Yabby
I am aware that companies already pay tax. It is about levels of tax based on the points I have made previously in terms of all players along the chain of production benefiting from increases in profits.

Peter Brain from the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research in the linked article states:

'Occasionally it is up to the governments to remind these companies they are the operators of resources at the behest of the Australian resident. Yes, BHP has got power, but basically they are the operators of Australian-owned resources, nominally owned by the residents. So it's up to governments to exert that fact.'

http://www.smh.com.au/business/enormous-clout-but-not-without-obligation-20110216-1awln.html

BHP is not going to leave Australian shores if the government institutes a better tax regime to that end. They are not stupid, BHP is a business, and billions of profit is still worthwhile pursuing even if there is an increase in the tax burden.

Hasbeen
It is not just about dredging but about increased ship activity and contaminated flows from the river system that affect the harbour. If it is not the dredging then it has to be something else causing the fish diseases. My stance is the truth should be revealed as a matter of urgency. Whether the outcome is beyond or within human control is yet to be determined. I will wait and see.

*BHP is not going to leave Australian shores if the government institutes a better tax regime to that end. They are not stupid, BHP is a business, and billions of profit is still worthwhile pursuing even if there is an increase in the tax burden.*

You are poorly informed, Pelican. Its not question of billions
dollars of profit. You can make them by putting your money in
fixed deposits at the bank. Its a question of net return on equity.

BHP has made it quite clear, that if Govt introduces new taxes
on the Olympic Dam project, they won't bother investing the 30
Billion $ required. Govts need to be reliable. They should say what
their plans are, before the company starts to spend money.

This is exactly what the whole drama was about with Rudd. He was
about to introduce extortion taxes retrospectively. It made Australia
look like a third world banana republic.

BHP might be an Australian company with a half a million Australian
shareholders, but it operates globally. From copper mines in Chile,
to a new potash venture in Canada, to deepsea oil drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico, they have various options for future investment.

If the greed of economic illiterates like the Greens means that the
company spends all the capital and takes all the risk, but the
Greens want most of the profits, well then frankly they would be
foolish to invest more in Australia, there are other options.

I think you'll find that if Gillard hadn't seen sense and repaired
the damage that Rudd caused, BHP would have taken their billions
and invested them elsewhere, to the detriment of Australia

"If the greed of economic illiterates like the Greens means that the
company spends all the capital and takes all the risk, but the
Greens want most of the profits,..............:) But Mr yabby....but what the human takes, it must be put back. If we all take from this earth, it will fail, and you know it. The greens are a form of balance that the greedy world knows just to well.

Yabby......you want to fire me up......go ahead.

You know the price as well as I do.

Your call...

CACTUS

*If we all take from this earth, it will fail, and you know it.*

Well then people had better stop breeding like rabbits, Cactus.

1.5 billion to 7 billion in 100 years, is not sustainable.

The last billion took just 12 years.

That has absolutaly nothing to do with the Greens. I have seen
no policy of there's which promotes family planning in the third
world. In fact, of the 4 billion a year in aid that we give away,
little or none goes to family planning.

Yabby
Well we are in agreement on overpopulation but we will have to disagree with the ethics behind a Super Profits Tax (even if by another name).

Technology alone is not going to remove the risk to environmental degradation through overpopulation and sharing of resources.

From memory the Howard Government did try and bring in Family Planning to the Third World but the Christian Lobby got on the band wagon and a deal with Harradine to get his vote one policy (think it was GST) meant some aid was cut on family planning and maternal health intiatives for the developing world

A super profit is a iron ore mining debenture in WA. We get very little value for commodity from iron ore. A super profit tax will claw back some of our country being exploited, until all the easy stuff is gone, then we will have to scrounge to find some.