Point of order here.Are they magnates,maggots or just attractive magnets? I getting all confused about which one we should all like.

Basically I find myself agreeing with you Pericles

It strikes me that this "Tall Poppy syndrome" is alive and well still. Envy raises its head when someone with a great deal of wealth achieves something, often at considerable risk or hard work

Many wealthy people have built on what others have done before them. Are we to discredit them and take from them what they have ? Like you Pericles I am a little concerned, but while these billionaires continue to create wealth for the country and they continue to pay company tax and personal tax like the rest of us, I am happy to have a proportion of my money invested in their companies through my superannuation. I should imagine the majority of the population feel the same way as most would be indirectly in the same position. Even the Future Fund holds equity and all the public servants rely on that.

I just think that this constant argument is always very one sided and I like to play the devil's advocate.

and of course the charlatans pushing the gw myth continue to get free air time on public funded stations. At least the mining magnates produce something of use unlike the spin doctors from the pseudo science field that continue to deceive many even though anyone with half a brain has woken up to the scam.

use your union credit card to visit brothels and you can be an integral part of the Labour party. Dump your wife and kids and trade in for another model and that's okay. Sleep with everyone else in the party and your in with the crowd. Say something politically incorrect about gays or woman and you will be booted out. That's why Politicians are happy to allow women to be exploited in prostition and put up such a self righteous feminist dogma when it comes to what people say. Not my wife or child they say with a straight face.

I must have misunderstood you, Anthonyve.

>>Pericles, And your point is? Obviously, the crown doesn't keep the royalties, the government does. My point precisely. No 'sort of' about it.<<

You mentioned a "special case".

>>Mining is a special case because land owners do not, at least in Australia, own rights to the minerals in their land. That ownership resides with government and thus with the people, you and me.<<

So, what exactly is the "special case"?

The Government/Crown/State agrees to accept money on behalf of the people, you and me. In what way does that make a difference?

We owned it, we licensed the mining of it to people who were happy to invest, and we the people, you and me, get the royalties on it.

So, back atcha.

Your point is...?

The first port of call in this debate should be at the door of government. The expectation is that the government would exercise its power to achieve the most profitable result for the citizens of Australia; it is the policy settings of the federal and respective state governments which we should debate first.
The settings of the royalty/licence system presently in place certainly appear to be heavily weighted in favour of the mining companies making it abundantly clear that the citizenry and the governments themselves are being hugely short-changed in relation to the wealth which the mining industry generates.
Alternatively the government might have chosen a system of contracting. By calling for tenders from mining companies for the contracts to develop and exploit the resources, government and thereby the people would retain control of the vast wealth generated by the industry and channel it back into the Australian economy.
Instead they took the easy way out and put the royalty/licence model in place which of course allows the wealth created to be channelled for the benefit of a few individuals and more significantly, since there are many multi/national enterprises with mining licences, the wealth they accumulate is not being channelled back into the economy of Australia at all. Sorry, Hasbeen but most of the golden eggs are being laid outside Australia, something in the order of 85% I believe; that leaves a 15% net gain to the Australian economy. I thought Wayne Swans letter in the Monthly was fine but he should back it up with the real figures so Australians can know what the real facts are regarding our Billionaires. Whatever one might believe about the pros and con’s of capitalism I have the gut feeling we are being ripped off. Nothing short of revolution will change the present licensing model but every citizen of Australia should seriously consider supporting Swan’s plan to introduce a super profits tax. A very wise man once said “he who buries his head in the sand also leaves himself open to being violated”
DEN71