It sure is a dirty business.
Can someone explain how a foreign company can come into Australia mine our resources and apart from some wages for the workers - how this is good for Australia?

The TV series Dirty Business and Ms Burnside are coming from the extreme left of the debate while ponde is just confused.

They play up times where employers have won struggles with unions and quietly overlook the fact that there are now very good jobs and conditions in mining for those willing to work on remote sites, because they have to be attracted there.

As for indigenous rights the Native title legislation must be 20 years old. It was brought in by Keating after the Mabo decision. so what's the verdict?

If you listen to the miners they will tell you its all very costly to go through all the agreements and environmental regulations to build a new mine in Australia. You may disagree with those statements but at least Dirty Business could have acknowledge the miner's side of the debate. Otherwise they leave themselves open to charges of bias.

As for Ponde's remark, the foreign company has to pay taxes in Australia and royalties on the minerals.. note both state and federal royalties.. for various reasons the Federal government is not getting much at the mo, but the states still are.

Iron ore mining needs to be nationalized. 80% of all revenue goes overseas. All we get is a depletion of natural wealth.
Mega rich people earning a million an hour, and pay ? tax is obsene.
The real player in iron ore has passed on, it was his lease where the iron ore is mined. So did that lease get passed on, without contest.
There is dirty business behind iron ore mining.

'A dog that bites the hand that feeds it, soon will learn to live without' ('A Proper Gander at the Propaganda' from The Versed writing of Jock McPoet) perhaps best describes 'Dirty Business'. The mining industry, time and time again has saved the Australian economy and has been fundamental in making this country a great place in which to live.
'Dirty Business' damns with faint praise an industrious industry which deserves better recognition. We are being sadly misinformed by a generation of media presenters who in turn have been sadly misinformed by a generation of left-wing educators. Surely it's time for a fundamental review of the facts. Prior to European settlement, there was no 'Native Title'. The strongest tribe belted weaker tribes into submission and stole their territory and their women. A book, 'Cape York - the savage frontier' exposes the myth of 'native title' (republished by my company, CopyRight Publishing). There was no Aboriginal flag - an invention of the patronising 1970s. If Australia was not defended (with the help of the USA) against Japanese invasion in WW2, how many today of all backgrounds would enjoy the prosperity and relative freedom we all experience now? Unless we have a strong economy, how can we protect ourselves and our children from natural catastrophe or man-made external threats?
I look forward to when a great industry comes up with a better representation of its record. For millennia, humans of many races have walked over the immense riches which lie beneath the surface of this abundant Earth, and have lived in poverty. When human inventiveness and endeavour unlocks these riches, it's amazing how many who have done nothing to contribute to the effort required to unlock the wealth clamor for 'their share'.

John McRobert

@ponde: "Can someone explain how a foreign company can come into Australia mine our resources and apart from some wages for the workers - how this is good for Australia?"

This is such a megadaft question that I hardly know where to begin. In the first place mining companies buy mining licences, pay local taxes, and purchase local goods and services as well as paying wages. In the second place, they dig some stuff out of the ground where it's not doing anyone any good at all and turn it into useful products that allow us to light our homes, grow our crops, build our cars, run our computers and build our roads.

Look around your room: if you can find one manufactured item which hasn't been created from or improved by a mining product, I will be very surprised indeed.

Mining licenses are dependant on what you are mining and the value thereof. This would be a very small fraction of the value of that which is extracted.
The royalties are at 20% of that exported WOW .
Local goods and services, wages a mear pitence.
Yes I have looked around my room - not much has been manufactured in Australia. Most of its profits go to overseas companies.