HOW much does it cost to bring down a prime minister? The answer: a tad over $22 million.
That's how much the mining industry spent in six weeks last year on its campaign against Kevin Rudd's plan for a resource super profit tax.
The advertising and public relations campaign dominated the airwaves in May and June.
But the Australian Electoral Commission's political spending disclosures for 2009-10, released yesterday, reveal just how much the miners spent campaigning against the plans to levy a 40 per cent tax on their ''super'' profits.
The industry's national body, the Minerals Council of Australia, spent $17.2 million, mainly on TV advertisements; BHP Billiton spent $4.2 million; Rio Tinto just over $537,000, and a smaller lobby group, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, just under $274,000.
