Yabby, If you back into your yabby hole and cover the top you might not be dug up and pay SPTax by being someones dinner.
What is in Australian ground belongs to us all. If some one wants to use any ore, they have to pay royalty. Even going back 60 years ago, my dad cut fire wood. He had to apply for a plot of under growth trees, (and wasn't allowed to touch large timber trees)and if granted he paid royalty on every ton taken.
I find it hard to believe that rabbott,lou Costello's mate, rejects everything suggested. Why can't he be reasonable and try a few ideas.
God help us all if ever he leads this country.
The world has to pay Australia for any item they need and the profit has to assist Australians
Qutas

“Hysterical old tart?” Now OLO's resident sheep herding cowboy comes packing with two Colt .45 revolvers and a double barrel shotgun to shoot up 'hysterical old tarts' so ya better believe that BHP Billiton is ‘majority Australian owned.’ and Oi!……Ya better believe it even it even if it sucks!

‘Now there are some real doosies in that little effort. The first thing to observe, just for the record, is that BHP Billiton is, in fact, about 60 per cent owned by non-Australian shareholders and Rio Tinto is nearly 85 per cent foreign owned.’

(Author, Matthew Stevens is a veteran Australian business writer and is married to BHP Billiton, Media Relations Chief, Sam Evans) And Oi gun totin' sheep herding Cowboy! Ya better believe it!

Its always funny to watch people arguing about a subject they know little about...
The sustainability of mines will be compromised by any new charges, the ultimate effects will become a burden evident in timeframes much greater than those of political tenure.
The cut-off grade, or the point at which the concentrations of valuable minerals is lower than the cost of extracting them, will be raised to compensate for new taxes.
For example, an open-cut gold mine would have a cut-off grade of about 1 gram per tonne, underground about 5 grams per tonne. Once the cut-off is raised to maybe 1.2 grams per tonne, and that grade is reached, the mine reaches its end point and the remaining ore is effectively sterilised by being subeconomic.
But I suppose thats years down the track, and somebody elses problem.

Patthebogan Good point - this was precisely the reason for my post in the first place - regardless of taxes mines are essentially a finite resource. Often referred to as the Dutch Disease it is the tendency of governments to enjoy the good times brought about by mining without building up an economy that can survive independent of mining.
The resources boom should be regarded as a bit of cream - instead over the past 30 years it has become the mainstay of our economy.
Lazy state governments in WA, Queensland in SA are using their resources as a means to prop up their economies without building a manufacturing base.
The normal cry that we cannot do this because our wages are too high is nonsense - look at Germany - wages are on a par with those paid here but is has a robust manufacturing base.
There is little point in developing a manufacturing industry based on products where we cannot be competitive - however using the resources boom to invest in R & D to create the products will be needed in a post oil world is an obvious direction; one that politicians are reluctant to take.

http://www.bhpbilliton.com/annualreports2008/2008-business-review-and-annual-report/annual-report/shareholder-information/share-ownership/index.html

There ya go, ya hysterical old tart :)

Of BHP Billiton Ltd's 525'000 shareholders, roughly 503'000 have an
Australian address. Half a million Aussie shareholders, in your
language.

CHP Billiton Plc, which is registered in London, has lots of
British and South African shareholders. Fair enough, given that
they have lots of South African minds and operate globally.

But examine the figures yourself, then tell me which nation has
the largest shareholding in BHP Billiton.

Howdy Cowboy – youse bin smokin’ some of that good ole Hillbilly grass again?

“Of BHP Billiton Ltd's 525'000 shareholders, roughly 503'000 have an Australian address.” Half a million Aussie shareholders, in your language.”

Australian shareholders dude? Not in my language. Australian addresses? Nominee companies? Those limited to possessing half a sensory neuron are far too obtuse to know that it is not the ASX’s responsibility to count shares held and traded off-shore.

The present legal framework allows every unsavory and/or criminal operator to hide behind the concept of ‘nominee’ companies.

If one reads the Top 20 shareholders of a company in its annual report – that is, who owns and runs the company – more often than not one learns nothing because the major shareholders are hidden under ‘National Nominees’, 'Commonwealth Custodians’, ‘Merrill Lynch Nominees’ 'J P Morgan Nominees' and other such mysterious entities. Allo allo!

So Cowboy show us the investors' addresses!

On BHP’s register there are in excess of 4 billion shares under ‘corporate’ and around 1.3 billion ‘private.’ And the majority shares held by ‘nominee’ companies – oops!

Quit chewin' that bakky Cowboy and go herd ya Baa Baaaaas.....!