wa provides headache for swan on mining tax, page-26

I think most of the criticism was self interest at the time, as we held mining shares and the whole market took a SWAN dive (perhaps Wayne is aptly named after all?) as a result.

The problem for the market was the inequity of the hit and the language being taken by Swan Rudd and Gillard at the time (fair share). Also hitting the mining industry at that point while leaving the banks who were vastly more profitable and inflicted way worse pain on Australia was blatantly unfair and showed the Labor government had declared war on the mining industry, which in turn hit back hard.

The change in state royalties mostly removes anomalies that existed - why was Rio and BHP paying lower rates on some projects but not others while new entrants had the higher rate? Enough to make Rio and BHP scream bloody murder but they had it coming.

I personally think the MRRT is a dead duck and WA's move shows that states are not afraid to take back whatever it steals from their pockets. Right now in WA there is a feeling that Canberra leaches everything and gives nothing back - WA is back of the queue in grants for infrastructure, roads, and no doubt the much touted NBN (which australia could do without). So barnetts move while provocative is seen as just desserts for Canberra - if Swan nicks even more GST it will just get worse.