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Treasurer Jim Chalmers warns it will be “diabolical” for industry if the Coalition opposes its gas tax changes, a decision he argues will force Labor to deal with the Greens and crossbench to get the policy through Federal Parliament.

Jim Chalmers has warned of “diabolical” outcomes for the oil and gas industry if the Coalition fails to back proposed changes to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax during a visit to Perth in which he also positioned WA as critical for the future prosperity of the nation. He said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s regular visits to WA — 12 in the past 11 months — were “less about politics and more about your economic significance”. “We simply won’t grab the opportunities and the big chances of the defining decade ahead without WA’s economy firing and contributing,” Dr Chalmers said. “We’ll need you and the wealth-creating, opportunity generating, industries that call this State home.

Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart has urged the federal government to reduce regulations for the mining industry so that the nation’s natural minerals and resources can be better utilised to provide security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Moreover, Rinehart called for the federal government to consider that for its green policies to be feasible, metals and minerals need to be mined. “You simply can’t build minerals-guzzling EVs without massive mines,” Rinehart explained. “The average EV contains over 206 kilograms of copper, lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements.”

In his strongest attack yet, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is going to war with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over resources, accusing him of using “whips and chains of tax and regulation” against private enterprise, while one of his top lieutenants declared Australia needs to stop being “ashamed of being a resources nation”. In a call to arms, Mr Dutton will call on the gas sector to “speak up … and push back and fight for yourselves” against government policies, including the coal and gas price caps, as well as changes to taxes, environmental protection and industrial relations. The offensive comes a week after the first federal budget surplus in 15 years, which was achieved in part due to record revenue from the resources sector.

Gina Rinehart has launched an extraordinary attack on Labor in a scathing speech – slamming the Federal government’s welfare policies and its forecast that 1.5million migrants will come to Australia in the next five years. The country’s richest woman spoke at an event hosted by the Queensland Resources Council on Tuesday where she claimed Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Federal budget surplus was built on the back of the mining industry. The resources magnate, who is the executive chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting, said that state and federal governments would not ‘have their massive tax revenues to waste without our industries’, amid booming commodities prices.

17 May 2023.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart says Australia needs to develop more mines if it wants to maintain its standard of living, warning of a $60 billion investment shortfall in the resources sector. Delivering a rare public speech at the Queensland Resources Media Club in Brisbane yesterday, Ms Rinehart said the miningr sector was responsible for helping Treasurer Jim Chalmers deliver the first surplus in 15 years. She also took aim at the federal government’s delayed approval process for new mines, as well as mooted industrial relations reform.

Gina Rinehart is absolutely correct to warn of the sovereign risk to investment (“ ‘No green energy projects without existing mining’, says Gina Rinehart”, 16/5), to our competitiveness and to our standard of living by governments that over-regulate, that introduce regulatory uncertainty and are anti – rather than pro – mining.

Billionaire Gina Rinehart has warned the giant Roy Hill mine, which has made huge profits and paid billions in royalties and taxes, is at risk of closing in just 10 years without a change in government policy towards the resources sector. The mining magnate said there was a $60bn gap in annual mining capital expenditure compared to the previous resources boom a decade ago, describing the lack of approvals for new mines or extending the life of existing projects as a “missed opportunity for Australia”.

Ms Rinehart said the industry needed to grow so there would be funding for defence, health and emergency services. “If we want our standards of living to continue we simply must have more investment in mines and more mines developed. “And for that, we need to do far more to ensure our government much better understands and puts policies in place that actually welcomes and not deters investment.”