gillard and swan are hoping to get $10bn from the miners via the MRRT apparently the original deal was that royalities were factored into the total the lower the royalty the more money the fed government gets the higher the royalty the less the government gets. all the states will probably be controlled by the coalition. they are not likely to lower royalties. if anything they will raise them. this will mean that the government will get less revenue. Clearly the government stuffed up. It now appears that the government is trying to reneg on the original deal and take a fixed percentage above the royality. if they don't reneg on the deal with the miners their budget will go down the toilet. All owners of shares in BHP and RIO will have to wear this. http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s3092458.htm