It's not within BHP's power to walk away from any tax obligations they may incur. A government might enter into an agreement with a company as a piece of political spin, but the company's obligation is to pay whatever amount of tax is required by the legislation under which they operate. No government needs the agreement of the entity being taxed, to impose a tax.
Oh yes, but Jooolia had to strike a deal with the majors, as their on-the-run mining policy, the platform for all their spending and debt reduction, had riled the mining industry so much in its initial form, that the big 3 had promised to wage ware during the election campaign. Remember the commercials? Top priority was to get the 3 big miners on-side to prevent them derailing her campaign.
This is getting very messy. Jooolia's now going to have to promise more secret deals to get herself out of this exploding mess.
