Mining
Behind the 'nice bloke' facade is just another wily politician
Anita Quigley The curtains had barely been drawn to let the sunshine in when dark clouds began to form over the new Gillard government and its queen-making independents.
Mining tax revenue is a guessing game
Tim Colebatch ''Where is the money coming from?'' the Coalition wants to know. How can the government reduce the revenue base for its mining tax so drastically, yet reduce the revenue forecasts so little? It's a...
Hubris may be Rudd's undoing in mining tax fight
Kim Sawyer The ancient Athenians knew about hubris. For them, it was the greatest crime of all. Hubris was more than just excessive pride; it represented the resolute disregard of others, and others' opinions.
Mining tax will cost jobs and other lies
John Passant The mining barons don't give a toss about jobs. All they care about is their huge profits.
Rudd in no hurry to fix mining standoff
Phillip Coorey Kevin Rudd's decision to skip the Minerals Council of Australia's annual shindig this week and attend a Labor Party function instead is a gesture both symbolic and pointed.
Mining the rich to resource the budget
Geoff Gallop The 'super profits' tax debate shows the Rudd government will have to walk a fine political line on budget day, writes Geoff Gallop.
Mining baron digs Rudd out of a hole
Tony Wright Parliament's public galleries are usually packed to capacity during question time as the public herd in to witness the nation's political leaders caterwauling.
Mining tax concoted in La-La Land
Judith Sloan You can just imagine the scene – a few boffins with their honours degrees in economics, finance and maybe law working out the theoretical benefits of a resource rent tax over royalty...
Rudd may be the blip in selling mining tax
Phillip Coorey The government's penchant for acronyms has reached the stage where even the opposition is struggling to keep up.
Rudd's task is to justify mining tax
Gerard Henderson A majority of Australians probably accept that mining companies should pay more tax. But it is one matter to increase the tax and quite another to make mining the most heavily taxed mining industry...
Growing rich pains: the downside to mining boom
Jessica Irvine An officious man from Treasury reminded the rabble of journalists heading into this week's budget lock-up to present at the door their signed statement promising not to reveal any information before...
This mining tax makes no economic sense
Judith Sloan The arguments about the mooted resources super profits tax (RSPT), or as some wag put it, the super tax on profits (STOP), are getting more and more confused.
Mining slug one more for Rudd's fiascos list
Malcolm Turnbull There is something chaotic and dysfunctional about the Rudd government. On almost every front we are seeing the consequences of what appears to be highly centralised decision making from the Prime...
Rudd's mining our nation's natural greed
Michael Coulter Resource profits for all because we're owed it? Super spin but little else.
Mining boom riches nullified by Labor's spending bender
Peter Costello Bigger than the gold rush, but taxpayers have little to show for it.
Perhaps now politicians will stop trashing their reputations
Ross Gittins Let's hope it's not back to politics as usual. And let's hope the fortnight or so since the voters' collective refusal to award the election to either of the major parties has allowed both sides time...
Expect Libs to go in for the kill
Tim Wilson Abbott has tasted blood, and he won't be pursuing consensus politics.
It's about the skills, stupid
Tim Colebatch Not the deficit, nor interest rates: the biggest economic challenge is ensuring we have enough qualified workers.
A chance to reform NSW Labor's worst gambling habits
Peter Hartcher Already, the new power of independents in Federal Parliament seems set to achieve one useful reform - encouraging some self-restraint on poker machine gambling.
Abbott digs himself a hole
Michelle Grattan It was Tony Abbott's very bad day. The belated costings of his election policies came back to bite him.
