Since reading the Australia Institutes Mining the age of entitlement report, Ive discovered that State funding of the mining industry is pretty significant (and thats not counting local and federal government support): - Queensland has spent the most (nearly $8 billion over the last six years), mostly on coal transport rail links which arent really useful to anyone else (unlike roads and ports apparently). - Of the royalties QLD expected from mining, they planned to spend 60% of that in subsidies. - In Victoria our spending is smaller and mostly on water infrastructure (so that explains why we got a desalination plant...). Theres also a fair amount going to carbon capture and storage research. - Victoria doesnt get many royalties, so our subsidisation may be more than we directly receive from the industry. This report doesnt cover indirect benefits from the mining industry (like job creation) and doesnt try to analyse if the subsidisation the industry receives is worth it compared to the pros and cons the public gets in return. Its frustrating, because of course Id love to know the answer to whether such a large amount of money is giving us a net benefit, given so many other worthy areas are likely to miss out in this budget. I dont feel I have the skills or knowledge to weigh that up on my ow, but this is a good (and pretty easy reading) report to help give an insight into the public money that supports mining in Australia.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:38:47 +0000
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