The mining industry is like any business where you have the ‘operator’ (the miners) and the owners (shareholders) and they both ‘co-exist’ with the common goal of making profits.

Now I have no problem in the owners wanting a piece of the profits, after all, they are shareholders and, they also share the ‘risks’ as well as the ‘profits’.

What the government is proposing is for all Australians to become ‘shareholders’, without being exposed to the ‘risks’, and it is this arrangement that I see as wrong.

By all means let the people of Australia share in the profits, but they must also share in the risks.

Now as an alternative, if the government (people of Australia) were to fund ‘all mining exploration costs’, then, I see no reason why we, the people of Australia should not enjoy a larger share of the profits by way of a ‘super tax’ and in fact, the tax could be even higher but, only if the risk of mining is removed from the mining industry, otherwise it’s a typical case of ‘if you find something, we want our share’, but only if you find something.

rehctub,
That is sober, logical thinking. Throw in a flat tax rate & presto, you'll leave the hangers on, bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you brigade stone-cold without an argument.

Only one problem Rehctub, If you have government do the prospecting, or even control it, that means public servants tasked to do something useful. Mate you've got to be kidding.

They would spend a kings ransome, find nothing, & send us broke in the process.

Just think pink bats, or school halls.

Since this has become an issue (that is since Rudd needed money) I have asked people what percentage of our gross domestic product do they believe mining contributes to. With the exception of one well informed Aussie they all said between 20% and 30%.

Mining contributed 8% to our GDP in 2009, and Rudd has singled this sector out to pay for his mistakes. Too gutless to levy banking profits he takes the easy target, smaller but easier. The banks are gouging people as miners gouge the earth, I know which revenue stream comes closest to the descriptive "blood money", and morally their profits should be further taxed.

*The banks are gouging people as miners gouge the earth,*

The reason that banks make so much money, Sonofgloin, is because
people and businesses borrow so much. So there is a huge amount
invested in bank capital.

If you check out the figures, you will see that bank net profits
are around 1% of total assets. In other words, if banks charged
1% less interest on loans, or paid lenders 1% more, they would
make no profit at all.

Do you really think that a 1% margin is unreasonable?

Mining matters, not because of its 8% of GDP, but because of the
flow on effects from that, in terms of export $ brought in, to
increase the size of the economic cake. The miner spends his money,
buys bread, newspapers, clothes, etc, so if you follow the money
trail, you can multiply the 8% by around 4-5 times, to see the
real effect on the economy.

For mine, the assets that are being sold belong to US. Not the billionaires that want to get them for bottom dollar (as shown by their threat to go where it is slightly more costly to dig, the 3rd World).

Ok, bugger off then... We'll sit on our assets until you come, hat in hand, begging to be allowed to dig them up... Then we'll squeeze top dollar out of them.

Those involved in the mining industry have been making massive salaries and/or wages for long enough that they should be capable of surviving a slump. If they haven't put money aside, that is their problem, not Australia's.

As to the flow on effect, so be it... The fact is that seaside shacks that have sold for millions of dollars, never were sustainable. Idiots will inevitably lose out, but fools and their money are easily parted (as the saying goes).

Perhaps once there is a slump in mining, we can stop importing tradespeople from overseas, instead employing Australian Tradesman at "reasonable rates"...

Personally, I have absolutely NO pity for those who seek to continue their existence at my expense, and that of the unions. The Right-wing is unlikely to appreciate this aspect of what they are doing, but collective bargaining will be essential when there are more jobs than qualified workers.

But that is the way the world is, we have borrowed more per capita than ever before, which is not sustainable. Working class people have debts that will be transmitted to their children. This is not the first time it has happened. Houses in certain parts of Melbourne were sold at prices in the 1890's that were only reached again in the late 1990's.