*The lowliest labourers working in a mine earn vastly more than say Day Care workers, who look after our children!*

Well I should hope so, Squeers. Those day care workers are doing
in downtown Melbourne or Sydney, what comes naturally to females
in a cushy environment. Ask them if they want to head up into the
heat, the dust and the flies of the outback Pilbara, where its
commonly 40 degrees plus and they are away from their families
and they might not be so keen on that miners wage, where a good
share goes in tax anyhow.

*Foreign owners made 40 cents in profit.*

In that case Rache, you had better rush out with your life savings
and pour the money into buying BHP shares, so that as an Australian
owner, you keep more of the profits here. But I have some bad
news for you. For your investment of around 32$ a share, you will
get a return of around 50c, twice a year, so about a dollar in all.
Perhaps you need to recheck your figures.

Shadow Minister,

The summary I quoted was taken from the following publications -

ABARES. (2011). Australian Commodities March Quarter 2011. ABARES.
ABARES. (2011). Major Development Projects April 2011 Listing. ABARES.
ABS cat 5302. (2011). Primary Income Debits Table 21. ABS.
ATO. (2011). Taxation Statistics 2008-09. Australian Government.
Australian Budget Economic Forecasts. (2011). Statement 2 Economic Outlook.
BHP. (2011). Interim Results 31 December 2010. BHP.
Deloitte. (2011). Gloucester Coal Ltd - Independent Experts Report. Gloucester Coal.
Economic References Committee, T. S. (2009). Foreign investment by state-owned entities. Commonwealth Government.
Foreign Investment Review Board. (2011). Annual Report 2009-10. Commonwealth Government.
Harris, J., & Hawkins, J. (2006). How international investment income flows affect Australia's balance of trade. Treasury.
Mudd, M. (2009). The sustainability of mining in Australia - key production trends. Mineral Policy Institute.
Treasury . (2010). RSPT Forecast.

I didn't quote the Opposition or a string of populist media catch phrases.
Capital wasn't mentioned because it was only about only the profit and I assume the capital cost is the difference.

Yabby,
BHP Billiton is 76% foreign owned and Rio Tinto is at 83% and are both listed as foreign companies.

Together they represent around 70% of all listed foreign resources.
The remainder are very small or totally foreign owned.
BHP is as Australian as Holden (or McDonalds).

I have indirect investments in both via Superannuation funds but I think the community would benefit more from a better return via a fairer tax than an extra fraction-of-a-cent dividend return for me.

*BHP Billiton is 76% foreign owned and Rio Tinto is at 83% and are both listed as foreign companies.*

Rache, BHP is as much foreign owned, as Australians want it to be.
Australians are the world's biggest gamblers, throwing close to
20 billion bucks a year down those slot machines and similar, rather
then buying BHP shares. That is their choice.

If you take a closer look at the mining company profits, you will
find that the majority are actually invested in new mining projects,
which cost huge amounts. Just to develop Olympic Dam will cost
BHP something like 25 billion.

So the biggest beneficiaries of mining company profits are indeed
all Australians, via that half a trillion $ in new mining projects.
That means jobs, taxes, royalties, and all the rest, for generations
to come

Shadow Minister,
I would have quoted from Liberal or National Party Party documents if they contained any data but they are strangely silent on facts.
All they seem to do is promote common misconceptions with nothing to back them up.

Rache,

You forget that I can do a word search and find the actual document. If you selectively quote from the greens who have in turn cherry picked from other documents, it doe

These companies have vast mining resources all over the world, and remit the money to share holders all over the world. Australian share holders are getting profits from Africa, North and South America etc. I would bet that there is some activist in Africa saying that BHP shouldn't be allowed to send its profits to shareholders in Aus.