the Government's proposed super profits tax with the disappearance of six Australian mining executives in Africa.

A chartered aircraft carrying six Australians, two French, an American and two Britons, most of whom were from Western Australia-based international mining company Sundance Resources Limited, disappeared over dense jungle on Saturday.

Mr Tuckey claimed the executives were in Africa looking for iron ore because the Australian Government wants to tax their super-profits at a rate of 40 per cent.

But Sundance has stated the executives were there visiting its ongoing iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo and conducting high level meetings with various government representatives of both countries.

Typical stuff from the filth of society.

[Leaping Lindner]

Tuckey has sat in Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party for almost thirty years and this is hardly a one off for him. Why hasn't been sacked? Well someone would have to grow a pair first I suppose.

[Squawk]

Tuckey has sat in Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party for almost thirty years and this is hardly a one off for him. Why hasn't been sacked? Well someone would have to grow a pair first I suppose.

Without doubt, Tuckey is a liability to the privelege of being an elected representative of the people.

One could howver also ask how Peter Garrett survived after the insulation debacle? The PM said the buck stopped with him - so why didn't he resign or call an election then?

[once_were_warriors]

Tuckey has sat in Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party for almost thirty years and this is hardly a one off for him. Why hasn't been sacked? Well someone would have to grow a pair first I suppose.

Without doubt, Tuckey is a liability to the privelege of being an elected representative of the people.

One could howver also ask how Peter Garrett survived after the insulation debacle? The PM said the buck stopped with him - so why didn't he resign or call an election then?

We would be going to an election every month, over the last 30 years , if we held our politicians accountable to every decision they made.

[purch]

Oh my, what a backflip!

HAHA! The "IRON" Lady indeed

[purch]

Hmmm..Gozu has been kinda quiet lately.

Where are you now Gozu?! Is Julia right and Kevin wrong all of a sudden?

[redandblack]

Oh my, what a backflip!

HAHA! The "IRON" Lady indeed

Smart politics, purch.

[mick]

Oh my, what a backflip!

HAHA! The "IRON" Lady indeed

Smart politics, purch.

Doesn't the Labor Party act purely on principles? Don't they have a mortgage on morality?

[Psyber]

Politics: the art of compromise - also the art of appearances.