My view is that Cristafulli can’t possibly do worse than the...

My view is that Cristafulli can’t possibly do worse than the current lot and will likely do better in some important respects. There’s no way that the royalties regime can be totally dismantled, of course — the State budget would be in tatters without it — but it can and should be reviewed, reformed and moderated to bring it more into line with the royalty structures of interstate and international counterparts. The business and mining lobbies should be applying maximum pressure on Cristafulli & co between now and October to extract a commitment along these lines.