Perth-based mining giant Fortescue Metals Group has launched a last-minute High Court action against the mining tax, planning to argue the legislation - due to start on July 1 - breaches the Australian…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered one of her strongest messages to the mining sector last night, telling mining bosses at a Minerals Industry dinner in Canberra that they don’t own Australia’s minerals…
The mining boom is making Australia potentially wealthier, but also creating problems because of the high exchange rate. What should government policies be? There are two issues, and it is very important…
The mining industry is used to having its voice heard in Australian public debates, so it should come as no surprise that mining billionaires such as Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer would consider buying…
News that Gina Rinehart has reportedly attained a 12.8% stake in Fairfax Media (and is seeking just under 15%) is bad for the Australian media environment: it potentially puts yet another billionaire in…
The Mineral Resources Rent Tax passed through the House of Representatives last week, but not without negotiations with the Greens and independent MPs. Perhaps the most significant outcome of negotiations…
Federal Labor’s mining profits tax was originally designed to be a redistributive measure from a very profitable section of capital to all of capital through company tax cuts. The mini-me Mineral Resources…
Independent MP Tony Windsor has said he won’t back the government’s Mineral Resources Rent Tax unless more is done to make coal seam gas mining sustainable. He has called for $200-400 million annually…
The introduction of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax into federal parliament marks the next step in Labor’s neoliberal tax reform agenda. Another example, the carbon tax, is poised to pass through the Senate…
One of the most interesting features of the mining boom is the way that it is opening up old, and unresolved, political and policy debates in Australia. Do we trust that the benefits to the small group…
Some facts about BHP Billiton. Its full year annual profit of $US23.6 billion ($A22.46 billion) is the largest ever for an Australian corporation and is double that of last year’s. It employs close to…