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PM's mining deal robs NSW of revenue for infrastructure and services
Friday 02 July 2010
Commenting on the impact in NSW of the projected reduced revenue from the mining tax NSW Greens MP and mining spokesperson Lee Rhiannon said that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's backdown means less money for urgently needed infrastructure.
"The Prime Minister may have brokered peace with the big mining companies but it comes at a heavy cost to the people of NSW," Ms Rhiannon said.
"With the revenue stream cuts under the new mining tax NSW will miss out on many urgently needed public infrastructure projects.
"Every $1 billion the mining industry has won back from the original tax plan is $1 billion that could have been used to address community needs.
"Early reports suggest that the federal government will see the revenue from the new tax reduced by $1.5 billion.
"A proportion of this revenue would have been earmarked for NSW, so the federal government's rollover to the mining barons is bad news for this state.
"Public services and small businesses in NSW will be hard hit by the Prime Minister's deal with the mining barons.
"The mining companies that the PM negotiated the deal with are some of the wealthiest companies in the world.
"This deal has been done to placate to temper tantrums of BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata, everyone else is a loser.
"BHP Billiton's profit is set to go from US$10.7 billion in 2009 to US$23.5 billion in 2011. Over the same period Rio Tinto's profit is predicted to rise from US$6.3 billion to $15.7 billion.
"Senator Bob Brown has called for part of this tax to be put into a sovereign fund to invest in long term projects such as an east coast high speed rail link," Ms Rhiannon said.
For information: Lee Rhiannon - 0427 861 568
