Category: envirOnment
$500,000,000,000 = amount of oz resources profit going
OVERSEAS in next 10 years (Australia Institute)
This graph is derived from Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Labour force Australia’, 2011.
Imagined employment levels in the mining sector, as conveyed by ongoing cheesy ‘Our Story’ mining lobby adverts, give the impression that the sector employs so many millions of Australians that we should all quit the day job and go FIFO…
source: The Australia Institute: click here for their home page
The never-ending story of the mining moguls whingeing and kicking against the Australian Government taking too much tax has been revealed as a myth by the Australia Institute study called Mining the Truth. Some of the facts from the AI study are:
Mining exports in the year to March 2011 were worth $155 billion, or 11.4 percent of GDP. Mining exports make up 52.8 per cent of the value of total exports from Australia. Overall the prices received by those who mine Australian mineral resources has grown by more than 300 per cent.
Mining is, in fact, one of the smallest sectoral employers in Australia, offering work to fewer people than that employed in the arts and recreation services sector. The latest ABS figures show that in May 2011, total mining employment was 217,100 in a workforce of over 11 million .
As only a tiny proportion of the Australian workforce is employed in mining, very few Australians benefit directly from employment increases or wage increases in the mining industry.
While on average foreign ownership of mining in Australia is around 83 per cent, for some mineral resources foreign ownership is in fact much higher. According to the ABS, in 2009-10 mining profits totalled $51 billion. Taking the average rate of foreign ownership in the mining sector of 83 per cent, $42 billion worth of pre-tax mining profits flowed to out of Australia to foreign investors in the last financial year alone.
Over the next ten years pre-tax profits for mining will likely be around $600 billion; at present levels of foreign ownership around $500 billion of these profits will end up in the hands of foreign owners.
The original version of the mining tax, the Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT), would, at current commodity prices, have collected more than $200 billion in additional mining taxes over the coming decade.
The $22 million advertising campaign run by the mining companies against the RSPT resulted in a much less effective, and much less equitable, mining tax being negotiated. According to Treasury, the new Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) will raise an extra $38.5 billion in taxes from miners over the coming decade.
The dividend of the $22 million advertising campaign for the mining industry was,therefore, more than $160 billion—equivalent to a 730,000 per cent return on investment.
Few people realise that a major cause of Australia‘s very high interest rates is the sustained boom in the mining industry. When interest rates peaked before the GFC higher mortgage interest rates were taking an additional $24 billion per annum from the household sector compared to the pre-boom interest rates that prevailed in 2004.
Contrary to popular belief labour productivity is growing rapidly in the non-mining sectors of the economy. As a result of the unprecedented haste with which the mining industry is expanding, however, labour productivity in the mining industry fell by half between 2000-01 and 2009-10. Once the impact of the massive decline in labour productivity in the mining industry is controlled for, there is no apparent slowdown in the rate of productivity growth in the non-mining sectors of the economy.
There are negative effects on other industries such as,
- Driving up the exchange rate
- Driving up the costs of skilled labour for businesses in other sectors.
- Driving up the prices of raw materials used in mining (for example concrete)
- Driving up the cost of other services (for example construction
It is obvious that our miners are not being over-charged for digging up our resources. What is even more obvious is that while the shareholders who are mostly living overseas are benefiting big time, the average Australian is not benefiting from this industry and in fact many are worse off because of higher interest rates and from losing jobs due to the exchange rate pressures. Furthermore there are many other detrimental effects and costs imposed on the average person not mentioned here.
The Labor Government has gone soft on the miners due to the pressure from the ongoing anti mining tax campaign but the conservatives are promising a complete sellout.Tony Abbott and Colin Barnett do not want the miners to properly compensate Australians and will get rid of the mining tax if elected. They have already been the beneficiaries of an anti-government campaign that mirrors the campaigns by the Tea Party in America in being supposedly beneficial to the average person but in fact have been run and bankrolled by corporations like Phillip Morris and billionaires like the Koch Brothers for their own benefit.
Australians are likely to pay heavily in increased service costs and reduction of services if the Liberals win all State governments and the Federal Government.
The full report Mining the Truth can be found at: https://www.tai.org.au/?q=node/384
Every Australian should read this report.
The latest State of the Climate report provided by the peak Australian scientific body CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology has nailed shut any escape route for climate change deniers. In fact the report reveals that Australia is set to suffer massive damaging effects from human induced climate change.
According to CSIRO, Australian average temperatures are projected to rise by 0.6 to 1.5 ºC by 2030. If global greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow at rates consistent with past trends, warming is projected to be in the range of 2.2 to 5.0 ºC by 2070.
The report also confirms human induced climate change is the most likely cause:
“International research shows that it is extremely unlikely that the observed warming could be explained by natural causes alone.”
“Evidence of human influence has been detected in ocean warming, sea-level rise, continental-average temperatures, temperature extremes and wind patterns. CSIRO research has shown that higher greenhouse gas levels are likely to have caused about half of the winter rainfall reduction in south-west Western Australia.”
So enormous are the implications of up to 5 degree centigrade warming, those persons and organisations continuing deliberate campaigns to mislead the public and influence policy makers, should be regarded as dangerous criminals. Delaying action on climate change will certainly cost lives and livelihoods, and will wipe out many species inhabiting the earth.
Some scientists are concerned that temperature increases above 4 degrees centigrade will upset the balance between respiration and photosynthesis. This will result in plants producing more carbon dioxide than oxygen. If this happens and cannot be reversed the human race will join the ranks of extinct species.
It is time for all of us to wake up to the fact that a carbon tax is a lesser evil than death or extinction of our species.
It is also time to take action on the political front by writing to our members and potential members of parliament and demand effective steps to save our country and our communities from the looming disaster of unstoppable climate change. At the next elections it is imperative that we dump those MPs who have become reliant on handouts from polluting corporations.
It should be noted that there is a time lag of twenty to thirty years before atmospheric carbon increases are manifested as rises in global temperature. Our current higher temperature is due to atmospheric carbon increases of thirty years ago.
The impacts of the significantly higher levels of CO2 produced this decade will not be experienced for twenty years. Our children and grandchildren will suffer significantly for our folly and there is nothing we can do about that level of suffering.
If we fail to act decisively now we could well be living in the last century of human civilisation.
The CSIRO summary document (15/03/12) is a free pdf download on the hotlink below…
“Why the Global Warming Skeptics Are Wrong”
William D. Nordhaus is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale. (March 2012)
His evidence based article is freely available below and above at the New York Review of Books…
www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/mar/22/why-global-warming-skeptics-are-wrong/
Andy Forrest, welcome to Earthtalk.
– G’day Breeonezlet, pleasure to be here…
Ok. Mr Forrest, as you know, this interview is likely to be reaching planets that are not entirely familiar with your profession. Can you describe a typical working day?
– Umm, yes. Yes, Breeonezlet, I can describe such a day. I tend to wear leeesure denims, nice shirts that are untucked, and I’m in charge of my very own mining company. We dig up iron ore – a vital resource. We keep the world turning.
An important job, is it, back there on Earth?
– For me, mining is my life, my passion…kinda almost a religion.
Mr Forrest, how do your people feel about this ‘mining religion’?
– Look, at the end of the day, my people are very content, moving forwards.
Mr Forrest, we understand that your area of Earth was populated by ‘traditional owners’ for around 90,000 of your Earth years. Can you describe your joy in sharing the bounty of the ‘mining religion’ with other ‘traditional owners’?
– Umm…well…My family have a long history in Western Australia, going as far back as the NINETEENTH CENTURY, Breeonezlet…quite frankly, we, umm…
Mr Forrest, you’re obviously a bright and numerate man, how does that compare to 350 centuries?
– Well, the point is, the point is really…
Mr Forrest, thank you. We’d better leave it there for now. Best wishes with your ‘mining religion’ job and we appreciate your time.
Well, viewers, that was Mr Forrest, one of Earth’s leading ‘miners’. As we saw, he seemed reluctant to put his income source into perspective – this trait also has been a theme of this series on ‘Earth: roles, incomes and the future’.
i’m a regular fair dinkum guy and ma name’s andy…what “heritage”…Sir John Forrest…who’z eee???
andy’s fair dinkum Wikipedia entry includes…
great-great nephew of John Forrest, the first premier of Western Australia.
whats all that “hereditary” claptrap, stuff und nonsense? it’s all right for Roopert M and Jimmy P, so why not me, fair dinkum andy?
Tina Magnolia, welcome to Earthtalk.
– G’day Breeonezlet, smashin’ tu be here…
Ok. Tina Magnolia, as you know, this interview is likely to be reaching planets that are not entirely familiar with your all mine profession. Can you describe a typical start to your working day?
– the boardroom at Ozdong Resources is all mine and must be kept spotlessly clean, and to my exact specifications at ALL TIMES. Press over the weekend – ectually in the Weakened Caucasian – explains it tewwibly well:
“Ozdong Resources boardroom in West Perth is startlingly white. White table, white chairs, white walls.”(sic) (4/5 Feb 2012: Weakened Caucasian)
An important colour, is it, back there on Earth?
– For me, white is signature colour – my life, my passion…kinda almost a mantra. Ozdong is very white and all mine.
Ms Magnolia, is it not the case that your “all mine” industry is actually filthy and destructive?
– Breeonezlet, thurs some sort of break…brea.. in the sugnall. Ken you repeat the quostion?
Loud and clear at this end. Ok, I repeat: Ms Magnolia, is it not the case that your “all mine” industry is actually filthy and destructive?
– Look, at the end of the day, moving forwards…no, wretched signal problem, AGAIN – I’m getting some sort of feedback into this blasted bloomin’ earpiece… just repeat the sodding quest…
We can, but we’re not going to bother, Ms Magnolia. You see, here on Earthtalk, we’ve introduced a new feature whereby visitors and viewers can vote on whether they think you are being disingenuous. Our culture is open and this extends to our communications.
Well viewers, we’re leaving it there with Tina Magnolia and “it’s all mine“. Thank you for your vote.
‘We are also facing a looming environmental crisis, especially associated with global warming. Market prices are distorted by the fact that there is no charge imposed on carbon emissions; and no account is made of the cost of these emissions in standard national income accounts. Clearly, measures of economic performance that reflected these environmental costs might look markedly different from standard measures.’
Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, 2009. (the interpretOr came online May 2011 and will share earlier evidence and perspectives)
Professor Joseph E. STIGLITZ, Chair, Columbia University Professor Amartya SEN, Chair Adviser, Harvard University Professor Jean-Paul FITOUSSI, Coordinator of the Commission
Instead of focusing on increasing economic growth, shouldn’t the focus be on long-term sustainability and durability?
This is the question raised and addressed by Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University, formerly chief economist at the IMF:
Cambridge, United Kingdom – ‘Modern macroeconomics often seems to treat rapid and stable economic growth as the be-all and end-all of policy. That message is echoed in political debates, central-bank boardrooms and front-page headlines. But does it really make sense to take growth as the main social objective in perpetuity, as economics textbooks implicitly assume?
Certainly, many critiques of standard economic statistics have argued for broader measures of national welfare, such as life expectancy at birth, literacy, etc. Such appraisals include the United Nations Human Development Report, and, more recently, the French-sponsored Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, led by the economists Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul Fitoussi…
…There is a certain absurdity to the obsession with maximising long-term average income growth in perpetuity, to the neglect of other risks and considerations.’
more @ http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/20121312591520271.html
Andy Forrest, welcome to Earthtalk.
– G’day Breeonezlet, pleasure to be here…
Ok. Mr Forrest, as you know, this interview is likely to be reaching planets that are not entirely familiar with your profession. Can you describe a typical working day?
– Umm, yes. Yes, Breeonezlet, I can describe such a day. I tend to wear leeesure denims, nice shirts that are untucked, and I’m in charge of my very own mining company. We dig up iron ore – a vital resource. We keep the world turning.
An important job, is it, back there on Earth?
– For me, mining is my life, my passion…kinda almost a religion.
Mr Forrest, how do your people feel about this ‘mining religion’?
– Look, at the end of the day, my people are very content, moving forwards.
Mr Forrest, we understand that your area of Earth was populated by ‘traditional owners’ for around 35,000 of your Earth years. Can you describe your joy in sharing the bounty of the ‘mining religion’ with other ‘traditional owners’?
– Umm…well…My family have a long history in Western Australia, going as far back as the NINETEENTH CENTURY, Breeonezlet…quite frankly, we, umm…
Mr Forrest, you’re obviously a bright and numerate man, how does that compare to 350 centuries?
– Well, the point is, the point is really…
Mr Forrest, thank you. We’d better leave it there for now. Best wishes with your ‘mining religion’ job and we appreciate your time.
Well, viewers, that was Mr Forrest, one of Earth’s leading ‘miners’. As we saw, he seemed reluctant to put his income source into perspective – this trait also has been a theme of this series on ‘Earth: roles, incomes and the future’.
Bye, bye trees. This was the scene in the school play ground this morning. Desolate, denuded, depressing…
What message does this send our wise and caring children?
The argument about fracking and its impact on water, environmental and health matters is very important but it is obscuring a greater issue for this country and indeed the world.
State governments on the East coast are arguing that hydraulic fracturing to extract gas is vital for future development, as the Bass Strait oil and gas fields are reaching the end of their lives and their will be a shortage in supply in the near future. However, allowing fracking will have little impact on state supplies because the private companies drilling for gas sell their gas to the world market as quickly as they can to maximise their profits. They will not eke it out or save it for state governments unless they pay upfront.
In fact the declining Bass Strait oilfields show that a new approach is needed to ensure that we do have dedicated energy supplies for our industries, for transport and households to use until such time we can replace them with renewables or other new forms of energy at competitive prices.
After urging from the Greens, who called for the implementation of a comprehensive strategic energy use policy,the Carpenter Government in Western Australia put in place a weak arrangement guaranteeing state supply for households and industry. I have not seen any evidence of any other state governments securing their states energy futures and lots of evidence that what they actually want is the mining royalties to prop up their current budgets.
Rapidly selling our energy supplies at the current rate may make our governments look like good financial managers, but it is a sleight of hand trick digging up money in the form of hydrocarbons and swapping it for paper money. The longer the oil and gas sits in the ground, the more valuable it becomes. The quicker we dig it up the less we will get to sell it. What point is the quick buck now if in twenty years down the track we have not secured energy supplies for local use? What manufacturing, farming and transport or even mining will be possible?
The Chinese are not so stupid with their energy supplies. Rather than using up local gas and oil, they are buying up energy all over the globe at very good prices and keeping their reserves as reserves.
There are some other stupendous challenges as well and the most pressing is food production. It has been estimated that the current world population of 6 billion has only been possible because of the use of nitrogenous fertilisers. Without nitrogenous fertilisers the highest population achievable is around 3 billion people and most of the added nitrogen comes from a process using natural gas.
By 2050 when world population reaches around 9 billion, our gas supplies will be dwindling and highly expensive. Six billion people will be facing starvation if natural gas is not available or affordable to make nitrogenous fertilisers. If you think we are currently seeing market failures, wait till 2050 arrives and we are without adequate oil and gas supplies for our survival. It is an act of criminal stupidity of our governments to not deal with these issues now because they continue to hold to a fundamental and religious belief that the market will fix it. Now is time for action not for waiting on Godot.
So Julia, you’re saying that India will promise that Australian uranium will not be used for nuclear weapons. If that is the case why will India not sign the nuclear weapon non proliferation treaty? To slightly adapt an old Welsh saying, “I think you are leeking in our pockets while the fireworks are exploding around our ears”.
The green link below goes straight to NewScientist feature:
what a bunch of oxymOrons, says the interpretOr
an oxymOron
Slim Parker, Future Acts Native Title Officer & lead negotiator of MIB (Banyjima) in interview with a jfreos…(Beauty is the culture and original environment of Banyjima People, and see bottom link re the Beast)
“My major concern is that the mining companies have an expectation that whatever they apply for, in particular in terms of mining leases, that they are automatically granted…The mining companies do not provide a mine plan in terms of environmental management and cultural heritage management regimes.”
the interpretOr will continue coverage of the plight of the Banyjima People…plus, see related interpretOr piece: “This is our story”: BHP profit: $22,500,000,000…for how much in royalties?
Greens Leader Bob Brown said the Mining the Truth report released today by the Australia Institute turns the spotlight on the industry’s self-serving rhetoric and confirms the need to fix the government’s feeble mining tax.
“Much has been said by the mining industry about the impact of the mining boom on the mining industry, but there has been far less scrutiny of the impact on the rest of the economy,” Senator Brown said in Hobart.
“Mining is squeezing out other sectors to the detriment of farmers, manufacturers, teachers, and hospitality workers. Meanwhile, some $50 billion reaped from Australia’s mineral resources – 83-percent foreign-owned – will be sent overseas as dividends to foreign owners over the next five years.”
“Under Labor’s feeble mining tax and the Coalition’s even more irresponsible prescription to let mining giants off the hook, Australians will be left at the mercy of a two-speed economy and future governments making unnecessary cuts to health, education and lacking the funding for key infrastructure such as high speed rail.”
“This new report underscores the need for the government to reconsider the Mineral Resource Rent Tax. The Greens will move to expand the MRRT, oppose the tax cut for big business while supporting tax relief for small businesses, and push to set up a sovereign wealth fund. This is the economically responsible thing to do,” Senator Brown said.
Strong world demand for Australia’s minerals has driven up the exchange rate which, in turn, has reduced world demand for our manufactured and agricultural goods as well as for our tourism and education export services.
see full report @ https://www.tai.org.au/index.php?q=node%2F19&pubid=913&act=display
Errr, that’s $432 million per week…profit.
Just remember this enormous sum the next time you see one of Australian Mining’s soft-sell “This is our story” ads.
The real story is about earth shattering profits for sod all in royalties.
Embattled Federal Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, has poured scorn on the ‘link’ between day and night:
“Look, it’s based on a lie. At the end of the day, the people of this country will make up their own minds on the merits of the evidence. Let’s not forget that it’s taken guts and plenty of hard work to establish that day does not necessarily follow night. It’s morally courageous to break away from the Orwellian consensus on this important issue and to speak our own inconvenient truth…”
Mr Abbott also dismissed suggestions of a causal link between his orange tan and the increased volume of uranium mining in Australia: “Inappropriate, scare mongering, at the end of the day, it’s…
the interpretOr 