Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told mining companies yesterday that he stood firmly behind his planned 40 percent tax on resource profits as the industry intensified its campaign to overturn the election-year move.
Executives from the country’s outraged mining industry, dominated by giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton put their case to Rudd at a closed-door breakfast in Perth, and to opposition conservatives as well.
“I was very forthright in why we believe it’s necessary … It’s obviously controversial. I don’t walk away from that,” Rudd told local radio.
He drew some comfort yesterday from credit rating agency Fitch, which said the new tax would not lead to credit downgrades for mining companies, though it could jeopardize investment.
“This news does not mark the beginning of the end for the Australian mining industry. Demand for their product is simply too strong,” Fitch said in a statement.
Rudd’s talk followed a Tuesday dinner meeting with Fortescue Metals chief executive Andrew Forrest, BHP Billiton iron ore chief Ian Ashby, Rio Tinto director Sam Walsh and Woodside Petroleum CEO Don Voelte.
The conservatives have already indicated they will oppose the tax in the upper house of parliament, where Rudd’s government lacks a majority and where the conservatives need just one other vote to defeat the tax.
“I can’t see how we could ever support it …This is a monstrous action and my expectation is that this won’t come to the parliament until next term. My expectation is that it would be either dumped or fundamentally changed,” opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said yesterday.
BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers indicated that the mining industry was prepared for a long campaign against the new tax, which has already prompted one small miner, Cape Lambert, to dump an iron ore project.
“We’ve got a long job ahead of us,” Kloppers told reporters as he entered Parliament House for talks with opposition leader Tony Abbott.
The head of rival miner Rio Tinto’s Australian operations, David Peever, also met Abbott.
The government announced on Sunday that the 40 percent tax would be levied on so-called super profits made by mining companies from 2012 onwards and proceeds used to fund company tax cuts, boost retirement pension savings and build infrastructure.
Fitch estimated the new tax would lift the annual tax bills of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton by more than a collective A$3 billion (US$2.73 billion), out of combined total earnings before financing costs of around A$125 billion over the past three years.
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan accused mining firms of making extreme claims against the new tax and senior government sources were quoted in Fairfax newspapers as saying the 40 percent rate was non-negotiable.
“There’s no doubt from some parts of the industry there is a fear campaign … This is a very, very important issue for Australia, terribly important that Australians get a fair share of their mineral resources,” Swan said.
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS