They all accuse Mr Rudd of the leaks..... no evidence of it .... but why let the facts get in the way of a good bash-up story?
Who's doing all the leaking now? Seems like a srcipt for The Bald and the Breathless to me.
Exactly, this whole style of gutter politics undermines the Australian Political system and the Australian people, no matter who is engaging in it. It is all hearsay until it's proven to be fact.
Now if you over tax mining they will go elswhere, down size or restrict their activities and 10's of thousands of jobs will go with it. Blind freddie can even see that.LOL, yeah like Afghanistan. Can't wait to see the ways in which the Mining companies exploit those people. Magically, in a few years they too, will be getting blackmailed over their resources, but I doubt they'll hand over the key to the coffers for a bag full of beads, quite as easily as we do. Currently the Copper mining has been awarded to the HIGHEST bidder in Afghanistan, and I see no reason why our resources are being sold to the lowest bidder by comparison. It's basic economics to achieve the best price isn't it? or is it?
Irrespective of whether they go 'elsewhere', (which btw is highly unlikely) sooner or later, when they deplete the rest of the worlds resources, they'll be back and our resources will be worth even more.
I have never once stated that Mining is not a major industry in this country. I have never once said that there shouldn't be mining. But we're now talking about a veritable free for all.
73 new oil and gas leases and 24 new uranium mine projects? All planned for 2011/12.
The wealth we already get from mining
(without those new mining initiatives) is what has assisted the economy thus far. However, the mining companies once paid $1-$3.00 and now it is reported that they are paying $1.00 in $7.00. I'd say therefore that we've already lost more than half of the remuneration we once received for those resources. Explain why that is? The ALP released these figures a few months back, the Libs haven't refuted that particular aspect yet have they? who gave the mining industry such a generous concession at our expense ? IN fact Abbott is campaigning AGAINST getting us a fair price for access to our unrenewable resources and you think that's in our national interest?
Now consider that almost 100 new mining projects in this country alone are planned for the next few years, (like a bloody gold rush) and that we will still be receiving only $1.00 in $7.00 for those resources under Abbott?
Once depleted, that's the end of that. and some talk about us being worse off in the long run? really? Shouldn't we be getting the best price possible since the resources are unrenewable?
Jobs created vs price paid for access to valuable resources, in my view are two different things, and the blackmail and fear mongering that goes on over jobs, is all spin.
For instance, How do you think a mining company can get minerals out of the ground without creating jobs? Do they have droids? In fact, they have NO choice but to create jobs, because they can't get the minerals mined and realise obscene wealth without workers doing all the hard slog.
Seems to me to be reasonably symbiotic. They are doing us no favours, they are simply paying for a labour force to gain access to commodities they have otherwise, paid a sixpense for in return for obscene profits. And you talk about us being worse off in the long run? Does the term 'UNRENEWABLE' resources have any impact on that kind of short term gain mentality?
The resources are ours, and it stands to reason that if they belong to us, we should be getting
the best price for them in the first place. It's not like every country in the world is as mineral rich.
ATM. Uncertainty is undermining development - and this certainly will cost us all in the long run. (loved your letter by the way!)As I've already said, once depleted, we will be paying for that in the long term with much more than jobs. Simply because we were STUPID enough to sell our unrenewable resources for a song. Think about that.
The mining companies do underpin our economy. I'm no economist (although I did do economics as part of my MBA), but I suspect the only reason Australia did OK in the financial crisis was because of our mined wealth.
That is on the basis of our current mining leases and only at a return of $1.00 in $7.00. Imagine how much better off we'd be if the last Govt. had demanded more in return for our resources? Too late now, those resources are already gone baby gone, for a whole $1.00 in $7.00. How lucky are we eh?
We don't rely on the mining industry in my view, they rely on us. It's about time we got that through our heads. We, have the stronger bargaining position yet, we allow ourselves to be blackmailed for a bag full of beads called jobs. When in reality, without creating those same jobs, they couldn't access our wealth. Does anyone believe that the mining companies should be paying a fair price?
