iron ore market needs ACCC spotlight, page-10

I would suggest its a lot simpler than that.
The various governments saw vote catchers of jobs & revenue coming from royalties & taxes etc.
They were thinking of the current (as in previous) election & not the next one.
I'm not saying I like what BHP or RIO have done, but what I am saying is was quite apparent & it was basic supply & demand meant the price would drop & considerably.
So if the Government relies solely on the likes of the giant mining companies, more fool them.
Or more likely more greed than fool & that typically ends up being the same thing.