|
May 9, 2010
The Leak cartoon says it all really. The WA miners and the Coalition are beside themselves with rage in defending their self-interest. The miners want all the loot from digging up rocks for themselves. The Coalition cannot see beyond digging up rocks and selling them for a top dollar (spot price) to the Chinese steel mills.
What is missing from the cartoon is the role of the Murdoch Press, which is acting as the publicity arm of the miners and the Coalition in their attacks on the Rudd Government. This is a rightwing power nexus that has no time at all for a world of climate change, finite natural resources and protecting the environment. The miners should rule.
Progress for them is digging more rocks out of the ground, making lots of money and ensuring that governments toe the line by ensuing that the economy is flexible, is internationally competitive and has the right light regulatory framework.
Not for them an ecological enlightenment. They represent the old order that resists this kind of change and are prepared to engage in mass deception to do it.
BHP is putting pressure on the Rann Government in SA. Though the $20 billion expansion of Olympic Dam copper, uranium and gold mine in South Australia has not been shelved--- it would be "very difficult" to approve the new mine if the tax was introduced in its current form. The hacks in the Murdoch papers then write t it up. The strategy is get Rann to pressure Rudd to lay off the miners. And to get Anna Bligh in Queensland to do the same.
This is another example of how large companies use the media cycle and their political power as a deliberate part of their government lobbying strategies.
Update
It comes as no surprise that Kevin Foley, the SA Treasurer, will lobby Canberra for changes to ensure the expansion of Olympic Dam in the state's outback. The Rann Government shared the concerns of BHP, which is leading the mining industry attack on the tax, and its position is that the tax should be instituted in a manner that did not threaten current or planned investment.
|
Lovely cartoon!
The ABC and blogosphere has taken to thoroughly discrediting Clive Palmer identifying him as the largest backer of the Liberal Party in Qld and the only donor for the Nationals. They also say he doesn't mine anything in Australia.
The ABC Insiders this morning pointed out that smaller mining companies prefer the resources tax to royalties. Under royalties arrangements small mines don't go ahead because they aren't viable. This resources tax might ameliorate the boom bust cyclic nature of mining.
Not having lived with facism but having been in USSR when the raid of Entebbe occurred when I saw the film I thought it was a very imaginative scenario. I can see the dangers inherent in News Corp stranglehold on the media in the English speaking world. Yes we know News has a bias to the right but their insidious power comes from what is not reported. Its censorship but not applied for community good but to promote the interests of the seriously rich.