Only morons would believe that the Federal and WA governments...

Only morons would believe that the Federal and WA governments (both broke - the former lost AAA rating facing further downgrade, the latter with a mother of all budget crisis now facing AAA negative watch and regime change next year) don't have the last say on the iron ore price.

Personally, I am almost certain when Hockey / Abbott / Barnett spoke with the Big Duo, they would have been told that the IO price destruction in 2015 (apart from the unhelpful last-man-standing, keep-digging rhetoric) was engineered in Beijing. Hint: Barnett's remark about "Chinese Payback" when he labelled BHP/Rio ploy to be the dumbest corporate play.

Problem is the Chinese have gone too far (miscalculated) with the de-stocking stunt especially since the end of the tradition post Chinese New Year re-stocking period and turn the issue into a political fire storm as the IO price floor got smashed while speculators (Macrobusiness anyone ?) went into an overdrive in a media blitz to take advantage of what appeared to be Australian political impotence.

Hockey specifically told the media that he would meet with the Chinese Finance Minister (while he was in the US a bit over a week ago) to address with him Chinese IO demand (that's diplomatic speak of WTF are you guys going ?)

The Chinese rubbed it in even more (as they with lightning speed took the spot price from the mid $50's down to $46/T while bombarding the global media that Chinese subsidies for their domestic IO producers will MEAN lower IO price still for a very long time with no chance of IO price recovery. In the eyes of Canberra, it was the declaration of war !

As for BHP and Rio, the straw that broke the camel's back was Walsh's incendiary and inflammatory taunts about higher cost Australian producers clinging on by the tip of their finger nails and it's their problems..he he...while 600 jobs was on the chopping board at Atlas (following thousands more Aussie  jobs already lost due to the dumbest corporate play where Chinese IO miners operating mines with cost easily doubling Atlas remain gainfully employed).

This is why McKenzie reiterated that Port Hedland 290MTA would go ahead definitely and his IO chief said IO will "unashamedly" mined at MAX.  Only days later, the Port Hedland plan was dead in the water.

Now Vale (gone up another 6% last night on further curtailment of supply) will turn the blow torch on the shorters to the extreme.