Roses, I can't read a file on your hard drive, or not unless you are going to give me remote access, but I'm guessing that is the Australian Institute analysis. Assuming that is the case, they count as assistance infrastructure that the state earns income from, and which isn't just used by mining companies. The infrastructure you refer to is also infrastructure being built now which will take minerals for decades. So comparing upfront capital costs with one year's worth of royalties is not valid. It would be like comparing the price of a house to one year of a home owner's income.

The other problem is that these rail assets will earn income when they are used which will give a return on the asset.

On this logic, when a developer builds a factory and rents it to a tenant he is subsidising a tenant to the value of the entire factory.

I've already commented on the Australian story above. Doesn't look good, but I don't think anything untoward has happened.

I don't have a problem with companies being foreign-owned. If you do, then perhaps you should think of restricting BHP to only mining in Australia, instead of all over the world, earning dividends for Australian pension funds from other people's backyards.

Sorry Graham, here is the link:
http://www.tai.org.au/content/mining-age-entitlement

If you read this you will see that Qld Govt assistance to mining is not an isolated case as in a once- off investment; those $1-2 billion outlays for mining are happening every year.

Don't get your point about foreign owned companies; I have no problem with them per se.

I thought my point was clear: Australian taxpayers' money being paid out to boost profits of Australian shareholders would be less unfair than Australian taxpayer funds being paid to boost the profits of overseas shareholders. But still not fair or acceptable; it is not the job of Governments to boost any shareholder's profits.

I thought it was a core conservative principle that Governments don't get financially involved in industry. I seem to recall that a major reason Labor's Wilson in the UK got booted out in the late 70's was his disastrous 'quasi-nationalizing' of BMC among others.