Some fear the mining boom will turn to bust. Between 2005 and 2012, Australia began a mining boom that took over our economy. By 2012, mining investment generated half the economy's growth. But this year the boom is expected to hit its peak, then reverse. And then the force that pushed us up will start pushing us down. What will drive Australia's growth then? The official view is that all will be well. But then, officials always argue that all will be well. Advertisement Ross Garnaut warns that Australia is facing a sharp downturn, which could end up as a decade of economic weakness like the one we experienced from 1974 to 1983. ''If we do not manage the adjustments well, we will face a long period of economic stagnation and uncomfortably high unemployment.'' Ross Garnaut.
Former Reserve Bank board member Bob Gregory, of the Australian National University, warns that the economy risks falling off a cliff as minerals prices and future mining investment fall back to normal levels. None of those booms ended gently. GOOD IDEA, BAAAD POLITICS.
Labor must renegotiate mining tax: Greens. If Prime Minister Julia Gillard doesn't renegotiate the mining tax to generate more revenue, all the talk about sharing the super profits has been nothing but rhetoric, Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says. Senator Milne says the Labor government should revert to the old planned mining tax to find $26 billion in revenue over the next four years, instead of the projected $9 billion. By "plugging the loopholes" in the Mining Resources Revenue Tax (MRRT) and establishing the 40 per cent tax rate recommended by former treasury secretary Ken Henry, Ms Gillard could be investing in a happier Australia, Senator Milne said. "If she won't (renegotiate) then it is an acknowledgment that all the talk about super profits, all the talk about sharing the benefits of the boom is no more than talk," Senator Milne told reporters after an address to the Greens national conference in Sydney on Saturday.
Advertisement "... Single parents, the unemployed and the entire nation would pay, she said. Pitfalls of Australia joining the EU ETS. Back in August the government announced its intentions to join Australia’s new emissions trading scheme (ETS) with the EU ETS in 2015. Houses and Holes commented at the time that the decisions could be interpreted as a political cop-out. While the long run goal is surely an integrated international scheme, the Clean Energy Amendment Bill as it stands will make Australia a subservient partner to the EU scheme for the 2015-2018 transition period. This has important implications not only to for the effectiveness of the scheme in reducing emissions and encouraging the uptake of cleaner technologies, it removes Australia’s position as a global example of effective carbon pricing.
To me, the decision to adopt an effective carbon pricing scheme was part of a broader political effort to demonstrate workable policy to the world, whether high emitting countries would take notice or not. At at local level, the integration of Australia’s scheme into the EU ETS has more direct implications. 1. 2. 3.
The Good News About The Carbon Tax. Is Our Carbon Tax Really The Biggest? If you turn on the news any night of the week, chances are you'll hear Tony Abbott refer to Australia as home of the "the world's biggest carbon tax". The Opposition leader hasn't provided any evidence for this claim, but that hasn't stopped the media from reporting it. The ABC, Yahoo, Fairfax and News Ltd have all run Abbott's refrain without verification. But is it actually true? Answering that question isn't easy.
Different countries use different measures to price carbon so we need to look at the source of the carbon, the use of the carbon source, and whether the tax or price is applied to carbon as an input or to carbon as an output. For example, Costa Rica applies its carbon tax of 3.5 per cent directly to the price of fossil fuels while other countries apply the tax to CO2 emissions. To compare their carbon taxes with Australia's in absolute terms, as did another report decrying our carbon tax as the world's highest, is misleading. So is our carbon tax the biggest? A Kinder, Gentler Mining Tax. It's a funny thing, the Gillard Government. According to most of the opinion polls, and much of the commentary, this government can't take a trick. You've all heard the criticisms before.
Gillard is unliked by ordinary Australians. She has a credibility problem. Her speeches are dull. Labor itself is increasingly on the nose. But when it comes to passing legislation, which is the thing that governments are supposed to do, you'd have to say this administration is pretty effective. Last night, Gillard and Labor, with the help of the Greens, passed another key measure in the government's agenda: the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. On reaching the highest office in the land, Gillard made the mining tax controversy one of her top priorities. The eventual result of those negotiations was the MRRT that passed last night. Instead of the broad-based levy on non-renewable resources envisaged by the first tax, the MRRT will only cover iron ore, coal and coal seam gas. Resources tax: what you may not know ... Mining tax sides with the many: Labor RAW VISION: Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan announce the passage of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax through the Senate.
P 20, 2012 Despite all the hullabaloo, all the hand-wringing and the wailing from various sections of the mining industry, the passage of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax overnight confirms Australia as one of the world's most benign destinations for miners. That's right. When it comes to taxing resource companies, Australia is a soft touch, a virtual tax haven.
Not that you will read that anywhere else. New mining tax won't stop the trucks. And you can expect to see the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, leaping about in a hard hat in the outback banging on that he will repeal this awful tax when he becomes ANPM (Australia's Next Prime Minister). Advertisement First up, let us put a couple of the tax issues into perspective. What is the effect of the carbon price package on work incentives?? This is quite possibly my wonkiest post ever. If your eyes glaze over at the mere mention of the tax system, you might want to look away now. In my view, the PM can rightly assert that the carbon price package will promote workforce participation in a modest but important way. One of the most longstanding policy problems in Australia is the disincentive to work that can arise as a result of the interaction of the tax and social security systems.
For example, someone on Newstart Allowance who takes up a part time job will lose some of their wage via a reduction in their social security payments, and might also pay some tax on their additional income. These effects can combine to mean that a person might lose up to 75 cents of an additional dollar that they earn, so it’s hard to get ahead and the incentive to work a few more hours is dulled. These effects are often expressed as an effective marginal tax rate (EMTR). So what do the tax changes mean for work incentives? Farmers No Match For Big Mining. With Parliament returning for the spring session and Tony Abbott back in the country from his European holiday, hostilities have resumed in our nation's capital. The Government has some big items on its agenda. None is bigger than the carbon tax, which the government plans to introduce to the House of Representatives within days. As the carbon tax inches towards law, the no-carbon tax movement has become correspondingly angrier and nuttier — as New Matilda's Adam Brereton reports today.
Dealing with the carbon tax anger is already posing difficulties, not just for Julia Gillard, but also for Tony Abbott. But it's not just the carbon tax: Labor has a big legislative slate for the second half of the year. Abbott being Abbott, no sooner had he landed in the country than he resumed his calls of doom about the carbon price. One of the reasons coal seam gas is such a divisive issue is because of the way Australian mining law comprehensively favours minerals exploration and extraction. Enough with the Green trivia, let's canvass some policy - The Drum Opinion - It would serve us well if the debate surrounding The Greens focussed a little bit more on the policies rather than the trivia. Find More Stories Enough with the Green trivia, let's canvass some policy Greg Jericho If you are at all wondering about how the Liberal and National parties are coping with their impotence in the Senate since July 1 you need look no further than the comments last week by senators George Brandis, Ian MacDonald and Barnaby Joyce on The Greens: Senator Brandis : … The Greens are not committed to democratic values.
They are a party of zealots. Senator Joyce: When I think about the environment I think green. Senator Ian MacDonald : On the point of order, Mr Deputy President: before you take any instructions, I suggest you hear what was actually said to Senator Milne. I do like a good rational discussion of policy. Senator MacDonald to his credit apologised for his remarks.
The Greens are a problem for the Liberal and National parties – they don't cope well with them, and thus as a rule bypass rationality and go straight for the name calling. Yep, books. Wow. The Greens are not the ALP-Far Left. Inquiry Bursts The Gas Bubble. As wildcat booms go, it has been a doozy. Coal seam gas exploration took many years to get underway in Australia, and we came to the party somewhat later than the continental United States. But once the invitations went out, mining companies turned up in their droves, drilling thousands of exploration wells all over inland Australia. Radio National's Ian Townsend filed a report on the gas rush in mid-2010. It gives a flavour of the excitement in the coal seam export industry at the time. Townsend talked to a rural consultant named George Houen who told him that "people have to realise that we're sitting on probably one of the greatest energy provinces in the world, and between the coal and the coal-seam gas, we have a resource here which is obviously going to be exploited for its value to the country".
A number of energy companies such as Santos and the Queensland Gas Company have announced vast gas export projects worth tens of billions. What are they drilling for? Like this article? Labor National Conference Set To Endorse Uranium Sales To India. Prime Minister Julia Gillard with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Photo: Reuters In the Asian century it's not in our interests to keep treating India like a pariah. There has been no shortage of half-truths and misplaced good intentions in the debate over uranium and India, a big issue at the Australian Labor Party conference this weekend. But the most mistaken claim is that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's proposal to end the blanket ban on civilian uranium exports to India will somehow lead to the catastrophic spread of nuclear weapons and the ruin of Australia's international reputation. It will do neither.
A change of Labor policy would build a new foundation of non-discrimination, mutual respect, trust and partnership with a rising India. It would also help Australia catch up with a global non-proliferation order that is already adapting to India's importance in the Asian century. Advertisement India's pacifist traditions held it back from an all-out effort to build the bomb. Show we trust India, they'll invest in us. The likely improvement to the security of India's nuclear material is the obvious benefit from the deal. Source: The Courier-Mail SINCE the 1970s, Australia's uranium policy has been sales in return for better safeguards. The deal with India is no different, though this time the trade will also help safeguard Australia. Let's start with the main criticism, that selling to India means the end for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the determining principle for Australian policy.
What's not mentioned is that no political party uses the NPT to determine who we sell uranium to. The Greens certainly don't. Meanwhile, Liberal and Labor governments use factors, such as Australia's national interest and the strength of a country's non-proliferation record to decide. If India is unwilling to meet Australian non-proliferation requirements, no deal should (or likely would) go ahead. Such influence would not have been possible had Australia kept its uranium in the ground. China sets oil, gas resource tax rate at 5 percent of sales.
BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China will levy a resource tax on crude oil and natural gas products at 5 percent of sales nationwide starting from Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance said Monday. The ministry also released specific resource tax rates on a variety of other commodities, including iron ore, coking coal and rare earth ore, for which the tax will remain based on sales volumes.
The tax policy change came after the State Council, or China's Cabinet, announced earlier this month that resource taxes on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas would be extended from a few of the country's regions to the entire nation starting from Nov. 1. The country introduced a 5-percent resource tax for oil and natural gas on a trial basis in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on June 1 of last year.
Before the trial, the country's resource tax was calculated based on production volume, instead of sales value.